8mm Forum: GAF 1688z dual

This is topic GAF 1688z dual in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Brian Lamm (Member # 7099) on October 16, 2019, 11:17 AM:

I'm picking up a GAF 1688z dualthis weekend. Has anyone had luck with these? Are they worth maintaining? Quality? Thanks for any info you can provide

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on October 16, 2019, 01:11 PM:

Welcome Brian! I have owned and worked on many GAF projectors of this design. If they have been maintained well they are work-horse projectors. My MovieStuff frame-by-frame telecine projector is a modified GAF 388D and runs a champ.

That said ...These are very old machines and some parts ware more than others. The linkage and switches hold up well...but the rubber tire on the pulleys get hard and break apart. This will effect forward and rewind. The belts will most likely need replacing, but can easily be found on Ebay and not a difficult job. If your model uses the flat motor belt it will be the most expensive belt to replace.

The show stopper will be the lamp. Unless someone has done a lamp upgrade... these can cost you $50 - $90 and do not have a long life. Check out my thread on the bulb upgrade.

http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=007410

This is my quick overview of these GAF projectors. Everything really depends on what you are going to use it for. If you just want to try and fix something and maybe sell it... be prepared to put in probably more money than you can make...but then there's no price you can put on the fun to make something work again.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 16, 2019, 02:06 PM:

At $55.26 and only a life of 15 hours it does not seem a very feasible idea to own one of these projectors even if it works OK.
https://www.replacementlightbulbs.com/lampdgbdmd.html

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