Testing my new toy. Noris 310.

[Stuart Budd]

Arrived in the post my Noris Norisound 310. I've got Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron to test it out. It is broken, more on that later. But when threaded it's swell . Who could ask for anything more Sound is rounded. Not a bad unit. The film is on a MGM Super 8 Color Sound. 370 feet 18 mins. There's colour with a subtle pink cast. Blues and greens are still there as too is white. Well pleased.
The broken bit. It's the Noris thread system. The red slide on top doesn't hold. Not sure why at this point. The worst bit is the plastic tab that raises the audio entrance. That appears to be missing so when auto threading film will not pass the sound head. Manually lifting the sound enterance solves this and away we go with An American in Paris.

Sound Enterance.

[Lee Mannering]

Hi Stu and welcome to the wonderful world of Norisound. These were produced with the film maker in mind in the 70's and a reel welcome machine at that.
Rear sprung gate for precision focusing, wide degree shutter for brighter picture and perfect sound the like we had not heard before at the time.
You were also offered a good range of lens upgrade options my favorite being the Schneider 1.3 which delivered some beautiful shadow detail to the screen from our home movies. Faster lenses were around but this was ideal for getting the best from Kodachome and the Norisound we found.

My first machine was the 120 but the 100 model range did have teething problems and they soon rectified this on the 300 range with the early design flaw being the motor speed control circuit. My first 120 developed the fault after several months so Dad and I took up to Luton where the drop in service center was having a wonderful time talking to the engineers who couldn't be more helpful. After a couple of hours they told us a delivery on the new 320 model would be available later in the afternoon and if we came back later I could have one in exchange! This photo was taken directly we got back home and the new 320 was put into action.

You have a good machine in the Norisound but keep an eye out for a spare parts machine to keep her going. 😎

Things to watch out for: When removing the top white drive sprocket make sure you fully push down the red release lever if not you will probably break off one of the nylon teeth. Age related wear to the film guides particularly the small black one under the lower sprocket.

When production stopped Cresta Electronics picked up the parts and service of machines and were also excellent.

Above all enjoy your Norisound and pleased to report my 320 is still working in full.

[Stuart Budd]

Funny yo mention the 100 as I have a Record D100 on the way. Part of an ebay lot. My recently aquired 322 as a couple of issues. Both sound board fuses blow on power on. It also has a damaged lamp frame holder. I haven't delved into the base yet so unsure of the reasons. Projects fine other than the lamp pointing slightly off becuase of the damaged holder (casting).
The sound from the 310 did raise an eyebrow! "That's good!"
I've bought a lot of projectors in the last month. Eumigs, Bell&Howell, kodak a Bauer, three Noris and I'm sure I've misted some. I can see the fandom in some machines but must say the Bauer and this new to me Noris have been the best. Forgot the Elmo HiVi SC30, that's a sweetie. The Eumigs ( this is the 700 and 800 series ) are good but not as good and I wouldn't recommend one as a first projector.
I'll take your advice onboard Lee and re-read your advice on the Noris.
Just need to find some time and organise my home surroundings.
Oh on a last note, I find that getting machines for parts ends up being a machine that needs parts feels not right stripping them

[Lee Mannering]

Sounds like you have a solid plan Stu which is good. Today non runners can be found for just a few pounds but I do know what you mean about breaking a machine although service guys usually have to do just that to get essential parts sometimes.
I'll spare you a picture of a little me in 1972 and my first real Eumig sound projector grinning from ear to ear...those were the best days I ever had with film most certainly and what days they were with film friends most of which are now either on sticks or in the big projection box upstairs.

Nice to hear you are enjoying film so much.

[Stuart Budd]

Digital can do everything film can and technically better. But cine film for the value and experience of a moment in our lives is something digital can't offer unless you deliberately use 100MB SD cards instead of 64GB and have a card reader that just may chew it up if not careful. Both formats could live happily together but I wouldn't want to lose our new 8mm for camera films.
I don't have a plan but buying projectors has now stopped. It's not really helping the cine world. Next is trying out some 8mm camera film and getting new memories. There's a couple of pre recorded films I'd like but those will be new and as and when available.
The 310 being able to autoload is a priority and delving into the 322's audio to see what may be up with that is the next.
When I get a bit more info on the 310 I'll post the solution

[Lee Mannering]

They do live happily together here as I work in media for my sins, been enjoyable tho. Next time you have the back off that 310 the sliding shaft on the back of the red threading lever is adjustable so just have a steady away look at it. It may be its just not adjusted to click in at the end of the slide if you get me. Long time since I needed the back off my 320.

[Stuart Budd]

I've had a little tidy and another look-see at the issue. Thank you for the info on adjustment Lee.

It looks like whoever had a play previously didn't know about this adjustment. Not sure. So I've had a look at the locking lever and it does look bent and tool handled!

This picture is off a good lever 422 (so different head). Nice and clean. Two arrows, one to the metal brass colour lever the other to the plastic tab that lifts the pressure pad to the sound entrance during film auto load.



No arrows in this picture and it doesn't show the missing lifting tab well but it's missing, broken off. The locking tab looks manipulated and just doesn't quite catch. I'd like to sort both issues and CLA whist at it.



This weekend it rather a busy one. The earliest I could take a crack at it is Halloween, yikes!

[Paul Browning]

I have the 322 noris sound, but the power supply had blown up, kept taking the fuse out. They have odd caps on the power supply boards, and they are almost impossible to obtain, a strange 3 pin arrangement, and short, so any equivalent cap is too tall, i think it clashes with the fly wheel, nice machine, but a pig to unlace if you had a problem, sophisticated recording features, not sure you would use them all, nice bright picture too.......

[Tom Photiou]

Paul, ive never seen a Norris projector but i understand them to be quite a nice machine, i guess like all makes, it depends on the model as to which ones are any good.

[Lee Mannering]

As mentioned before, the speed control circuit board was redesigned from the 100 range and they also placed it in the airflow on the 300 range for cooling. My much loved 320 is still good with its noted wide aperture shutter for max brightness for the day. Looking back to the golden era of cine clubs and everyone using Eumigs with a constant fan the Noris was a bit of a revolution as so quiet.
Much loved cine expert Francis Williams gave us a tip to file off 1mm from the shutter blades which we did. Put in a 1.1 Schneider lens and you had the ultimate film makers projector in the 70's.
I say film makers as they had a rapid claw pull down so if you had a slightly shrunken acetate film at 24fps they didn't like it.
My own 320 went out with me for years giving shows of my own home movies along with a very good film maker friend and his 342. Very fond memories pretty much the golden age for us i guess.