Kodak Carousel 4600 Questions...

I bought a Carousel 4600K slide projector on eBay, and it arrived yesterday. There was a BIG problem, though. It came with a regular 4600 instruction manual. The 4600 and 4600K projectors have some differences, making it impossible for me to get the slide tray to rotate once it was in position atop the projector.

 

The main problem was that there was a large plastic tab - maybe 1/4 to 3/8" wide - on the outer rim of the large circle atop the projector indicating the proper position for the tray to be positioned. There was also a corresponding notch on the tray that fit the plastic tab. When they joined up, the tray was immovable on the projector. There was NO WAY that tray was going to move, no matter how many times I clicked the tray advance button. To top things off, the slides wouldn't drop into the slide gate inside the projector.

 

I contacted the seller, and I'm sending the projector back today. I asked several 4600 sellers on eBay how they got the tray to advance, but they had no idea.

 

As a result, I've given up trying to buy a Carousel. But the thought of using a Nikkor 50mm lens as a loupe doesn't appeal to me:p.

 

What is another good slide projector brand I can consider? Decades ago, I had a Leitz Pradovit, and I loved it. For the most part, they're more than I want to spend now. But if that's my best option, I may go for one. What's a good model to consider? Two questions - what's a good Leitz projector lens?, and do Leitz projector lenses have a tendency to get hazy as they age? When I was considering whether to get back into Leica R series cameras/lenses a while back, my searches on eBay for the R lenses found a fair amount of haze in some of them. So I went heavily into Nikon and never looked back. My Nikkor AI/AIS lenses have all peen perfect optically, thank goodness.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Vincent Peri

I have a Kodak Signet slide projector which I used for many years (before going digital). Its uses Arequipt (40 slide) magazines which I find more compact than the carousels. And the sides can't fall out. There was also a single slide holder with a manual ejector and a basket uunderneath for showing small numbers of slides. They came with either a 300 or 400 watt bulb .Mine is a 400 watt with a cooling fan. The cooling fan had a two position switch which allowed you to continue cooling down the bulb after the bulb turned off. There was a choice of two different focal length lenses for small or large rooms. I think the Carousels were designed for commercial retail storefront use because they could be set to continue going round and round for several hours or ll night with no operator needed.

Take the tray off the projector and see if the indexing finger (a little nylon teardrop) is moving forward when you push the advance button. Also check if the tray lock finger retracts when either the advance or reverse buttons are pushed.

Can you move the tray by hand when the tray release button, on the front near the lens, is held down.

If the answer to any of those is no, the mechanism is not working correctly. Carousel projectors are old, and much of the mechanism is made of plastic that ages quickly in the heat from the lamp. It's probably not possible to get repair parts for them these days.

Take the tray off the projector and see if the indexing finger (a little nylon teardrop) is moving forward when you push the advance button. Also check if the tray lock finger retracts when either the advance or reverse buttons are pushed.

Can you move the tray by hand when the tray release button, on the front near the lens, is held down.

If the answer to any of those is no, the mechanism is not working correctly. Carousel projectors are old, and much of the mechanism is made of plastic that ages quickly in the heat from the lamp. It's probably not possible to get repair parts for them these days.

 

Oops, I can't do that now, because I mailed back the projector this morning:oops:.

The tray has to be in the right position on its base to sit on the projector.

 

If you turn it upside down (no slides, or lock ring in place) you can see if the slot lines

up with position zero. It has to sit so that the tray rim will fit under the tab, not

hit the tab when rotating.

 

Well, since you sent it back you can't do that, but next time.

Last I knew, they go for about $10 at Goodwill.

 

I still have my 760H from years ago, which still works fine, so I haven't

been interested in buying one. I did buy a bag of bulbs for a low price.

I remember at the dawn of the digital age I couldn't give away my Kodak projector, and this was a high end model. I finally just "forgot" it at a camera club meeting.

Leica Pradovit Color 250, CA2500, CA2502, P2000 are the best projectors made IMO. 90mm Colorplan probably the nicest lens and a 90mm Super-Colorpan if you want the cherry on top. Leaves any Carousel in the dust, but it does not take Carousel magazines.

In the days when talks were often done using slides, carrying a Kodak Carousel

to a conference worked well. They might not have been the best, but they were pretty

much standard for conferences. (That is, when they didn't use overhead projectors

and transparency sheets.)

 

Since Carousel projectors have interchangeable lenses, you could get non-Kodak

lenses for them.

The tray has to be in the right position on its base to sit on the projector.

 

If you turn it upside down (no slides, or lock ring in place) you can see if the slot lines

up with position zero. It has to sit so that the tray rim will fit under the tab, not

hit the tab when rotating.

 

Okay, I found an instruction manual online and got a clear picture of what's going on and the proper terminology.

 

The "tab" on the projector that I mentioned is called the GATE INDEX. It fits into the notch on the slide tray. No matter what I did, the tray (and thus the notch) wouldn't drop low enough so that it cleared the Gate Index. Helllllp...

Edited July 31, 2020 by Vincent Peri

Okay, I found an instruction manual online and got a clear picture of what's going on and the proper terminology.

