8mm Forum: Bolex 521

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Topic: Bolex 521

Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 04, 2015 01:36 PM

Hi,
Has anyone experience of the Bolex 521 (or 511, 501)? Does it have a three or four prong claw?
Thanks.

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Paul.

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 05, 2015 03:10 AM

I understand that the Bolex 521 was made in Italy, possibly by Microtechnica, for Bolex International from 1977 to sometime in the 80s.

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Paul.

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Terry Sills
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted September 05, 2015 04:01 AM

The 521 is the updated version of the 321 but the build quality is a far cry from the 321. Very plasticy unlike the solid and high precision of the Swiss manufactured machines.. Built down to a price most probably and I believe not to the comprehensive spec as the 321. If you are interested I have an almost mint example available.

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 05, 2015 08:14 AM

Thanks Terry,
The weight of the older Bolexes has always put me off but I expect that's the price of the build quality. There is a 521 for sale close to me so I was intrigued as to whether it was sensible choice over a contemporary Bell & Howell. Many of my films are damaged and shrunk so I have found Elfs tend to jump with the frame restorer operating.

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Paul.

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Terry Sills
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted September 05, 2015 09:04 AM

Yes Paul they are very heavy but magnificent beasts. The B&H's are very good at handling damaged film, but for me it has to be the Debrie D16 with V gate. As I'm sure you know, 3 toothed claw and no contact with emulsion through the gate and because the film is gripped only on the extreme edges of the film it handles damaged and shrunken film very well. The downside is the bulk and weight unless you can keep it permanently assembled. I think all projectors have compromises of one sort or another. If you go for the 521 you'll have to let us know how it performs.

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 07, 2015 03:15 AM

Absolutely agree that every projector design is a compromise even if it's great weight or size. A permanent installation is ideal but most of us have to use portable projectors I suspect. I'd like to have a Debrie one day. I will post my experiences with the Bolex if I get it but it's an auction and the price looks like going too high. [Frown]

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Paul.

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Josef Grassmann
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 190
From: Hennef-Sieg, Germany
Registered: Apr 2005

posted September 19, 2015 10:37 AM

Bolex 221, 421, 521 are projectors we see for repair every year.
I believe 421 and 521 have 3 pin claws.
Similar to 16mm Bell & Howell ALL Bolex 421 and Bolex 521 suffer from multipe cracks in worm gear!
Nowadays very often they have electronic defects.
They are difficult to repair.
If your Bolex is in working order, I would strongly recommend not to use the STOP button and no rewinding of film on those devices.

Regards
Josef

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 20, 2015 02:39 AM

Thanks Josef. That is very interesting. Your comments certainly discourage me from buying one to use. The Bolex 521 I saw on Ebay UK sold for £166 to someone else. [Smile]

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Paul.

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Terry Sills
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted September 20, 2015 11:16 AM

Well I knew that they were nowhere near the build quality of the 321 but I didn't know that they were that bad!

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted September 20, 2015 12:23 PM

Well Terry,
I suppose our perspective from 40 years on is these are projectors that are not built to last for 40 years but I suppose an industrial or educational buyer in 1975 would be quite happy if the Bolex lasted 10 years with 1000 hours of useage. He or she got a lot of fancy features at the time. It was expensive certainly but a classic? NO.

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Paul.

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Terry Sills
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted September 22, 2015 05:12 AM

Totally agree with that Paul. With the exception of a few I think that was the way of amateur guage projectors after the 60's/70's.

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Josef Grassmann
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 190
From: Hennef-Sieg, Germany
Registered: Apr 2005

posted September 24, 2015 04:36 PM

Bolex 421 and Bolex 521 are very nice looking machines - if they are in working condition - and have features difficult to find on other brands, e.g. buttons for 16,66 - 18 - 24 - 25fps, Stop and for single frame projection!!
If you are watching films at 24fps, then you won´t need all those features.
Bolex,CH can´t supply worm gears since many years now.
We carry out a repair to stabilize worm gear, split gaps become smaller but still remain. Now projector runs much quieter. So customers can use their Bolex for further years.
There are four pcb´s each size = half post card (beside amp-board and ...). They are stacked from bottom to top. Some have 4- or 6-pin connectors on pcb plus 4 to 9 single pin connectors. There are no marks were to connect green, red, brown,violet, yellow wire. If somebody has already reconnected the single pin connectors in his "own" order, than it is difficult to find the right connection.
I don´t know, why they did not use one 15-pin connector on each printed circuit bord. Life could be much easier.

Similar to B & H they are nice projectors if the worm gear got fixed and other parts are in good working condition.

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Edwin van Eck
Master Film Handler

Posts: 312
From: Tilburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2015

posted May 23, 2018 09:34 AM

The good news is that these wormgears are available again!

We fabricate these again:

See: https://shop.van-eck.net/PP-0157.html?_globalsearch=pp-0157

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Edwin van Eck
Van Eck Video Services

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Stefan Voglsinger
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Vienna, Austria
Registered: Jul 2018

posted July 31, 2018 05:49 AM

hey, i have a bolex 421 and need to change my wormgear. i unscrewed the old one but it doesn't go off that easily since it's stuck to the metal part in the front when i try to peel it off. my question, has anybody done that exchange and can tell me which parts i have to remove or loosen to get the old wormgear off?

https://setzkastenwien.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/zahnrad.jpg

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Edwin van Eck
Master Film Handler

Posts: 312
From: Tilburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2015

posted August 14, 2018 01:06 PM

You need to "pull" the axis a bit to the front, so there is space to replace the gear. You need to loose up several screws. See here a picture. Maybe I missed some screws in the drawing.

If someone has better info, please let me know so that I can make a guide to do this. Even better is a short instruction video!

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Edwin van Eck
Van Eck Video Services

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Stefan Voglsinger
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Vienna, Austria
Registered: Jul 2018

posted July 15, 2019 02:57 PM

Great thanks, I exchanged the wormgear.

There are two more issues with that Projector...
First it runs slower than it should - I measured the speed with an RPM meter and it's always a few frames below. I tried to fine adjust it with the Potentiometer under the Motor without success. When I put the voltage to 220V instead of 240V it reaches the right speed but I don't know if that's a good idea to stress the projector with more voltage.

Second, the sound is very low - not enough to drive the speaker. I found a damaged elko so I exchanged all the caps on the amplifier board but yet without success.

Any suggestions? Similar Issues with the Bolex 421?

[ July 16, 2019, 05:12 AM: Message edited by: Stefan Voglsinger ]

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