Duncan Brown

I didn't see a topic for this (though searching on "scan" turns up a lot of posts on scanning film instead of paper so maybe I missed it!) I wanted a place to link all my weird old 16mm related paper for historical purposes. I've been posting Arriflex 16 manual and brochure scans in the Arri forum, but this will be for about anything else. First one is just a weird sell sheet that was included with some Arri stuff I got. It's for a Birns and Sawyer adapter to mount your Arri Standard Mount lens on a C-mount camera. Check out the instructions - this was not for the faint of heart! Was their motto "So simple even a rocket scientist could do it"? I always post two links to my scans - the first one is a massive 600dpi file, so you can zoom n and see all the lovely details. The second is 100dpi version, which is much more download-friendly but gets a little fuzzy if you zoom in to see the details better. http://backglass.org/duncan/16mm/birns_and_sawyer_cin_ar_adapter_flyer.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/16mm/birns_and_sawyer_cin_ar_adapter_flyer_100.pdf Duncan

A couple of more: http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arriflex_16m_brochure_01.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arriflex_16_brochure_01.pdf And the 100dpi versions http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arriflex_16m_brochure_01_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arriflex_16_brochure_01_100.pdf More as I scan them! Duncan

Kodak's Atlanta lab is definitely trying to drum up work - I ordered some film from Kodak the other day, as I do every so often, and this time someone from Kodak Atlanta emailed me to make sure I knew about their services. Duncan

No it's definitely a change in luminance. Like the shutter speed is varying or something. Duncan

Next batch and these are doozies, both in terms of file size, and value of the contents. All in German, but all those pictures are worth 1000 words each! http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_16st_parts_manual_october_1969_german.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_16bl_parts_manual_october_1967_german.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_35_iic_parts_manual_addendum_july_1967_german.pdf And once again, the more manageable 100dpi versions for casual perusing: http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_16st_parts_manual_october_1969_german_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_16bl_parts_manual_october_1967_german_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_35_iic_parts_manual_addendum_july_1967_german_100.pdf Enjoy! Duncan

No, that's understandable. No, I mean there's this overall slight flicker effect on most shots - like the one you get when shooting with LED lights and a bad frame rate...but of course these are all out in daylight so that's not it. Or like when someone captures a movie by filming it off a projection screen. Am I the only one seeing this? Maybe the problem is in my brain, heh. Duncan

What's with the slight but persistent flicker to the footage? It almost looks more like a scanning artifact than a trait of the camera, but hard to say for sure. Good camera test though! Duncan

Risking showing my ignorance, but wouldn't color negative camera film not work at all? RemJet and all... Duncan

There didn't seem to be a topic yet for putting all this kind of thing in one spot so I thought I'd start one, with some scans I just made of some random Arri paperwork I just got. Filenames should be self-explanatory. These are 600dpi scans, so big files! http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_miniature_duro_pack_battery.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_mini_charger_for_mini_duropack_data_sheet.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_duropack_ps_data_sheet.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_september_3_1974_lens_price_list.pdf If you just want to see them, don't care so much about quality, and don't want such huge files, I also made 100dpi versions of each: http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_miniature_duro_pack_battery_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_mini_charger_for_mini_duropack_data_sheet_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_duropack_ps_data_sheet_100.pdf http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/paperwork/arri_september_3_1974_lens_price_list_100.pdf Enjoy! Duncan

Some more I finally got around to doing all the scanning and editing on. This should give you more of an idea of how a slo-mo photo shoot goes. Well, the shade-tree mechanic version anyway! Duncan

OK, there seems to be one manufacturer of those pins in the US, regardless of which supplier you buy them through - orders from Grainger and Zoro both got recalculated to end-of-May (yes, 3.5 months from now!!!) after I had placed the orders. Going to just let it ride and see if they come in sooner. The 2mm ones should be here much sooner and I can try drilling out one of the messed up ones and refitting it with a 2mm pin. Duncan

