8mm Forum: Spondon Long Play Unit

This is topic Spondon Long Play Unit in forum 8mm equipment for sale/trade at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 13, 2014, 02:53 PM:

There was a very rare opportunity today to obtain a fantastic Spondon Long Play Super 8mm Unit C/W 3x Beaulieu 2400ft reels plus two B/W feature films on other large plastic reels.

The unit initially had 1 bid since becoming active at £280 but then obviously someone has offered the guy an offer he couldn't refuse as the item has now ended on first day of advertising.

A great item as we all know (those who use them), and obviously becoming quite a find nowadays judging by the speed this one sold!

Item number was:- 171540349133

http: //www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171540349133?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%257CR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D171540349133%26LH_PrefLoc%3D1%26_rdc%3D1

Posted by Nigel Higgins (Member # 4312) on November 13, 2014, 03:11 PM:

Yes i saw this shame it ended early as will not get to know how much it sold for a nice piece of kit and with 2 great films aswell ,i take it these are rare now aswell the long play unit i mean ,same seller has some reels maybe ill bid on them as allways after 800ft ones .

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 13, 2014, 03:16 PM:

The films come up regularly Nigel, especially as these were in very average condition it would appear, the Spondon on the other hand does not. I have it as one of my searches on e bay and so far I have seen 2 in the last 4 years, one of which I now own.

This one seems older and bulkier with it's large back box built around the motor than the one I own but nevertheless a good find for whoever purchased c/w the lovely spools.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on November 13, 2014, 06:31 PM:

I wonder how many of the Spondon LP units were sold?

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 14, 2014, 04:03 PM:

Lots of back in the day, I would guess Paul. They were very popular after the advent of double sprocket quality 800ft, 150w lamp machines.

They were always featured in the small ad section of Movie Maker from around 1980 onwards also often advertising the Tony Churcher range of spools right up to 3000ft size.

They work superb with the S938! Even better with the T610.. a match made in heaven! Now need to save up for a 2/3 bladed shutter conversion for mine in the new year to hopefully match the very best in light output from a xenophot lamp.

Never get close to the Beaulieu though sadly, with it's rapid pull down claw & 2 bladed, non flicker, (to the human eye) 24fps shutter.

[ November 16, 2014, 06:42 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

Posted by John Richard Almond (Member # 2939) on November 21, 2014, 06:29 AM:

just had a look at the sellers feedback and he seems to be a dealer, he even said he would take the unit to Blackpool to save postage to the winner.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 21, 2014, 06:44 AM:

A friend of mine knows him John and I don't think he is a dealer, just a collector who had an interest in going to the convention and perhaps thought that was an easy hassle free way of doing the deal without posting the item.

Posted by John Richard Almond (Member # 2939) on November 21, 2014, 06:55 AM:

Ah, looks like a keen motorcyclist as well........... [Big Grin]

I was just having a quick look around on the web and found a Derran sales list from December 2010 and they were selling one for £80.

I cant post the link to the page for some reason. its on the small films forum.

121– ELMO GS1200- £670.00 Nice condition. Stereo; 1200’ spool capacity; Magnetic/Optical playback; 200w lamp; 1.3 lens. £15.00 delivery

122– ELMO GS1200- £700.00 Nice condition. Stereo; 1200’ spool capacity; Magnetic/Optical playback; 200w lamp; 1.1 lens. £15.00 delivery

123– SPONDON LONG-PLAY UNIT- £80.00. Good condition £15.00 delivery

124– ELMO REWIND ARMS- £75.00 Good condition. £10.50 delivery

125– EUMIG S934 AUTOMIX- £150.00. Good condition. 800’ spool capacity; 100w lamp; 1.4 lens. £15.00 delivery.

126– SCOPE BRACKET (53mm)- £30.00. As New £4.50 delivery.

127– SANKYO 800 STEREO- £330.00. Excellent condition. 800’ spool capacity; Stereo; 150w lamp; 1.4 lens. £15.00 delivery.

These are now not for sale guys, its just a paste and copy from an old advertisement...

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 21, 2014, 08:06 AM:

Yes I have seen that ad and others from Derann many times,in fact I still have quite a few of their second hand lists they used to send out. However I don't think anyone selling the Spondon nowadays would take a penny less than £200 minimum given how good they are plus their scarcity nowadays.
The Bauer T610 with one of these is a real dream machine for the home environment.

