8mm Forum: Eumig projectors

This is topic Eumig projectors - is this true? in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on November 18, 2015, 08:14 AM:

I've heard it said more than once that it's wise to give Eumigs a run now and again, and not leave them unused for lengthy periods. If this is true, I'd be curious to know more, so I'd be grateful if someone could tell me:
a) Why?
b) Does it apply to most/all Eumigs, or (e.g.) only those up to and including the 800 series?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 18, 2015, 08:33 AM:

I don't see why it has to apply to just Eumigs or even just movie projectors in general.

You have things like this:

Electrolytic capacitors depend on having voltage on them to form the thin film that is their dielectric. If you let them sit de-energized for a long time this film breaks down and they can become (ummm...) "incapacitated"!

Switch contacts can oxidize when left inoperative for a long time. Until they are opened and closed a few times, they will just act "open".

Something with a DC motor likes those brushes polishing the commutator or it oxidizes too and will run weakly a few minutes. (This doesn't apply to Eumig 800s, of course.)

It's kind of the way the middle aged and later human body just doesn't operate close to a hundred percent those first few minutes every morning!

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on November 18, 2015, 02:54 PM:

I know the feeling, Steve.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 18, 2015, 03:11 PM:

Very well put Steve, and of course, completely accurate on every count, including the last! [Big Grin]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 18, 2015, 03:24 PM:

Gotta keep moving!

Even the human body was designed for a short, desperate life of running from predators and maybe later following an ox pulling a plow over a rocky field. (THOSE were the days!)

-you throw supermarket food and a TV remote in that equation and all sorts of mischief can happen!

Now,

As far as Eumigs go:

I have an 800 series machine that went basically into full time storage when I put an ST-1200 online in 2010, and then failed miserably to get it to play nice with my new sound system later that year. (It was kind of Elmo-centric when I first built it...)

That same ST had a meltdown last winter and my new mixer panel fixed the ground loop the Eumig earlier caused. So my old friend stepped into the right hand slot and went back to work.

I was actually pretty impressed with the way this one woke up from storage and the job it did while I nursed my ST-1200 back to health. I plan on rotating it into service at least part of the time.

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