Sankyo 2000H What's Blocking the Light?

[Barry Weare]

Recently bought a very nice, clean looking 2000H and was initially very pleased with Super 8 results. On Std 8 it has frozen mid-film and I've had to go through the tortuous, trial and error 'adjusting claw' procedure (thank you Janice Glesser 2015 thread). During that process I removed the heatsink glass (thanks again Janice) for cleaning but was unable to reinstall it. For some reason after eventually and successfully adjusting the claw there is no room to squeeze the glass plate back in without it getting in the way of the shutter wheel. I've gone wrong somewhere and hope photo 2 helps.
Meanwhile I have continued without the glass. After running the std 8 reel again for a few minutes it stopped again. I managed to restart the film going through (thankfully I don't think it was the claw problem) but now there is no picture because, although the lamp is on, something is blocking the light. See photo 1 - a lever has popped down to block light onto the film, presumably to protect it but I can't see how it works or how to reset it.
Can anyone shed some light on this please? Sorry for the pun.

[Janice Glesser]

Hi Barry...The Sankyo 2000H is designed to block the light until there is film running thru the gate.

The first pic shows the projector without film and the selector switch is set to lamp. The lamp goes on but does not project thru the gate.

The second pic with film running thru the projector shows the light now projecting thru the gate.




As far as the heatsink holder not fitting. It's possible you did some over adjusting on the claw.

[Shane C. Collins]

Also would like to point out that you can defeat this light canceling plate by doing the following. Hold the threading lever down and at the same time turn the selector switch to light. This will project light through the lens and onto a screen, etc. It only works this way however.

[Barry Weare]

Thanks Janice and Shane. I’m getting in a real mess with this. I think the blocking plate wasn’t moving out the way because I was trying to restart with the film in place after it had jammed. If I cut the film, add leader tape and re-thread it the plate lifts out the way. I still have no idea what triggers it but it is working now and I’m thinking that the claw adjustment is my real problem. I had it running ok for a few seconds but when I tried to adjust the framer it jammed again
Was I adjusting the claw in the right way? When I loosen the grub screws there is only about 5mm total adjustment available to move the shutter wheel/claw along the shaft. By rotating the white fan wheel I can see the claw spike movement which goes in to engage, then up or down for forward or reverse, then out to disengage the film sprockets. Moving it too far forward and the spike never disengages and damages the film. Too far back and it never engages so the film doesn’t move, leaving only 2mm or 3mm of possible adjustment. By endless trial and error I did find a sweet spot that appeared to work but then the film jammed after about 5 mins. I’ve tried making sure the grub screws are really tight but it just refuses to work consistently. I have tried a Super 8 film again but the same problem occurs now.
As for the heatsink glass, with so little adjustment room available I can’t see how it fits back in. If I could screw the plate onto the fixing holes it would obstruct the shutter wheel. If I moved the shutter wheel back to make room for the glass then the claw spike would be nowhere near the right position to engage. But I could do without that if only I can get the projector projecting properly.
Help please before I go crazy with this!

[Barry Weare]

Update: Apologies Janice, the heatsink plate does actually fit as you said - with 1mm clearance from the shutter wheel. That's progress anyway.

[Shane C. Collins]

I can't help you with the claw adjustment as I've never done one, nor have I tried. Janice on the other hand has done a few claw adjustments from what I've read on the forum. She should be able to help you figure this out. Or at the very least give you some guidance. Good luck getting this straightened out. The Sankyo 2000H is a great little running machine. The good news is they are plentiful on eBay should this one prove too difficult to fix. So in the end you have some options.

[Barry Weare]

Update #2: Well the heatsink plate gave me something to gauge the amount of shaft adjustments to. By moving the shutter wheel/claw a further fraction away I seem to have blundered my way to success. I'm rewarded with being able to transfer the last 10 mins of a 400ft reel with my client's circa 1970 wedding. I'd have given up and missed that without your help. Apologies for wasting your time but I have been on quite a learning curve. Thank you.

[Shane C. Collins]

No apologies needed, that's what makes this forum so awesome! Asking questions and getting results! I've had some great advice from some of the best people on this forum! I'm happy to hear you got it working Barry.... The joy of projecting film will stick around longer if we keep these wonderful machines running!
PS: I've reached out to Janice several times with projectors issues, and/or advice. She's one of the best on the forum!

[Janice Glesser]

Barry Weare Your description of how you "blundered" your way to success is actually all too common. I'm pretty sure (whether they want to admit it or not) that the majority of the members in this forum perform successful repairs using the same technique The only thing that makes us "experts" is that we've made more mistakes than the average collector.

[Barry Weare]

Ha, then I'm an expert at something then, adjusting claws.