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Seeking advice on sound not coming out of an ELMO Hi Vision SC-30-otherwise working.
Seeking advice on sound not coming out of an ELMO Hi Vision SC-30-otherwise working.
Hi, I'm hoping some of you experts out there may be able to assist me with why the sound isn't working on my ELMO HI VISION SC-30 Super 8 Sound Projector.
The projector loads and plays Super 8 film perfectly but there's no sound coming out from a film which has sound on it.
I think the recording key switch has a set of contacts that cut the speaker off during recording. If the contacts become oxidized the sound is cut off even with the key in normal play position.
I got an email from one of our members last week that he pressed and released his recording key easily 20 times before he got sound back.
-this may be a world record!
I got a machine a few years ago that had been in storage since the 1970s. I didn't even bother plugging it in before I worked all the switches and jacks a bunch of times. It was pretty obvious where this was headed!
-but that's actually what this is about: playback.
About 17 years ago, I picked up a used Elmo sound projector at a camera shop (remember those?). I brought it home and ran a sound film, only there was no sound.
That particular time I was trying to figure out what was wrong with it and I plugged in a set of headphones, just to see if the sound was at least getting through the pre-amp. I got sound. Then when I unplugged the phones, I had it in the speaker too. It was the cutoff contacts on the phone jack that time.
Other times when it happened it was fixed by working the recording key. This is the major suspect in these cases.
The classic thing was I would operate on the internal speaker for months and one day notice the volume was too low, but I'd cranked the knob full blast!
-couple of quick taps on that red key and we were all systems normal.
This has been useful: a seller on E-bay had a soundless Elmo ST-800 for sale. He'd replaced the belts. I emailed him and told him I'd help him fix his sound if he told me where he got the belts. My part of the bargain was "work the switches and record key". He got his sound back and I found out where to get belts!
What's going on here is we have all of these switches that may go years between use and never get the contacts scraped. The contacts do what metals often do: build up an oxide. When that happens your switch is "off" even when it's supposed to be "on".
Back in the days when people did projector repair, I have to believe the first thing they did was try switches and jacks. Only when the'd tried this and there was still no sound did the screw drivers and Allen keys come out.
It's a step to try that costs absolutely nothing and just maybe will fix the problem.
Last edited by Steve Klare; March 15, 2020, 08:00 PM.
After about 5 times I initially gave up. But then after Steve's suggestion I tried it again. I sat there blankly staring into space like I was sending morse code...1,2,3,4,5...rest..6,7, 8,9,10...rest..kept going like I belonged in a mental institution then when I got to number 19 I heard a crackle and by 20.. the sound was back. Crazy solution but it worked! Better than replacing the Amplifier IC...much better!
Charlie, you have to press the recording button without film in the projector, otherwise you will erase the sound that is on the soundtrack. I used several time that trick (learned here) and it worked. You have nothing to loose if you try...
Hi Steve, sorry it's been a while since I replied! I hope you're keeping safe & well under the current situation.
I wanted to say thank you so much for all your help above. Unfortunately, we're still having issues and I'm not sure why.
I've only just found some old Super 8 to try again and we did the process you listed above but it's not worked - do you have any ideas of troubleshooting for the same issue?
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