OK finally got a motor ball drive dowel pin out cleanly. Used a hand-operated 5 ton press and broke one of my pin punches in the process, but it's possible. It's a lot of force to be putting on a punch that's less than 1.5mm in diameter, trying to keep it from bending (which means snapping) in the process. What came out was a 1.5mm x 8.5mm steel dowel pin, with 3 approximately 1/3-length grooves. So the pin itself is not tapered, but you need to treat it like one. You insert the smooth end, it goes all the way through the ball, the shaft, and into the ball again, while the grooved end (which because of the grooves, ends up a bit wider than 1.5mm) ends up jamming into the hole in the ball. It needs to come back out the opposite of the direction it went in (like a tapered pin) because otherwise you'd be driving those grooves through the shaft and the other side of the ball unnecessarily. This pin looks completely reusable, but I'm going to order some of what looks like a similar replacement part from Grainger, just so we'll know of a source for them if they work out. (They're 10mm long, which is the exact diameter of the ball, but I can file it down a bit before inserting it.) I'll order something a smidge bigger, too, as a replacement for the ones I had to drill out, and drill them cleanly to the proper new size. Duncan

First couple of rolls through my 16S, trying out some Tri-X (developed as a negative) and Double-X. I hate just shooting nothing, even though it's just a test, so I decided to do a little Down By Law opening scene type stuff since I was going to be on the South Side. Learned a lot from this. Like, you really need to clean the gate from the lens side too, ugh. And my camera stabilization idea didn't work with the car moving, so that would need to be improved (this was all handheld). And the 12mm end of a 12-120 wasn't really wide enough. And I probably should overcrank it a bit, since driving slower won't work with traffic behind us. And snowy days make for a boring sky and too little contrast (but I had to take the weather I was dealt.) With a slightly cleaner gate (but still not clean enough!) my next test was on color negative film, trying out some other lenses too. I didn't mark the scenes, but you should pretty clearly be able to tell which ones are the 5.9mm, the 12-120 and the Kilfitt 90 macro. I was especially interested in the distortion level of the 5.9. Remarkably little! I'm a wide angle freak, so I was quite happy with those results. The Kilfitt is incredibly low contrast. Looks soft, even though focus-wise it's quite sharp. Interesting lens. Duncan

I got a 400 foot magazine dirt cheap on ebay, and like all things ebay, you pay your money and you take your chances. But it gives me a chance to tear down another 16s thing and show you all what's inside. All in all it was in good cosmetic and operating condition, but some things just don't age well, and the glue Arri used to put the felt on the rollers in these things is one of those. There are other things I could take apart on this but for the moment the rollers were all that was wrong, so I limited it to that. If I ever tear down farther into one of these magazines, I'll add to this web page. http://backglass.org/duncan/arri//16s_400_foot_magazine_teardown/ Duncan

Arri doesn't seem to be real big on labeling things. What are the odds that these two objects I have are Chronosynth 1/8 and Isoflex 18/05 ? Duncan

My next attempt at getting the pin out without drilling will be an arbor press (I have to wait until we're working at work again to use the one there; still all working from home here.) But my past experience has been that if you can't even budge something with a drift, an arbor press isn't going to cut it. We'll see. Regardless, it's a crazy amount of force to require to remove something about 1.5mm in diameter. Duncan

Over 30 years and 20000 cameras (not to mention things they learned from all their other cameras and equipment) they were bound to have changed things. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if the thinner wires were how they made the earlier motors (because that is how you make a motor that will never be taken apart again) and then they switched to more robust wires after people were running the heck out of these things and then wanted to replace just the bearings or brushes. I have a real problem with how they pinned the ball onto the shaft, especially considering the need to remove it to replace that front bearing. There's just no mechanical need I can see for it being that semi-permanently affixed. I guess we'll see if my brass dowel pins wear with use or something. I chose brass in case I wanted to mushroom the ends a bit to keep them in place (which so far, does not look necessary). Duncan

If your 16S rubber coupler is worn out and you want to replace it yourself, you first need to source a new one. I got mine from Sean Charlesworth, who has a web page on the subject here: https://opus5.complex88.com/2013/03/camera-repair-arri-s.html It's not cheap, but it's a perfect fit and comes with detailed instructions on the right way to put it in. My camera, however, is the newer style for which his instructions don't work. Instead of being bolted to the fairly easy to remove plate, the transmission with the coupling is part of the whole deeper gear train, which requires massive disassembly of everything, with shims that have to be kept track of, etc. No way I was taking my camera that far apart. What I should have done is sent it to an expert to get the coupling installed, get it tuned up, etc. That is what you should do, too. However, I got a screaming deal on the camera and there was no way I was going to pay more to get a rubber tube installed than I paid for the camera, so I set about figuring out how to work smarter. I discovered that long (11") needle-nose pliers with a slight bent tip would allow me to work down through the motor opening, grab on to the shaft of the transmission just below the coupling, and hold it firmly while I also fed the two-pin driver down into the coupling and removed the screw holding it to the transmission. Then, just like in the instructions, I wiggled the old coupling off. Then, using smaller skinnier needle nosed pliers I fed the coupling and then the half-moon wires, and then the screw down in there and got it all in place... and then using the long pliers again, held the shaft while tightening the screw. Voila - took about 5 minutes to change the coupling, and no camera disassembly. DO NOT TRY THIS if you don't normally take stuff apart and fix it without instructions. Things can go horribly wrong. You can drop parts irretrievably into the camera. You can gouge the transmission shaft. You can bump into other things with the big pliers and wreck stuff. This isn't a magic fix for just anyone to replace their coupling. It's just a way, especially if you have one of the later cameras, for a skilled technical type to replace the coupling without nearly as much work. I hope these pictures give you the idea of what I'm talking about: Duncan

