Help needed with a projector issue!

[Scott Walker]

Hey all!

I’m currently in the middle of nowhere in the Aran islands visiting a friend filming the island. I My friend has a lovely eiki projector that just got delivered by boat and it seems work great accept that the film
Image doesn’t seem to project. The film runs through the machine perfectly, the bulb is great but the image doesn’t show it and I can’t figure out why. There is nothing obstructing there film gate but I’m wondering if there’s and issue with the little spinning wheel being out of alignment with the film gate. If so is there anything that can be done or a test I can do to fix this.

There is nowhere this can be sent here and it’s wild here and we’d love to project something tomorrow night. Any help would be much appreciated. The projector is a hanimex eiki. Photo below.

[Ed Gordon]

Scott, I am not familiar with that projector, but the shutter ("the little spinning wheel") may be the problem. Your machine may also have a douser. Your picture indicates you can show single frames (the "Still" and "Run" lever). You should search this forum and the old forum for issues related to shutter, douser or dowser or heat shield. Here is one discussion I found that is similar to yours:

https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...king-the-light

Here is an extract from a wiki article about the parts discussed:

Douser

(Also spelled dowser.)

A metal or asbestos blade which cuts off light before it can get to the film. The douser is usually part of the lamphouse, and may be manually or automatically operated. Some projectors have a second, electrically controlled douser that is used for changeovers (sometimes called a "changeover douser" or "changeover shutter"). Some projectors have a third, mechanically controlled douser that automatically closes when the projector slows down (called a "fire shutter" or "fire douser"), to protect the film if the projector stops while the first douser is still open. Dousers protect the film when the lamp is on but the film is not moving, preventing the film from melting from prolonged exposure to the direct heat of the lamp. It also prevents the lens from scarring or cracking from excessive heat.

Film gate and frame advance

If a roll of film is continuously passed between the light source and the lens of the projector, only a continuous blurred series of images sliding from one edge to the other would be visible on the screen. In order to see an apparently moving clear picture, the moving film must be stopped and held still briefly while the shutter opens and closes. The gate is where the film is held still prior to the opening of the shutter. This is the case for both filming and projecting movies. A single image of the series of images comprising the movie is positioned and held flat within the gate. The gate also provides a slight amount of friction so that the film does not advance or retreat except when driven to advance the film to the next image. The intermittent mechanism advances the film within the gate to the next frame while the shutter is closed. Registration pins prevent the film from advancing while the shutter is open. In most cases the registration of the frame can be manually adjusted by the projectionist, and more sophisticated projectors can maintain registration automatically.

Shutter

It is the gate and shutter that gives the illusion of one full frame being replaced exactly on top of another full frame. The gate holds the film still while the shutter is open. A rotating petal or gated cylindrical shutter interrupts the emitted light during the time the film is advanced to the next frame. The viewer does not see the transition, thus tricking the brain into believing a moving image is on screen. Modern shutters are designed with a flicker-rate of two times (48 Hz) or even sometimes three times (72 Hz) the frame rate of the film, so as to reduce the perception of screen flickering. (See Frame rate and Flicker fusion threshold.) Higher rate shutters are less light efficient, requiring more powerful light sources for the same light on screen.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movie_projector#Douser

If you attempt to adjust the Shutter make sure you can put it back to exactly where is was in case it is already properly adjusted. Improper shutter alignment usually results in bad images (rather than no image being projected).

Hope this helps...

[Robie Lutsey]

[edit:] Ignore this and just read what Ed wrote. If I'd waited 2 more minutes before posting I wouldn't have [/edit]

I'm probably the last person who should be answering this, but one thing does come to mind. My projector (and most others I would bet) has a shutter which closes when the film stops moving to prevent melting. My manual instructed me to test it's freedom of movement during maintenance as it could get stuck closed.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to do that on your equipment. Others here must. Good luck!!

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Can you open the lamp cover & have a look while it's running?

I have this exact Eiki projector and can verify that other than the shutter blade and the heat filter (for still projection), there's nothing else to block the light from reaching the film gate, for sure.

[Maurice Leakey]

1) It cannot be the dowser. This only blocks a portion of the light when showing still pictures. This is to avoid burning the film frame.

2) It has to be the shutter. Either it is seized and is blocking the light. Or it is out of sync with the claws.

Open the back and have a look when it is operating. There may be dried up grease. This projector comes from around 1970 and may need an internal clean up.

Click below for a service manual which may be of assistance.

EIKINSERVICE.pdf (film-tech.com)

[Brian Fretwell]

Surely if it was just out of sync with the claw you would still get light on the screen, just a blurry picture as the film moved with the shutter open. It mus be a stuck or loose shutter that doesn't move stopping the light.

[Terry Sills]

I agree with Brian. The way to find out what’s going on is to access the shutter mechanism and use the inching knob to turn it over ( with the projector disconnected from mains). This will show whether the shutter blades are moving or not. It will also be possible to attempt to turn the shutter by hand, if it does not move, to see if it is seized or just too loose.