Kodak Ektasound 265 - Control Knob Issue

[Stephen Olsen]

Hello everyone, I need help with my Kodak Ektasound 265 Movie Deck. I’m having an issue with the knob that controls the unit from “Off, Still, Run Thread, Rewind and Fast Forward”. The issue happens right after I’ve had loaded my film and had turned the knob to select "Run Thread". And here’s the problem, the knob won’t stop at the Run Thread position. Instead the knob immediately jumps into the "Rewind" position. The knob won’t stay in the "Run Thread" position on its own. So, In order to run the projector normally and watch any film footages, with my hand, I have to physically hold on to the knob and keep it at the "Run Thread" position until the reel ends.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem? Anyone know where I can find a service manual for a Kodak Ektasound 265 Movie Deck? Any advice or suggestion would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Janice Glesser]

This sounds like the typical problem with these projectors in that it will automatically go into the rewind position. This means you need to disconnect the rewind feature. I can send you a PDF of the service manual so you can open it up and disconnect that feature. Send me a PM with the name of the manual you are requesting.

[Stephen Olsen]

Thank you, Janice.

[Jennifer Fein]

HI there! I’m new here. I just bought a headstock ektasound 285 which came with the manuals and I was having issues with the feed. I put the film through and it starts to run and then it just stops on an image like it’s getting stuck and doesn’t go any further when I rewind to get the film out then the film is ruined. I don’t want to ruin anymore precious vintage reels. I went through the manual and I cleaned the insides as it says too but it’s still getting stuck on one image. Does anyone have any advice for me? 🙏🙏

[Jennifer Fein]

Dead stock lol.

[Steve Klare]

These have a gear that is molded into the shutter that has a reputation for getting brittle over time and disintegrating.

Where to start here is take off the side panel on the lens side, slide open the viewer screen so you can see the film gate and then running the machine forward. You can look in there and see if the claw (the part that engages the sprocket holes in the film) is shuttling up and down. (Please be careful looking in there, that bulb is extremely bright when you look directly at it!)

If nothing moves, then it's likely that molded gear has de-molded itself.

There is a place that sells the repair part and does the whole job, but let's see if you need it or not before we go there.

[Jennifer Fein]

I do have a video I tried to upload. To me it looks like it’s moving. But I’m no expert. I could email you the video clip? It won’t let me upload here

[Jennifer Fein]

I uploaded to Vimeo so it’s attached here.

[Jennifer Fein]

It feeds through then stops at one point. It doesn’t go to rewind it just stays locked on this image and then I have to stop it and remove the film and a bunch gets ruined and then chopped

[Steve Klare]

To me is looks like the claw is doing just fine. Maybe somewhere further along the film path, some wad of damaged film is blocking the way of your film getting to the take up reel. You can put the machine top-cover side down on something soft like a bath towel and open up the bottom panel and see the lower film path, maybe find some obstruction.

[Jennifer Fein]

Okay. I can go back in and try to clean more deeply. I did do that prior to trying it out again. But maybe I need a pipe cleaner.

also do I need to attach anything in order to hear sound come out of the projector like a speaker or something or is it built in I couldn’t figure that out.

If it seems that the feed is working properly and there’s no obstruction is there maybe a particular way that I’m not aware of or a trick when you’re feeding the film lead into the projector? I was watching some YouTube videos where this guy shows that you need to do like a loop at the top and a loop at the bottom for one of those old-school ones where the reels are on the outside, but maybe there is some sort of trick for this one?