Posted by Paul Browning (Member # 2715) on November 21, 2014, 09:00 AM:

Well Andrew, I can tell you that I paid a lot more than £80.00 for the Spondon long play arms, and the reels and films !!!!!!.I made him an offer, and we came to an amicable price to suit us both. The reels were unused in my opinion just a bit dusty if anything so all good. Not had chance to look at the films yet, but judging by what he told me over the phone, his description will be close to what they are. Actually I didn't want the films or spare reels but I got the impression he would not separate them. I didn't want to loose the long play arms for the sake of two films. Like you say how often do they come up for sale?, anyway I have a lot of features now purchased from Francisco recently, some are on those very big long play spools from Germany, they are something else, superb quality and they just fit on the arms to sit nicely above the Elmo xenon machine.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 21, 2014, 09:33 AM:

Good for you Paul! Now you have up to 3000ft of uninterrupted movie viewing pleasure available to you and for a projector as prestigious as your Xenon, no matter what you paid, it will still represent good value for money given what you are able to screen in one run! [Wink]

The hobby, at it's very best, was never cheap, but if you want the best then these are the prices we all have to get used to paying I suppose.

Now for me to start saving for a HTI me thinks! Ha ha

Posted by Paul Browning (Member # 2715) on November 22, 2014, 10:39 AM:

I don't know about HTI Andrew, but I bet an led lamp is near as bright now. I attended the BPM show in Birmingham in September and some of the new night club moving lights are very bright now, and the equivalent of there discharge lamps they replace. I would image this is the way the manufacturers would be at by now, if they were still making super 8 projectors. I briefly had a look if this could be done, it was quite a complex power supply needed to fire it up, but I'm sure now the lamp power is out there to equal the HTI brightness without the cooling problems. I know the fan setup on the xenon sounds like a jet taxing on the runway!!!!!!!. I think the initial cost would be high, but the lamp would probably out live the HTI lamp or XENON fitted to the Elmo,3 or 4 times to off set this large out lay. I wish I had the electronic knowledge to have a go, but sadly I don't.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on November 22, 2014, 11:39 AM:

Looks like they are getting larger led's Youtube

Forgot why I originality replied. The Spondon arms are fantastic, the ones I bought will take a 6000ft spool of 16mm or super 8. I did have to return the motor arm though, the link broke from motor to spingle. Up to date they are OK.

[ November 23, 2014, 03:19 AM: Message edited by: David Ollerearnshaw ]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 22, 2014, 12:05 PM:

You're probably right Paul in that I am probably only faw years away from being able to fit a decent moving head discharge lamp or better still a xenon led lamp to my existing model with a seperate PSU. lets wait and see!

Posted by Paul Browning (Member # 2715) on November 22, 2014, 01:31 PM:

Interesting you tube video, I have tagged a 30w led flood light, which they claim to give's out 2400 lumens?. How does that compare against the HTI OR XENON I wonder. The light temp of these will be in the range of these discharge lamps for sure. The night club fixture I'm sure was a 90w led, and that was really bright, even 50 ft from a wall, very even light output too, which would be perfect for an 8mm frame.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 22, 2014, 03:03 PM:

its just a case of whether or not they can get the intensity of the light focussed perfectly for the tiny 8mm frame Paul. Its different for Gobo's in disco lighting as they are nearer to the sizes of at least a 16mm frame size as you know Paul.

And then of course whether there is a large commercial market for developing a lamp suitable to our needs. Maybe if the medical profession dictates a successor to the A232 xenophot then perhaps we have a chance as these are used extensively in Endoscopy and the likes.

[ December 02, 2014, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

Posted by Paul Browning (Member # 2715) on November 22, 2014, 04:36 PM:

Yes Andrew, I agree with you on the gobo's size and much bigger in the big effects lighting. I might be able to get a look inside one of those Chinese copy fixtures, as a company in Birmingham repairs them. I would like to see the distance between the lamp and the aperture immediately before the coloured glass. This would give us a chance to see if it could be incorporated into a super 8 projector. Most of the new style led's have a lens affixed to them to intensify the light output. The old style lamps have a heat deflector inside for the uv like the super 8 projectors, not sure if any uv is present from the led's though.

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