old home movie projectors

Anyone interested in sharing some knowledge with others regarding

old style 8mm film projection and production...I have recently been

researching projectors for use in screening old 8mm films from

fifties and sixties. It seems like there could be some interest in

discussing positives and negatives and trips down memory lane in this

forum.

 

Do you have any knowledge or personal recollections of what the

better makes of projectors are? I see a LOT of choices on e-bay and

other venues to sort through. My dad had an old Bell and Howell that

was pretty good (put dead now). I see Keystone, Kodak, Bolex (kinda

pricey), Sankyo (also $$$) Dejur, and Bell and Howell. Any thoughts

on what I should focus (heh heh) in on? Any opinions on best way to

go about this? Thanks for the input.

There are a few of us who still use this medium -- film and processing is still available, and the equipment is alot cheaper than it was when it was popular :-)

 

Keystone, B&H, Revere, Kodak and Bolex are all good brands -- as you note, Bolex has held its prices fairly well, as there is a bit of a Bolex cult.

 

Most dead 8-mm (and 16mm) cameras can be revived with a squirt of WD-40

Of the following, what order of preference would you RATE them, or are they essentially all equal?

 

Keystone, B&H, Revere, and Kodak...

 

thanks, appreciate the insight, and hope I can continue this thread with some anecdotal stuff from others!

When it comes to old projectors, really the most important issue is probably how worn out it is, and whether there are any rubber belts or wheels that have rotted over the years. I am getting back into this too. I have my father's old Kodak M95 which will project both 8mm and super 8. I have a whole lot of his old films, as well as quite a few of my own old films. We both shot both 8mm and super 8, so having a combination projector has been a plus for me. I recently acquired my father's old 16mm films from my mother. He shot 16mm as a teenager, and as a very young man, but he never had a projector (he just borrowed his father's projector, which is now gone). I checked out eBay and found, as you have found, that there are a whole lot of different choices. I looked them over, including pictures, and closing prices on recent sales, and then I picked out what appears to be a very nice Elmo 16CL using the "buy it now" option for just $150. I think that if the seller reports that its in good shape, and if the pictures of it appear to support that view, and if the seller says everything works, and if the owners manual is included so that you can figure out how to use it, that you just roll the dice and take your chances. Kodak, Bolex, Bell & Howell, and Keystone all made nice projectors back in the day. Which one is the one to buy today is something of a crap shoot, so just try to make sure that it wasn't a rental unit, or a school projector, and if one comes along that appears to be nearly new for a fair price, snap it up.

The Elmo CL16 that I bought on ebay had a vibration in it, so I called a whole bunch of places that advertised that they could repair projectors. I asked about what brands were easiest to get parts for, and they all said either Kodak or Elmo. They all wanted somewhere between $100 and $200 plus shipping to fix the Elmo, and they all thought it would be easy to fix. The guy I bought the projector agreed to take it back if I wanted, but instead I took him up on his offer to refund $75 for whatever might be wrong with it.

 

I am a mechanical engineer, and so I ventured into the machine myself, and I determined that the vibration was caused by a stick slip phenomenon in the take up reel drive. I called Elmo, and they told me it was a common problem and that they had a "take up reel upgrade kit" that would fix it. I bought the kit for $43, and the service and parts manuals for an additional $25.

 

I installed the upgrade kit myself in less than an hour, and it works perfectly. In fact, the signs of that vibration are present even in brand new old stock Elmo 16CL projectors I've seen since then, so I think mine runs even better than a new one.

 

Elmo stuff seems to be pretty easy to work on, and parts are available. According to the staff at Elmo, the thing that kills their projectors is lack of use. If you'll run a movie through it every week or two, it might just last forever.

My favorite projectors are the Revere ones. Manual loading and a swing out lens are a must for me. I just like all the gears and levers out front in with fins for cooling and a variable speed dial. Problem with Revere projectors is that they start to clank when they go bad. Something in the pull down claw mechanism area. They are too pretty to toss and the parts may be useful for a repair shop.

I have 30 or so in my collection and useful descriptions of features and problems for each on my web site. Some are doubles and so may be restored completely. Have a visit to my web site. Pictures are not up yet. And I haven't figured out prices either, however, bulbs often are over $30 so you could start there and go up. I have seen R8 projectors sell for over $100 on the bay. Variable speed ones are useful for film transfers.

http://www.16mmoviemaking.com/store/

 

 

http://www.16mmoviemaking.com/8mm_projectors.htm