Hi there,
I'm clearly very new to this forum, and also very new to 8mm movie cameras (still haven't even bought a roll of film, but I'm rather experienced with 35mm film photography). I know that having a reliable camera, which provides repeatable results is fairly essential to troubleshooting technique & for general enjoyment of any medium. I know my limitations, and have dabbled in still camera repair for quite a while. To get started on my 8mm adventure, I have purchased several of the less popular Bolex B8 cameras to study, repair, and use. At this point, I've disassembled, cleaned, lubed, and reassembled a few of them. The blog posts by Cinetinker (whom I saw is a member here) were absolutely pivotal to helping me get started. I use all the correct precision screwdrivers, wash parts ultrasonically in closed containers with waterless watch cleaning solvents, lubricate with Rocol & Nyeoil, then reassemble. So far, the results are great, and I'm pretty excited!
Now, I've come to the point of dialing in the shutter speed. In reassembly, I've aligned the shutter speed cam & indicator wheel so that 64fps & 8fps are in their correct locations at the extremes of the adjustment dial movement. Between what I worked out on my own, talking to a coworker whom operated high-speed movie & video cameras professionally for 20+ years, and watching the film "Teaser: Paillard Bolex” on Vimeo, I understand shutter timing is set with a stroboscope. Anyway, long story short, now I have a General Radio 1531-AB stroboscope to store with all my other test equipment...
So, armed with a well running camera & stroboscope, I set the camera frame rate to 16 FPS, set the stroboscope to 960 RPM, loosened the adjustment screw on the governor, & turned the silver governor eccentric until the claw eccentric stopped moving in the strobe light. Then, I tightened everything up, confirmed the speed, put everything back together, and did a final check just like the woman in "Teaser: Paillard Bolex”. The results were about 10 FPM slow, but that's around 1%, so it seems good(?). I thought I was done, however, when I try to run the camera at 8 FPS, the shutter doesn't move - the governor limiter is pushing the governor shaft against the rear bushing & preventing it from moving.
At this point, I was wondering if anyone with repair experience could give me some suggestions. I'm really only assuming the shutter frame rate without film should be set to 16 FPS - should I be setting it to a higher rate and assume it will slow when the system has drag from the film? I figured the governor would account for any drag the film would impart and keep the frame rate constant, but that could be a wrong assumption. I don't currently have any scrap film to run through the cameras to test the effect.
Anyway, sorry that's so long for a first post! I appreciate any help!