Bell and Howell Model 468A Auto Rewind Help!

[Frank Antinozzi]

I just purchased another projector, this one seems to be a newer filmosound projector model 468A with "Auto Rewind". Seems in pretty nice, newer condition, it actually seems almost new with little use. It has a "Auto Rewind" feature which no longer includes the little metal piece on top of the supply arm, now it’s kind of incorporated with the large rewind selector switch, If your not familiar with the auto rewind (which Im really not, you put these little clips on the end of your film, and lock it into the reel, so when the end of the film comes, the tension auto rewinds it.) I do not want to use the auto rewind feature, so I have not installed the little clips, I just want to rewind the film like normal, It does not rewind well its real slow, if it moves at all, but when I push in on the reel, it works great, rewinds super fast! But if the reel falls forward it slows down again, there play in the reel assembly, seems like there's suppose be, I took the cover off the arm every thing looks normal and seems to move freely, I can’t find anything online about this issue. Does any one have an idea? Frustrating other than that it seems to work great. The belt and pulley wheel seem fine, I do have spare belts, but the belt does not seem to be stretched or slacked at all, Like I said it’s slow till I push in a the reel assembly then it takes off until the reels assembly falls forward again…Everything else on the projector works perfectly. One last thing. I did remove a reel assembly off another projector, (I own like 10 projectors from 16MM to 8mm and Super 8 and duals) same thing. I will try and add a few photos.

Short Video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-KSgVtynN8o

[Frank Antinozzi]

Youtube link to see the short video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-KSgVtynN8o

[Shane C. Collins]

Many years ago I had the B & H Model 466A. The projector was very similar in design to yours! I am including a photo here for your reference. In the photo I circled (Red circle) the rubber wheel that should be cleaned and rejuvenated with rubber restore. This rubber wheel supplies friction to the machine during play, and I believe it also operates during reverse. The rubber can get glazed over the decades. It needs to be soft in order to apply the correct pressure. This could be a source of the problems. Also the rubber belt that's on there may look OK, but I would change it out to a fresh one! Also I circled the plastic gears that should be lubricated with something like SuperLube. This product is not harmful to plastic, and will last a long time. The mechanisms on these B &H's is simple in design, but will not work up to spec if just one thing is out of whack. Good luck and hopefully you get things straightened out!

[Frank Antinozzi]

I appreciate your response! Yes I have lubed all the gears and replaced the belt. The rubber wheel only works for reverse and as you can see in the video I included, the rewind works perfectly, the problem lies with the mechanism attached to the arm, photos included of the arm and the reel assembly. the little tiny gear at the top of the arm and the reel assembly that I'm holding seems to be the issue. If I push in on the reel assembly, the rewind takes off like a bat out of hell, as its spinning, the reel assembly moves forward and it will slow down again. I tried swapping out the reel assembly for another one and same thing. The regular projectors like the 466 have a little metal tab at the top of the supply arm, if you push that down, the rewind speed increases. This automatically rewind projector has some sort of different mechanism that is activated when you put the machine in rewind, using the large rewind selector at the bottom of the projector. This unit is different then any other unit I have ever worked on and I cant figure out how the thing is suppose to work and there's no information I can find. the attached photos show the arm on a Bell & Howell 476 P projector, the metal tab at the top, if you press down speeds up the rewind, on my 468A Automatic Rewind projector, that tab is not there and a tension sensing mechanism is in place to sense the end of the film, somehow this is all affecting my rewinding and since I don't know how it works, I can fix it.

[Shane C. Collins]

Ah I do remember my B&H 466A having this rewind metal push down tab. I'm stumped here too!

[Thomas Dafnides]

Shane.... what product do you use for "rubber restore" ?

[Scot McCauley]

on my old BH 256 autoload there is a spring washer in that assembly that was missing. Basically it was a washer with a slight bend in it that put tension on that post so the gears would seat properly. Not sure if you are missing something there. Probably identical to rear assembly. Take that apart and have a look.

[Shane C. Collins]

Shane.... what product do you use for "rubber restore" ?

I think I bought the rubber restore I currently use from a seller on eBay! It has a homemade label, but the stuff works well! Here's a link to the seller I believe I bought this from. I wasn't able to check my buying history that far back to see for sure!


https://www.ebay.com/itm/28502196962...Bk9SR_bQ0ZqMZQ