8mm Forum: ST-800 restoration

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Posted by Patrick McGrath (Member # 1210) on November 24, 2013, 02:57 PM:

This past summer I picked up a discarded ST-800 at a used equipment store in Japan. It looked a bit dirty but there was no visible damage and the price tag read 1550 yen, which is around 15 bucks, so I had no excuse.
Upon returning home I found the usual gooey belts, but everything else looked good and even the bulb still lit.
I immediately ordered a two blade shutter from Reel Image and proceeded to tear down the film path.
Last time I did this I came up with a pretty good method for cleaning and resurfacing the plastic pathways. I used some 1000 grit sandpaper where I could detect wear (a good loupe or magnifying glass helps here) and then I used my dremel tool with a soft cloth buffing wheel and a light polishing compound. You have to be very careful not to run the dremel too fast or push too hard as it is easy to melt the plastic out of shape, but with just enough pressure and compound you can eliminate any wear and practically return the parts to new. Most of this wear is pretty small anyway but, to which we can all attest, it doesn't take much to scratch a film. Admittedly, this is a bit tedious but I can't see any other way to avoid the unknowns of a used machine than to do a thorough resurface like this.. Something I noticed about the 800 is that there are two rollers around the first sprocket film loading area where I have not seen on others(I even added the same one on my 180 near the sprocket itself).
The next thing I thought about was how to test for scratching after this procedure. I have used the leader method before and have even used a marker to make marks and then check for scratches but it always seems a little hard to be sure at what I am looking.
So, I ended up buying some expired cartridges with virgin film inside to run through the projector and then check it for marks. I don't know if there is a difference in the softness of the emulsion prior to developing so I may be a bit off especially if the emulsion is softer after processing but I feel like other than sacrificing what I know to be a pristine, scratchless print for the sake of testing, I thought this was a pretty good alternative.
If I go with the assumption that they are the same or close, then I can safely say my ST-800 is now scratch free.
I was going to take pictures of the two blade conversion but became so engrossed in it that I forgot all about trying to document it. This will be the second one that I've done now, the other being my ST-180, and I can't imagine not having it now. Both are brighter than my Sankyo 800 which of course has the 150w bulb as compared to the Elmo's 100w.
All in all, I'm really happy with the result and paired with my new f1.2 long throw zoom this is the brightest sharpest picture yet for me.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on November 24, 2013, 08:19 PM:

Patrick, two questions here:

1. I heard Japanese threw all unwanted electronic stuffs in thier front yard and garbage collectors will collect and scrap them. But there are still used electronic stores? That amazes me, because if people want them just collect from other people yard, right?

2. I knew all Japanese electronics would have a dedicated 100v or 200v set without a voltage selector. How do you deal with US 115v rate?

Cheers

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 24, 2013, 09:26 PM:

The really neat thing about it is you seem to have an unusual one: ST800MO, so you can do optical sound.

Posted by Patrick McGrath (Member # 1210) on November 24, 2013, 11:27 PM:

Yeah Steve, I didn't know if that was unusual or not.

Winbert, I'll try to answer your questions.
It used to be the case that used electronics in Japan were very casually discarded. Used anything was generally frowned upon. In the last ten years or so there has been a resurgence in frugality, probably due to the economic downturn. There is a very successful used book chain called BookOff that has expanded the "off" brand into the unfortunately named "HardOff" dealing in electronics, and "OffHouse" which offers household items of all kinds including clothes.
HardOff is where I bought both my ST-180 and 800. Two years ago there was a GS-1200 for 25000 yen ($250 USD) but it was gone when I returned to buy it. I couldn't carry it on the train so we drove back and it was gone. I suspect another tourist like me snagged it.

As for the voltage, I have a couple of transformers to convert it to 115

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on November 25, 2013, 06:48 AM:

I used to be in Fiji and many used stuffs were imported from Japan that included cars. When come to second hand stuffs from Japan that actually mint condition in our standards. You can see that all Japanese LPs are always shinny both vinyl and cover.

So $250 for a GS 1200 must be in excelent condition! And you missed it...! Oh If I were you I would bring it with me on train :-)

I did that on flight between NY - Toronto where the type of aircraft is the propeler ones. I didn't dare enough to check it in. I carried the GS on board and founf even the head storage could not fit in. So the GS was between my knees for the whole flight :-)

Patrick, I once opened a ST 800 which was said to be only 115v and found there was actually a voltage selector inside it. So check your projector and if you see it you can actually use it without need to bring the transformer

Cheers

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