Eumig P8 advice please

[Martin Davey]

Dear Forum,

I have recently purchased an Eumig P8 Nova. I am attempting to get at the cam assembly (covered with a shroud). I have undone 4 screws, sealed with red paint so it has never been removed before. Unfortunately I have not had any success. The whole assembly does wiggle at the screw end but something within the red circled area is preventing the whole thing from coming out. There was a screw here now removed separate to the 4 red screws at the other end. It looks like a positioning peg as it looks like it does not move, with the whole unit moving around it very slightly. Is it seized up and just requiring some oil to free the unit from the peg or is there something else hidden? The voltage selector unit in front is loose FYI.

Thanks.

[Erik Snel]

Don't open that up unless you are very sure what you are doing!!! The shroud you see it the actual housing holding the entire main axle, shutter and claw assembly. the mechanism including the claw needs to come out in one go and you need to remove the lensholder and the pressure plate before the claw is free. there is a very good reason those screws are lauqered. the wiggle is because of the frame adjustment, that is its pivot point so the entire assembly moves when you adjust the frame. that model P8 is very complex as it has motorized rewind.

the older P8's had lubrication points but this is lubricated for life. offcourse it can be that the grease has gotten old and seized it all but if you disassemble it the way you are doing now i guarantee that projector will never run again

[Martin Davey]

Thanks Erik. I guess I will have to rely on 59 year old lubrication then!

[Erik Snel]

I just took a P8 apart just to check if your method was okay, and i must admit i was wrong, i made some pictures and i will make a quick how to with some pointers so you can do it to. i did it on one with lubrication points bu this only helps you identify where you need to get the oil.

[Erik Snel]

Here you go!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gw6f0f2ne5...oints.pdf?dl=0

[Martin Davey]

Thanks again Erik for those details. I shall have another look at the projector tomorrow armed with that useful info!

[Martin Davey]

I was able to remove the cam unit, grease/ oil and place it back. It turned out to be the positioning peg I mentioned that was causing the problem. I oiled it and let it stand for a day. Then I was able to apply some pressure and lever it up the shaft. It a very, very tight fit. I enclose a picture of the cam for reference.

Sadly I have encountered another problem. The motor was turning quite happily when powered. There was no drive belt as it had disintegrated. The new belt arrived today (Sunday?) and I have found that the motor/ fan area is producing an awful scraping noise and the motor can barely turn. I loosened a screw for the motor and ones connected to the fan to try to find a wiggle point where no noise is produced but to no avail. Looking at the inside fan cowling with a torch I can't see any point where the fan is scraping against it.

So I an wondering how to proceed, or its it even worth it as all of these P8s may have the same problem, like the worm gear on TQ B&Hs.

[Erik Snel]

well, it is known that the motor of an P8 can have worn bearrings because the right belts were not available and people tinkered, often with a too short belt. this put a lot of strain on the bearrings and wore them out prematurely. luckily nowadays new belts do fit right. it does sound the fan is hitting somehere in the shroud. you could try to adjust the fan blade with pliers. they are made of tin or aluminium so they bend easily. to find where it scrapes turn it by hand with the belt on. its true that there is almost no visibility in the shroud

[Martin Davey]

Thanks Erik for the advice. I shall give that a try during the coming week.

[Martin Davey]

Thanks to Erik’s advice I was able to adjust the blades in the fan. They probably don’t look as good as they did, but are hidden, and this now means that the projector has been brought back into life and has run about 90mins or so of film over the past few days.

I am very pleased with the P8. It is the best standard 8 projector I have ever had. I realise that it is not the best std 8 machine built, but still within a second or so I was impressed by the stability, sharpness and picture size. Up to now I have always had dual gauge machines for Std8. These have been a K6 max (a toy), Cinerex 707 and an Elmo K 100sm. I suppose the fact that they were compromising std 8 over S8 meant that the results were not as good as they could be. I picked a ‘Novo’ example over the others as I noted an old post from Maurice on the forum archive during my research, mentioning that more modern lamps are used in it. This example cost £10, was dirty and dusty but now works 100% with its re-lubricated motion and new drive belt. As well as being my go-to Std8 machine, it is the only projector I have on display.

[Erik Snel]

very nice! great to see a succes like this. also the Novo version has the Threading plate all the way up to the take up reel (black) the "normal"automatic has a grey auto threading plate that only goes around the film gate. both types of plate fit on the automatic projector but when it originally was made for a black longer plate there is an extra pin on the back to put the film guide behind like in the pictures above. if it doesn't have the pin, it is meant for a grey shorter threading mechanism

[Maurice Leakey]

My P8 is the Automatic Novo which has the ability to thread right onto the take-up spool. Unfortunately it needs a wider spool than normal for the loading arm to drop into the spool.
As yet, I have not been able to find such a spool. eBay sellers often just say "Eumig Spool" and show the old spools with the wire edges which were supplied with the earlier P8 models.

[Martin Davey]

The spool above is the wider version which has a number of metal 'tongues' sticking out to grab a sprocket hole. I have not tried the auto threading yet as I heard so many bad things about it. I just perform a manual thread and use a normal spool instead.

[Erik Snel]

I have many p8's and the auto threading is very much hit or miss, threading it by hand is better in my opinion for this projector. i allways leave the auto threading mechanism off when i use one.