8mm Forum: Special BEAULIEU's Fans !!!!.............

This is topic Special BEAULIEU's Fans !!!!............. in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Phil Murat (Member # 5148) on January 26, 2017, 06:14 AM:

I remember Andrew pointed out in the Forum that BEAULIEU's Heads are supposed to wear fast , and Andrew is right as this is one of the main issue with this machine.
"BOGEN" are difficult to find as DIRAC Dealer in PARIS (was specialized in Mag Heads for any Machines) is not working anymore.
So, to prevent owners to spent "indescent" money for a spare, here is what I suggest as an alternative procedure :

"Monitoring Head" is never used in a "standard playing" condition, so the idea is to deactivate it ,in the aim to prevent it from wear and get it ready to swap with the "Reading head" :

1) Short Term Deactivation
- Remove both head press-skates for this head only and keep them as spares.
- Apply a part of PTFE Tape (3M supply) as necessary on the active area for this head (Tape Thickness is around 0,15 mm)
- Reinstall Press Holder and test

2) Long Term Deactivation
- Gain acces to the "Monitoring Head" in order to remove it
- Replace Head by a roller assembly (Made from non magnetic material as Light alloy or Brass and guided on ball bearing)
- Remove Skates as above and keep them as spare
- Test

As an Upgrading idea and final action, it could be interesting to replace original reading head by an ELMO One . The only thing is how to adjust the signal to the Main Sound Board, this is a question to ask to a Electronic Audio Specialist.............

Any comments welcome

I have not make the experience yet

Phil

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on January 26, 2017, 06:24 AM:

I believe the Woelke heads come in many different variants Phil.

The ones fitted to some of the later Beaulieu machines such as the Stereo models, have the suffix SA printed on them after the 464 head identification tag.

The SA I believe, stands for Sendust Alloy. So while not all 464 heads are as durable as these, the ones with SA printed on them should last a very long time in theory. Especially if the films are well lubricated with Filmguard or a similar Lubricant/ cleaner.

If this does however become an issue in the future, The "monitoring" head, for what it actually does, can be removed very easily if necessary and kept back for a spare.

It's also worthy of note that many other cheaper machines also use these same magnetic heads if you ever require more.

As I have learned over the years now of using machines with these magnetic heads, Track two can often suggest excess wear on some films, while still sounding perfectly fine on others.

This is a characteristic of these particular heads having such a very narrow track 2 aspect for these heads.
Unless you record your films on the actual machine you are using them on, often the sound on track 2 can leave a lot to be desired without the actual head wear being excessive due to a slight mistrack between the recording sound head alignment at manufacture, and the track alignment on the Woelke 464 .

The sound overall still is good however as Track 1 is always wide enough to reproduce a full range of sound from the stripe.

Only by recording and playing back on the very same machines, can you really begin to tell if you have excessive wear to your magnetic head or pressers.

As time moves along, track 2 sound reproduction will become less significant now as many machines will show signs of wear to the very narrow balance track side of the heads.
So long as the sound overall is good, I think we will have to remain satisfied by that and that alone.

Even mono recordings using only track one beat the pants off any optical track i've ever listened to for overall sound quality and frequency range, so we have much to be thankful for despite some limitations of the magnetic track system

Posted by Phil Murat (Member # 5148) on January 26, 2017, 07:01 AM:

Thanks for your comments Andrew.

I 'll check the reference on my spares an let you know.

My first BEAULIEU was used often time before I get it in 85. Heads skates faded upon 1 wear of using (means 2 or 3 movie features a week by former owner).
The heads were worn too.
I had to replace it few times after I bought it

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