 

The "tab" on the projector that I mentioned is called the GATE INDEX. It fits into the notch on the slide tray. No matter what I did, the tray (and thus the notch) wouldn't drop low enough so that it cleared the Gate Index. Helllllp...

 

You can only put the tray on when the slot where the slides drop is at position 0.

(For continuous slide shows, you can put a slide in position zero. Normally you don't.)

 

There is a mechanism to lock the plate in position when removed from the projector,

normally at zero, but it will lock at other positions. You need to release that lock,

and rotate the disk to the appropriate position. This is somewhat more

obvious when the tray is upside down.

 

In case of emergency (slide jam) you can remove the tray at other positions.

In projectors that I know, there is a slot the right size for a coin in the center

of what holds the tray down. Rotate that and it will release the tray, which

you then lift, and out from under the gate index. This is the normal cause

for the disk being in other than position zero when off the projector.

By the way, there is also a stack loader for Carousel projectors.

Convenient if you have slides in group slide boxes, or in the box that

they come in after processing.

For the broader discussion of "best"-I think it's smart to get plugged into Kodak if you're in the US.

 

The Ektagraphic series are generally more stoutly built and reliable than the ones branded Carousel in my experience. I've had plenty of Carousels where advance was either flaky or didn't work at all. I've never seen an Ektagraphic that didn't. The Ektagraphic accessories, including trays, lenses, and remotes/other controllers are 100% interchangeable with Carousels, and from what I've seen they are at worst the same price as comparable age Carousels if not somewhat less expensive since the name isn't as well know.

 

I use an Ektagraphic III with a Buhl lens, and have no desire to upgrade my projector set-up further(barring possibly finding a shorter focal length Buhl). I have all of about $20 invested in the set up-$10 for the projector and $10 for the lens.

 

Trays are often free or inexpensive(you might have to clear someone's old slides out of them). I like the 80 slide trays since they seem more reliable than the larger ones(120? 140?) but either works well. The stack loader mentioned above is super handy also, especially for not having to spend the time loading a tray for a one-time show.

Hi Ben,

 

The Ektagraphic III comes in assorted models. Which one do you have? I don't want the one with the built in viewing screen!!! LOL.

Yes, the Ektagraphic are the ones used for commercial users, and Carousel

for home use. Ektagraphic should be tougher built.

 

Other than that, I am not sure of the features. Halogen lamps are nicer.

Autofocus (on the slide surface) is nice, too.

 

For those who haven't used slides for a while, what happens is that as the slide warms up,

possibly drying out a little, they pop. That is, change focal position. Autofocus will

follow this change, keeping the image in focus. This will also work for different mounts

with the film in a different position. It doesn't work for glass mounts, where it will follow

the position of the glass.

I wanted to get a Carousel projector to replace my old manual Kodak 500.

 

My experience was that every one I found turned out to be completely worn out, with shorts (the bulbs are expensive even if the projectors were cheap), problems with the advance mechanism, etc.

 

Schools were the sources and I think they didn't dispose of them until they were completely shot. I gave up and went back to the Kodak 500 with a batch loader.

Cutting Edge in 1960! Hoo-boy! The lid even makes a small screen for table-top projection.

Still works but the bulbs are getting hard to find....

Edited August 1, 2020 by JDMvW

I wanted to get a Carousel projector to replace my old manual Kodak 500.

 

My experience was that every one I found turned out to be completely worn out, with shorts (the bulbs are expensive even if the projectors were cheap), problems with the advance mechanism, etc.

 

Schools were the sources and I think they didn't dispose of them until they were completely shot. I gave up and went back to the Kodak 500 with a batch loader.

[ATTACH=full]1351354[/ATTACH]

Cutting Edge in 1960! Hoo-boy! The lid even makes a small screen for table-top projection.

Still works but the bulbs are getting hard to find....

 

I suppose that would have been true some years ago, but by now many are disposing of them good or not.

 

Also, some are disposing of the bulbs that they might have stocked.

As above, the Ektagraphic are the industrial version, likely tougher built.

I believe that they use different bulbs, which will be found in different places.

 

Like with cameras, and just about everything else, if you are not in a rush, you likely can

get what you want for a reasonable price. If you are in a rush, it will cost more.

 

I have saved search on eBay for some strange things that I might want, but only for

a low enough price. Way too often, I get something.

I'll have to check which specific Ektagraphic III I have.

 

With that said, I'd advise a halogen lamp version of any projector if at all possible. They're brighter, more even, and in my experience are easy to find since they use they use the same two-pin lamp with a built in reflector as a lot of overhead projectors and the like.

 

I like AF also. You do still have to manually focus on initial set-up, but a lot of the non-AF projectors had focus buttons on the remote to tweak focus slide-by-slide and after the slide "pops." AF takes care of both of those needs.

It seems that Ektagraphic III, all models, use the EXR 82 volt lamp. (There is one manual for all models.)

 

The usual Carousel with halogen lamp use ELH 120 volt lamp.

 

There are enough different lamps that they might look similar but be different voltage.

 

For both, there are some choices at higher or lower power, with different life.