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This is something I have been working on for some time, and would not have been possible if was not for the kindness and help from Kevin Faulkner.
The new tensioner is designed to be fitted onto the original fixing post on the projector, and reuses the original tension spring. The roller is held in position on the shaft by two side pressure springs.
After several months of studying and experiments, playing around with different sizes of rollers I came to the conclusion that the original tensioner was an afterthought on behalf of Elmo.
The projector runs perfectly fine on playback without the tensioner, in both magnetic and optical. The problem occurs when you try to record.
There is about two seconds for the film to get up to speed, to take up the slack from the pinch roller, if you were attempting a quick start record this would be a problem. hence the plastic tensioner.
looking at the design of this machine, and how well it is machined and the body is cast, I believe now that they attempted to fit a roller directly to the fixing post. Then realized that it needed to be spring loaded, to be able to float up and down. When you look at the original plastic tensioner, it looks out of place in this machine. Because of its design they realized it had to be pivoted from the top, and that is why it is on that metal plate. Otherwise it would scratch the film.
The problem has been finding all of the component parts, as they are all sub miniature. These are things that you cannot pick up in a shop. There is still a little work to be done on it, as I keep finding ways on improving it.
If anybody is interested in one of these can you let me know below. So I know how many parts to order. I will wait a couple of weeks before I do so.
They will be supplied with a new tension spring, a fixing post and hex key for fitting.
The new tensioner is designed to be fitted onto the original fixing post on the projector, and reuses the original tension spring. The roller is held in position on the shaft by two side pressure springs.
After several months of studying and experiments, playing around with different sizes of rollers I came to the conclusion that the original tensioner was an afterthought on behalf of Elmo.
The projector runs perfectly fine on playback without the tensioner, in both magnetic and optical. The problem occurs when you try to record.
There is about two seconds for the film to get up to speed, to take up the slack from the pinch roller, if you were attempting a quick start record this would be a problem. hence the plastic tensioner.
looking at the design of this machine, and how well it is machined and the body is cast, I believe now that they attempted to fit a roller directly to the fixing post. Then realized that it needed to be spring loaded, to be able to float up and down. When you look at the original plastic tensioner, it looks out of place in this machine. Because of its design they realized it had to be pivoted from the top, and that is why it is on that metal plate. Otherwise it would scratch the film.
The problem has been finding all of the component parts, as they are all sub miniature. These are things that you cannot pick up in a shop. There is still a little work to be done on it, as I keep finding ways on improving it.
If anybody is interested in one of these can you let me know below. So I know how many parts to order. I will wait a couple of weeks before I do so.
They will be supplied with a new tension spring, a fixing post and hex key for fitting.
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