In another thread I've been investigating the standard motors for the 16S (the stock variable speed motor, and the constant-speed motor with the external transistor). For the sake of future searches I thought I'd gather that all together in a new topic, where we can just discuss the guts of the motors, and taking them apart and fixing them. I've made a web page for each motor, and am updating them as I learn more. But there's an initial teardown and rebuild of each so far. Constant speed motor (the one with the transistor): http://backglass.org/duncan/arri/constant_speed_motor_24fps_teardown/ Variable speed motor: http://backglass.org/duncan/arri//variable_speed_motor_teardown/ For those just looking for the bearing specs, they are the same for both motors: "Type 625" permanently lubricated with dust shields on both sides. They are not stainless steel. Specs are 16mm outer diameter, 5mm shaft diameter, and 5mm race depth. They are available at some expense from normal bearing suppliers, but they must also be used in RC cars or something, because they're all over eBay for under a buck each in any sort of quantity. Replacing the bearings is not for the faint of heart, however; you might want to consult those web pages. Duncan

OK, finally, the variable speed motor teardown. http://backglass.org/duncan/arri//variable_speed_motor_teardown/ And it's about time to create a new thread for just the motors, so I'll do that in a bit. Duncan

If whoever buys your Bolex doesn't grab all the film too, you should definitely put that up for sale in another posting. Duncan

Yeah, epoxy in that thin a coat just doesn't have enough strength to hold screw threads. So, another order to McMaster-Carr for tiny metric screws and bottoming taps. The screws need to be precisely 4.5mm long, so I'll be filing down some 5mm ones. Even the low-profile rivnuts are too long, so that's not an option. If all else fails I can countersink thin nuts on the back side, but it's a curved surface and that would all be very tricky. I can't believe I'm going to be tapping Bakelite. Who ever heard of such a thing? Duncan

Totally agreed, but this is not a high-torque application, and it's worth a shot to just wait overnight. They're blind holes, so no nut on the back. Next size up would probably work, though I'll have to drill out the through-holes in the contacts and the spring steel backer plates. I'm tempted to get nut-serts if they make them in that thread size. It's kind of hard to believe Arri just threaded machine screws straight into Bakelite, but as I said it's not high torque. Duncan

Bearings showed up, look and work great, but I've run into some snags that require JB-Weld work (I can hear the Arri techs fainting dead away at this) and so need to wait for it to harden up. One of the desoldered wires goes down through the main body behind one of the field coils and attaches to the main power contact near the drive ball. It's "potted" in against the body, tucked behind the coil, so the armature won't rub against it while spinning. Arri didn't do a fantastic job of this, and it pulled loose while I was reassembling things. Simple matter to tuck it back in its groove in the potting material (it's just epoxy) and coat over it with JB-Weld (which is just epoxy) to get it to stay in place again. I only needed to let that harden up enough to hold it in place while I reassembled the armature and brush plate to the body, which I did, and now it can cure fully with time, as everything there is fixed in place, The other problem is with the screws that hold down the variable resistor contacts. They're machine screws, but just threaded into the plastic or bakelite that forms the brush and directional switch plate. One of the two of on each contact was stripped enough that it wouldn't tighten down. One of those is critical because it holds the electrical "eyelet" contact against the sliding contact. That could have been part of the reason the variable speeds were erratic. So I've rimmed the inside of those tiny holes with more JB-Weld and hope that after curing overnight the machine screws will act like a tap and cut new threads into the epoxy and provide a firm grip on the contacts and eyelets. If not, I'll need to fill those holes completely and drill and retap them properly. Wish they'd used brass nut-serts in those holes but maybe nobody made any that small back then. Duncan