Aaton 400ft magazine mech problem....help?

Stephen Perera · February 20, 2020

Hi all.....its great to be a sustaining member cos you can attach images haha!

....shooting last week towards the end I had a problem with the magazine......there is something in the highlighted part that doesn't allow the film to pass through as fluidly as normal....its as if I was holding the film on the feed side fighting for the mechanism not to pull it though the gate normally......the drive is attempting to pull it through and the film stutters quite violently.......like a hacking noise......

so...send it in or...dismantle the part myself and see if there's an obstruction or anything in there??????

I tried with some dummy film and I can thread the film through from feed to the other side no problem...the roller is smooth.....I can even loop it as normal and attach to a spool.....but when i check the film pulls as normal its too tight.....there's something holding it back......

Edited February 20, 2020 by Stephen Perera

Brian Drysdale · February 20, 2020

Are you sure that the film isn't catching in the feed chamber. Dished film rolls etc can catch on the walls or are you using 100ft daylight spools?

Stephen Perera · February 20, 2020

Hey Brian....using 400ft rolls.....definitely something happening INSIDE the 'feed chamber' - at last I know its name....perplexing

Tyler Purcell · February 21, 2020

It's probably a cut piece of film, but I've personally never seen one do that, so that's really odd. I mean it's easy to take out, but you will need to re-seal it after you do.

Stephen Perera · February 29, 2020

...so I threw caution to the wind.....I figured I'd take the section apart carefully and see whats up.......I put the other magazine beside me as visual reference for when I put it back together......well.....it was perfect....no problem at all.....no debris inside at all.....no piece of film stuck.....nothing, all perfectly smooth....wheel running smoothly......so I put it all back carefully...even the seal was easy enough to put back properly......the most difficult part was the tiny screws holding them straight to be able to screw them back onas my screwdriver not magnetic....so I advise a magnetic one if anyone is going to do this.....

.......so I run another dummy roll through it again......boom same problem.....then i realised something......with the door open on the feed side the problem never manifested itself......I was holding both doors open to see what the hell was happening........

.....I found out at last!!!!!! the PROBLEM WAS THE FILM CORE HOLDER (the top of it obviously which holds the exploding spring parts that push against the spool to hold it) WAS RUBBING AGAINST THE DOOR on the feed side......somehow.....so its a question of disassembling that part and making sure it runs well within the circular cut out.........

Iv'e notice in both my magazines that the spool spins in a slightly imperfect circle.....is this normal......? its the same 'imperfection' on both......

Edited February 29, 2020 by Stephen Perera

Tyler Purcell · February 29, 2020

Remember the center core holder comes out to put in daylight spools. So if you don't have the right spacing when you put it back on again, it will rub. You SHOULD HEAR It rub tho.