Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted June 17, 2010 02:34 AM
I thought I would briefly mention here that I believe I have unearthed the mystical secrets of the Pathe Lux projector....Within the past year I purchased what looked like a gorgeous specimen of a Lux model YC. The projector arrived and I realized it had a seized motor which was a drag, but I have a working YA so I can use the one from that since I only use it for notched titled films...It also had a failed notching mechanism, so I immediately went off asking the experts...Then when they had no advice, I went to plan B - Ask the experts again..... ![[Confused]](confused.gif) When I heard back nothing yet again I went to plan C which is take the sucker apart and figure it out ye self young man.
1) - Mystery number one is that they did not stop with the model YC...I have the paperwork for this projector that was purchased through Pathescope in the late 1940's, and believe it or not the serial number on the bottom clearly is marked YD, so that means there are YA, YC, and YD models..... weird
2)The notching mechanism - everything I have read states how difficult it is to set up the notching mech on the LUX if it goes out of whack. Because of this I must have stared at the inner workings while I cranked for months trying to figure what was going wrong and how to fix it. There are lots of things that have to happen all at once for it to work properly which is why people get so scared, but the basic premise I realized is quite simple. When the notch shows up it drops a lever that starts the timed mech. When the mech finishes it lifts the lever at the same time the film pushes a hook into place to catch the lever, until the next notch....Simple right? the problem I was having was figuring out how the claw knew when to pop in and out, and that was the hardest to figure out because its crucial part was hidden, and I think this is why it seems so difficult to most people, and they may wind up messing around with things that have no bearing...Basically the 2 secrets are the hook (which is on the left side of the pics, closest to the gate) has to be opened up by means of a screw that can only be accessed from the backside of the projector...You can push your finger on it and it will turn clockwise so you can loosen the screw enough to put the hook in place (tightening the screw pulls the hook away from where it needs to be) The other is the lever needs to rise high enough to rest on the movable hook,but also high enough to allow the back arm of the claw to slip forward so it protrudes through the gate to grab the film.
OK this may be sounding complicated (and if I fully wrote out all that I did to get here it could be an interesting piece, but the bottom line is if you have a failing notch mechanism on a LUX YC (or YD) do the following:
1 - First slightly unscrew the screw found on the arch of the lever (seen in the second picture) and move it well over to the left and tighten it up. This will allow the lever to lift high enough for the claw to drop into place.
2 - Next unscrew the the little screw controlling the placement of the hook (seen in the 3rd pic and then magnified in the 4th) as far as you can without it dropping out and begin screwing it back in half turn at a time until it reaches the place where it catches the lever while you're pushing back on the post that controls it in the film path but drops the lever when you let go...
Once I figured out this was what I needed to do a couple of screws later and I was there, the notching mech works perfectly.
If this sounds too confusing I can try to write up a better description, because it really is far easier than I expected. There were others parts that I screwed and unscrewed and ultimately realized they were doing nothing....I think you should find that these two are all you need.
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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"
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