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Topic: Explosion uk part II

Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted July 11, 2019 07:44 AM

Decades ago I had the joy of a Elmo GS1200 Xenon lamp exploding next to me. Memorable.
Sat here watching 60 years of the gill man on bloo Ray's the DLP projector the lamp exploded, more of a pop than the old Xenon going. It's the first time we have had a lamp go here in a digital projector but the upside was I cleaned up and replaced the lamp in less than 30 minutes. Thankfully the show went on as I had a 1200ft of super 8 set up containing part of the A&C comedy hour set up to run and the Creature shorts. Quite a night..saved by Super 8 and the Elmo.
Lesson? Keep a spare lamp and screwdriver handy

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 11, 2019 08:08 AM

Sound advice from Lee. When that ultra high pressure lamp reaches its rated life it's time to replace it. You may be able to push it a little longer but the risk is not worth it. Lee is lucky that his exploding lamp did not take out the projectors critically aligned optical system.

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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

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Terry Sills
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1423
From: Weymouth,Dorset,England
Registered: Oct 2012

posted July 11, 2019 03:46 PM

A good reason not to (and I never do) use xenon projectors/ lamps. Expensive, unnecessary and too risky for any increased benefit for home use/ amateur projection. Standard lamps give more than adequate brightness for me - imho.

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted July 12, 2019 01:44 AM

Right Terry
Xenon 8mm machines were really made for out and about screenings or a permanent fixture. The one I used to cart around for film festivals projected film to a couple of hundred and good at that. In the home I've been more than happy with a GS fitted with a 2 blade shutter and other projectors which are much lighter.
We were still finding bits of glass hidden in the back of that xenon years later after a hefty repair....and that was when we had parts available.

Some years ago I took my little Eumig 807 to the eve show at Blackpool and projected a bit of Star Wars along with GR speaker. A few commented how good that basic machine was on such a big screen.
Memories.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 12, 2019 08:19 AM

I agree. At home I'm running a screen roughly 5 feet by 8 and Eumig 800s and Elmo Sts do an excellent job. I don't think I'd go any brighter than a GS halogen. Using a GS Xenon at home would be a little like having a Maserati for going to the supermarket: a waste of potential.

I even showed a reel for my son's Cub Scout pack on a bigger screen once with an EFP based machine and no external sound system. Between a totally dark room and excellent acoustics it did better than I thought it would. (-and much, MUCH better than the Scoutmaster predicted!)

However, I have seen the GS Xenon run wild in its native habitat. At CineSea, we run a pretty decent sized screen and even more importantly run alternating reels with 16mm Xenon machines and lately even 35mm. In this case there is no substitute. One time Doug had to send his Xenon to Leon Norris and he ran with his halogen machine. It was a pretty gray looking show! Maybe without the other Xenon machines there we would have adjusted, but the difference was just too obvious.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Leon Norris
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 958
From: Elkins Park, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted July 12, 2019 12:10 PM

A great lens and a two blade shutter will give you all the light you need! When its on the high side!

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted July 13, 2019 01:01 AM

One of the best projects I ever did was to convert a few of my Eumig 800 projectors to 2 blade shutter. This was particularly useful on the top end 824 machine and in a quest for more light for Std 8mm (Regular 8) and once done also altering the transformer voltage to 230 volts UK gives a remarkable performance for a light weight. The little sound amp delivers 15 watts which is enough really.
The dual gauge sound projectors were back then really handy if giving show out and about and having the two film formats inside one box at it were. I did a 2 blade conversion for a dear friend who has nearly 400 Std 8 features which will give anyone an idea how big Std8 was and still is. He also loves that 824 as I do and if maintained well they will last. My 1978 purchase has served me well and sits next to my late 1972 807D from batch one to enter the UK of that particular model.

I often reminisce as we do about all the films we have projected over the years and the projected image from all these projectors have told us many stories also made us laugh and fetch a tear. The movie projector is certainly a fascinating machine and a gloriously wonderful hobby to enjoy.

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