8mm Forum: Eumig 810D dreaded slow run speed.

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Posted by Grant LoPresti (Member # 3326) on May 07, 2013, 04:42 PM:

Finally got the broken feed reel spindle changed out on my 810D and ran a few 200ft. films to test it. Worked good for the first 3/4 of the film and then I noticed the motion looked a little slow. I stopped the machine and switched it to 24fps and it bogged right down to almost a stop after a minute. Switched back to 18fps and watched the end. Then I rewound the film with no problems. Put another reel on and now when I select forward, the front spindle feeds film off the reel under power. It didn't before I "fixed" it.

I must have put some part in wrong when I changed the spindle out, even though I was careful to line up the parts in order as I removed them. Or there's some other problem or adjustment that is out now.

I think this machine is a lost cause, especially after reading posts about those darn rubber friction discs and the tension spring repair on the motor that can take 6 hours to do.

Too bad, these were such nice machines in their day.

Posted by Rob Caspers (Member # 3646) on May 07, 2013, 05:58 PM:

Hello! I had exactly the same problem with 4 other Eumigs. I solved it by cleaning the rubber disks with printer cleaner. That stuff comes in a spray can with a small tube to make it possible to reach exactly the spot that you actually want to clean. Moist the disks while they are rotating and take the oily, dirty substance off with an ear-swab. Be careful not to lose the tip of the swab. You have to repeat this until nothing comes off anymore and the swab stays clean. My experience is that the machine runs as new. I don't know how long this solution lasts, but I haven't had to do it again yet, and all projectors that I cleaned still run well after one year.
I hope this will solve your problem of the slowing down. The other problem you mention is unknown to me.

Posted by Grant LoPresti (Member # 3326) on May 08, 2013, 11:02 AM:

Thanks for your insight on the rubber disks, that gives me some hope. There are a few other posts and ideas on this wonderful forum too. One of them should help get it going again.

The feed reel issue must be some spindle part I put together incorrectly, so I'll try again.

It's such a nice projector, the 810D LUX HQS with the Supragon 1.2 lens, and the standard 8 film I ran looked great.

I'll try to save it if I'm able.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on May 08, 2013, 01:32 PM:

We had exactly the same problem with numerous 810s in the late 70s, all new machines one after the other, each one sent away to Johnsons of Hendon with a four week wait only for all of the m to be returned exactly the same. It was this problem that made me to determined to switch to the Elmos. My Brother still swears by the Eumigs but i agree, the problem is always with those naff rubber drives. We did have one taken apart by an enthusiast who ,as well as cleaning the rubber, painted some kind of coating onto it which afterwards made it run 100%.
Slipping rubber drives are often a source of problems with speed faults

Posted by Grant LoPresti (Member # 3326) on May 08, 2013, 03:44 PM:

My brother is the film and Eumig enthusiast too. I run a big high definition CRT projector in my home theater with digital media now. But I have fond memories of watching films as a kid, it was really a treat. I was hoping to use this Eumig machine to transfer old home shot steam railroad films I found and then send it off to my brother. He's got a big collection of dual 8 sound films and is in need of a projector.

I'll go ahead and see what I can do to get it working. I'll start with reasonable suggestions here and work my way up to crazy ideas I have, like added tension springs or chemical rubber rejuvenator I've used in commercial printing. Maybe spray on automotive undercoat or some sort of roofing tar! [Big Grin]

Posted by John Capazzo (Member # 157) on May 08, 2013, 05:12 PM:

Grant,

Remove the cover and plug the cord in. Reach your hand around and put the knob in FWD and while it's in FWD, put a screw driver under the motor and lift up with slight pressure so the spindle hits the rubber wheel. The motor is on a rocker, so you should be under that part of it. Keep this up for a short while then release and it will eventually stay put. Do the same in REVS. I've done this on several machines and it's worked. Don't remove any of the rubber with sand paper. You want to keep as much rubber as possible.

Posted by Grant LoPresti (Member # 3326) on May 08, 2013, 06:10 PM:

Hi John, thanks for the tip. I actually did that while I was trying to determine if there was a motor spring tension issue. It seemed to help to put slight pressure on it. I gently cleaned the brass and rubber disks with a q-tip and alcohol. Seems to work fine now, at least for the 3 films I screened. Who knows how long it will last. I agree with you that removing rubber from the disks is not the answer. My disks look to be in pretty good shape except for some wear in the 24f.p.s. rewind position.

I found the problem with the feed spindle. I had put a spacer on the wrong side of one of those "U" clips and it allowed the little cam piece to move around too much and jam against the plastic piece. I very lightly re-lubed all the gear items while I was in there too. Now it works pretty good.

EXCEPT!

#1. I notice the bulb is on very dim when in stop and all rewind/thread settings (other than normal full on). Is this normal?

#2. I can't seem to get good even focus across the whole picture. I can focus edges or middle but not both at once. Is there an optimum distance from projector to screen? I can't get back far enough to fill my 120 inch wide screen, even at full zoom.

#3. I had a bad splice go through and then the image got "jumpy" and I didn't know how to correct it. I tried pushing the auto thread thing and moved the frame control. I stopped and reversed a bit and then went forward. No help. Another splice went through after a minute and it corrected.

#4. There seems to be a lot of "clatter" from the film gate. Normal? I have the right one in for the gauge I'm watching. [Wink]

I'll read up and try to find how to best clean the gates and film path. I'm sure that would help anyway.

Thanks for all the help.

Posted by John Capazzo (Member # 157) on May 09, 2013, 01:34 PM:

Grant,

All of those discrepancies are normal. They're sensitive machines on splices. When you get a splice and it jumps, GENTLY press on the threader or remove the cover and re loop while it's playing.

The lamp is supposed to be dim so it conserves.

If you have the factory 1.6 lens, then you'll have the worst possible picture. Dull, dim and out of focus. It's a very lightweight lens. Look for a Eumig 1.1 zoom lens. It makes a huge difference. Possibly Jon Addams does. He's very helpful and has parts for Eumigs. I have some parts left to an 807/810 if you're in need but unfortunately not a 1.1 lens.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on May 09, 2013, 01:44 PM:

Use Wurker tape splices they are near invisible if made well.

The 810D came with a F1.3 lens as standard and the LUX version with F1.2

Posted by Grant LoPresti (Member # 3326) on May 09, 2013, 03:21 PM:

Eumig 810D LUX HQS Supragon 1.2 lens.

It has the 1.2 lens. Maybe I'm pushing it trying to fill a big screen with such a far throw distance. I imagine lenses have a sweet spot distance wise projector to screen. The image is plenty bright enough even at over 20 feet from the screen though.

The CRT projector I use has dual adjustments on its massive lenses for center and edge focus. Maybe I could adapt one to the Eumig so I can enjoy the film grain.

I still need to check out and clean the gate and film path to see if that will help out the focus issue.

Once I get good focus, I'm going to have to buy a sound film and see if the audio works.

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