8mm Forum: Auto Thread Moments

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 04, 2014, 06:17 AM:

The auto thread mechanism on Super 8 projectors was presumably for people new to film collecting who might find it difficult to lace manually, something we old-timers had done for years.

It's always a tense moment when after inserting the film at the top entry. Will it, or will it not emerge unscathed? There may be an awful clattering noise and it the film does emerge it will be in a concertina shape never to be used again until replaced with a new leader.

Some projectors handle their auto threading very well, some do not. It would be interesting to hear from members about their projectors in the auto thread mode.

Are some makes or models better than others?

Whilst it is a fiddle to manually lace a Fumeo at least you know that there will be no problem when you start to project.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 04, 2014, 06:20 AM:

My Beaulieu will only accept a leader that was cut with the Beaulieu cutter.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on June 04, 2014, 08:46 AM:

Both my Elmo's ST/GS1200 auto thread 95% correctly. I always trim the end on the cutter. I would say 100% OK on 1200ft reels, but if only 50ft to 100ft reels the leader doesn't always appear out of the shute , but it has threaded. It seems the curl is too much.

My Fumeo as you say is manual only sometimes I do find it a little fiddly to lace up. (I bought some 3.5 reading glasses it does help to see).

The two 16mm Elf are mostly fine in auto, but easy to manually thread of course. My B&H used to be OK but now broke.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on June 04, 2014, 09:31 AM:

My Eumig 938 always seems to thread flawlessly.
My GS1200's usually thread well, unless the film is curving too much.
My Eumig 820 can be fussy.
In general I have found that manually trimming both edges of the film leader with a very generous 30 to 45 degree cut, using scissors, solves all auto thread problems.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 04, 2014, 09:32 AM:

Paul offers some useful tips.

An interesting comment made by Dominique. Always use the cutter attached to (or lose with) the projector. Different types of cuts are made by various makes, rounded, edge cuts of one or both sides. One of my Super 8 projectors (can't remember which one) does not come with a cutter but the instruction book shows how to do the perfect trim with a pair of scissors, straight across at 90 mid-way between the perforations.

We are generally speaking of Super 8 but David also includes 16mm. Whatever gauge, it is very important to use the supplied cutter, do not assume that one cut which works perfectly with one make of projector will work OK on another make.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on June 04, 2014, 10:44 AM:

Yes, when one has a finicky projector, one knows the true meaning of "suspense". It is true Hitchcockian suspense between the time the film enters my GS1200's and when the film hopefully emerges down at the takeup reel. Seconds turn to minutes during the time the film is in there, unseen. Is it travelling nicely or ......being crinkled into a useless mess? Even when I've trimmed the leader, there is always doubt.
Which brings me to my real complaint about the Elmo's. Why the devil did the designers put the trimmer on the front below the lens? With a normal lens on there it's difficult enough to get the film in the cutter, but with a big scope lens on the machine it's just about impossible. The Eumig people, I think, had the right idea. Either put the cutter on the back of the machine or on top.
Incidentally, I rarely have had a threading mishap with the Eumig machines.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on June 04, 2014, 10:44 AM:

Maurice Spot on with always use the projectors cutter. And of course you need to have spliced your white leader on first. I use about 4 foot which does allow a nice safety margin for any mishap.

On some of my features that are on one large reel I also have some black mag striped leader after the countdown(I use tape splicers).

And on them all black leader on the end.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 04, 2014, 10:47 AM:

Right, Maurice. I was not aware of that when I bought my Beaulieu and thought the auto thread was faulty as it failed 9 times out of ten, until another Belgian member of this forum, Bruno, told me (fortunately soon after I got my machine) that Beaulieu projectors are very sensitive regarding the cut of leader and it had to be done with the Beaulieu cutter. Since then, I haven't experimented any trouble so far.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on June 04, 2014, 02:42 PM:

All film fed into the Beaulieu HAS to have chamfered corners at 45 degrees to successfully thread. Always use the Beaulieu in built cutter or one that trims in a similar manner eg the Bauer cutter works just fine also. Another top tip I received on gaining perfect repeated threading is to always thread the film at 18fps and then flick the switch to 24 just as soon as the leader emerges from the bottom sprocket.The slower speed encourages even greater accuracy whilst forming the upper and lower loops.

Since following these simple instructions from day one of ownership I have never had a problem with threading on the Beaulieu.

[ June 04, 2014, 04:13 PM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

Posted by Jamie Biggs (Member # 3778) on June 04, 2014, 04:31 PM:

I'm still quite new to all of this so my experience is limited, but my Eumig 501 has virtually always threaded my films with no problems, whereas my GAF 1200 is more temperamental.

According to some instructions I found online for the GAF, the film has to be inserted into the slot before you switch the projector on, whereas you feed the Eumig while it's running so I don't know if that would make any difference to its reliability? Needless to say I mainly use the Eumig!

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on June 04, 2014, 09:48 PM:

I never let my projectors auto thread. I always prefer to stop the projector and lace the end into the take-up reel. I do, however, round the edges of all my leaders and they always go in fine. It's the result of too many instances when the leader would become "accordianed".

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 05, 2014, 01:26 AM:

Andrew makes an interesting comment that he uses the 18fps speed for auto-threading, then when all is OK he switches to 24fps.
Whilst I use the expression "auto-thread" I never expect the film to actually engage with the take-up spool, it usually needs a helping hand.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on June 05, 2014, 01:37 AM:

I found the ELMO would take-up on to the reel when using their 800ft spool and trip the auto thread. They do have a large centre though. Any other size or make no chance.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on June 06, 2014, 06:12 PM:

Maurice and Andrew, I do the same thing. I thread at the slower speed first. I thought I was the only one who did this.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on June 06, 2014, 10:56 PM:

After cleaning the film path I lube it with 100% bees wax then wipe it off leaving a thin film. After that it feeds flawlessly.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 08, 2014, 07:18 PM:

I find acetate leader is stiff enough to reach the takeup and be captured by it. Pretty much 100% of the time a polyester leader gets almost there and dives for the table.

Stop, lift, place and spin!

(The show must go on!)

Then again you often get the acetate leader that's just a little bit too curly and just coils on itself at the exit of the film path instead of reaching the reel.

(It's cantankerous stuff.)

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