8mm Forum: Eiki SSL-0... what the hell is its reel capacity?? (And what about that little light)

This is topic Eiki SSL-0... what the hell is its reel capacity?? (And what about that little light) in forum 16mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 13, 2005, 10:29 AM:

Been trying to find this out - nothing concrete on Google or on eBay (in fact, I get conflicting information instead)... So, once and for all, before I drive myself crazy....

What size reels does the Eiki SSL-0 (B&H 3580) take?

2000' or 2300'?

Do either of these come in different reel diameters (depending on core size), or is there just one 2000' reel and one 2300' reel?

[Eek!]

OK, the other question is, is the Eiki supposed to have a little power-on light? There seems to be a miniature bulb to the left of the rotary switch but it never lights up on my projector. Note, I'm not talking about the exciter bulb, my sound is working fine. [Wink]

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on August 13, 2005, 12:00 PM:

The 2000 and 2300 are the same diameter. The 2300 has a smaller hub. I don't remember about the power on light, I can't get to my Eiki at the moment. You can use either reel on the Eiki. [Smile]

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on August 13, 2005, 12:52 PM:

I believe that it takes an ELC Lamp.

Michael

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 13, 2005, 12:52 PM:

Thank you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[Big Grin]

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on August 14, 2005, 11:24 AM:

The ELC is the projection lamp, not the power on lamp. That's a little minature lamp that's is next to impossible to replace without a complete teardown of the switch mechanism.

It's soldered onto pins 4 and 5 of the 9 pin connector that the amp plugs into (it's soldered on the projector side) to an 8.5 volt source.

The part number is 320-60121 and also order the sleeve 320-60131.

Good luck with replacing it, probably not worth the effort.

BTW, while the 2000 and 2300 are the same outside diameter, the inside hub of the 2300 reel is much smaller and thus the reel turns much fast on start-up. Be wary of the heavy Goldberg reels as they have a tendacy of developing enough speed that the spring loaded roller on the take up can't handle it and you might get film breaks. Plastic reels are a better choice here, but make sure you don't have any warped reels. The 2300 are notrious for having that problem as well.

John

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 14, 2005, 11:31 AM:

John, thank you! At least now I know that this was supposed to be a power-on light. So what if it's burnt out, I've already decided it's not worth replacing, so I just clipped the wires off and taped around them and kind of shoved them back into the hole... being careful not to cause a short, of course.

I have a 2300' plastic Tuscan reel which works very nicely, and the fast spin-up doesn't seem to be a problem either thanks to its light weight. Still, I wonder if there are reels even larger than 2300' and/or whether the SSL-0 can take them... seems to me there's still like 2 inches of room left between the edge of my Tuscan reel and the projector itself.
Or is it the same thing as with the Elmo ST-1200? "Yeah, you can fit a 1600' reel on the take-up side but you're not meant to be doing it?" [Confused]

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on August 14, 2005, 09:47 PM:

Jan,

I don't know of any commercially made reel that is two inches larger in diameter than the 2000/2300 foot reel. You can get more footage on by doing two things:

Use a 2000 foot split reel with a two inch core and use estar film (which is thinner).

By far the better solution is to use 6000 foot reels and a large reel device.

Using large reels has its own set of pitfalls.

John

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 14, 2005, 11:30 PM:

I bet! But I don't need anything larger than 2300' or even 2000', it seems most 16mm feature films come on 1600' reels anyway. I was merely curious if there was such a thing as, say, a 2700' or 3000' reel. There isn't, so that's that. [Smile]

Posted by John A. Pommon (Member # 292) on August 15, 2005, 03:16 AM:

"Good luck with replacing it, probably not worth the effort."

Hey Jan, As John so aptly mentions it . . .
it's a bee-ach to replace.
After having done one around a year ago I learned it's not too bad. The SSLs are 'componentized' making it easier once you get started. You do have to undo a few components from the back to clear space and pull the hard wired leads out towards you.
The trick is to make sure the you attach long leads (10") to the new lamp to allow enough wire-length to lace them back into the machine after you have soldered them.

I tend to leave stuff on . . . so the pilot lamp has let me know more times than not to turn it off or the machine is plugged in but not on plus in the darkened booth it does help. Should you get brave enough to tackle it email your address and I will send you a lamp. (I have a two & needed only one)

John P

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on August 15, 2005, 01:23 PM:

quote:
it seems most 16mm feature films come on 1600' reels anyway.

There's a good reason for that. When you cut 35mm you make it up in 1000 foot lengths that are called "reels". Features were printed and shipped as "doubles" i.e. two reels each so that in theatres running two projectors there were change-overs every 20 minutes (back in the olden days). When you reduce 35mm to 16mm, the footage length is reduced (40 frames per foot vs 16 frames per foot) so a 1000 feet of 35mm reduces to 400 feet of 16mm. If you take two "double" 35mm reels of a feature and splice them together you get a 16mm foot reel. So your 16mm 1600 foot reels match the 35mm feature with half as many change overs.

Then came the platter and the multiplexes and everything changed.
But you still cut 35mm to 1000 foot reels since all the film vaults and laboratory equipment is setup to handle 1000 foot loads.

John

Posted by Jim Schrader (Member # 9) on August 15, 2005, 07:56 PM:

Hi Jan mine works fine the small bulb your refering to it goes off whe you turn off the volume completly and comes on i wonder about this to when i forgot to unplug it one day i was wondering if this is on all the time, not reading the manual (I 'm a male)i found this out just playing with it, so hope it helps. Jim [Smile]

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 15, 2005, 07:56 PM:

Interesting... Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 1600' of 16mm film is almost equivalent to 800' of super-8 film. So, following your explanation, how come features are sold on 1600' reels for 16mm film, but only 400' reels (instead of 800' ones) for super-8 film?

Jim: are you sure you're not talking about the exciter lamp [Wink]

That one goes off when you switch the amplifier off, too...

John: wow, thanks for the offer! At this rate I might just go for it and fix that little thing. Will PM you my address shortly [Smile]

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on August 16, 2005, 12:22 AM:

quote:
Interesting... Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 1600' of 16mm film is almost equivalent to 800' of super-8 film. So, following your explanation, how come features are sold on 1600' reels for 16mm film, but only 400' reels (instead of 800' ones) for super-8 film?

Originally 16mm and 8mm silent projectors were introduced for home use for home movies. 16mm projector took 400 foot reels (the equavalent of 1000 of 35mm) and 8mm projectors took 200 foot reels (the same size as 400 of 16mm).

8mm projector quickly evolved to 400 foot reels, but remember most of the Castle films were 200 foot "complete editions" in 8mm and 400 in 16mm. Only the sound films matched the 35mm theatrical versions (often with new titles by Castle). Features came along in the 8mm medium years later and the projectors were already set in stone. By the way, there are SMPTE standards on all these reels for 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm and their sizes and uses and also for many of the carts used in the endless loop super 8 projector days as well.

8mm just wasn't considered a feature market and when you find them (such as Blackhawk) they're on 400 foot reel and match up with the 35mm double (2000 foot) reels.

John

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 16, 2005, 12:45 AM:

Thanks for another expert explanation [Smile]

I love learning all these little things. [Smile]

Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on August 20, 2005, 07:59 PM:

THANKS to John Pommon for the spare lamp, it arrived yesterday. Ah, soon I shall have a 100% perfect Eiki machine. Woohoo! [Cool]

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