Beaulieu 708EL problem arms

[Arnau Pell]

Hi friends! greetings from Spain. I apologize for my English (I am using a google translator).
I recently bought a Beaulieu 708 EL and I have a problem where both arms rotate at the same time in both directions, I thought it would be the two microswitches that activate these movements and after changing them it remains the same. The speed adjust regulator does not seem to work either. My knowledge of electronics is very basic and I don't know where to start to be able to solve the movement of the arms. Thank you all very much!

[Steve Lee]

Hi Arnau ,and welcome to the forum.
I had a similar problem with my machine over the past few months with it not being able to rewind a film. The Beaulieu has a simple drive system that uses a timing belt to power both the feed and take up arms continuously together in both directions. Depending on the direction of rotation of the motor, the feed and take up arms are connected and disconnected from the drive system using a ratchet clutch which is situated in the bottom of the reel arms.

You need to carefully remove the circlip No 12 and be very careful as all of this part is spring loaded! Remove every piece down to No 8 you will need to clean and remove all of the old grease off of No 10 / 11 and 13, this is where the problem lies.
Whilst you have all of this removed I would recommend you remove the drive shaft No 1 out of the back of the machine, .it should just pull out. Remove all of the old grease from the shaft, I guarantee this will be one solid lump.
Re-grease the shaft and replace back into the machine from the back, I found placing a piece of tape over the gear on the back and sticking it to the body of the machine, as this helps reassembly, as the shaft will keep on moving backwards whilst assembling the rest of the drive.

I know this may seem a bit scary to do at first. but it is simple to do. I would suggest that you work on a clean table in case you drop any of the tiny pieces, and as you remove the pieces place them down in order on a piece of paper. And most of all take your time. The same ratchet clutch system is in the take up arm.

I believe the problem for the speed control is a CR 25- 470 ohms Resistor that can be found behind the cover plate below the speed control knob, this needs to be replaced.
I wish you all the best Steve

[Phil Murat]

Hi Arnau,

Welcome in this forum !!

A) Before to dismantling Both arms clutches , I suggest you to spray WD40 (Spray can with a pipe) just below gear (14) only and observe changes. If Ok, it is not necessary to disassemble in a first time.

B) What is the speed control issue ? If you mean "Variable Speed" mode and your 708EL is old generation, Front Knob Speeds Adjustment is almost ineficient . That was an early bad design from Beaulieu. This problem has been corrected later on last 708 EL and of course, on 708 EL Stereo machines.

Let us know.

NB

You will find numerous threads in the "archive" folders and concerning B708EL (Mono & Stereo as well).
Enjoy it , this machine is a heavy duty one

[Arnau Pell]

Thank you very much Steve Lee & Phil Murat, I will try first with wd40 in case that would be enough, I am attaching a photo where I indicate what does not work for me, I do not know whether to call it a potentiometer, regulator, etc. A picture is worth more than 1000 words Cheers!
A

[Phil Murat]

Thanks for the picture Arnau.

Yes, I confirm this knob has poor effect on former B 708 EL , so that it is almost impossible to perform a proper video transfer , speed range is too tight.

[Arnau Pell]

tried wd40 and it did not work, so I disassembled the arm following the photo and after cleaning and reassembling it finally took effect. I will try these days to be able to check a little more the operation of the projector.
Knowing that the knob is already a typical failure of the projector, I will not give it more importance.

Thank you very much Phil Murat and Steve Lee for sharing your insights! Cheers!!

[Maurice Leakey]

.....I confirm this knob has poor effect on former B 708 EL, so that it is almost impossible to perform a proper video transfer, speed range is too tight.....

I quote the following figures for the speed control from the Van Eck website :-

At 18fps, plus and minus 1 to 3 fps change
At 24fps, plus and minus 2 to 3 fps change

Not a good design