Eumig Sonomatic 824D HQS

[Peter Borlace]

Hello everyone, thanks for letting me join your illustrious forum.

Sorry my first post is a request for help, but I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

A couple of weeks ago I rescued a Eumig 824D HQS as it was about to be flung into a skip. It was still in its polystyrene packing, inside its original but tatty box. Question 1 is about the rear sprocket guide; is this supposed to move freely or should there be some sort of spring tensioner attached to it? Question 2 is regarding a small black bobbin coil, wound with yellow wire. It appears to be floating around, attached to the sound track selector switch. I am assuming this may be some sort of Hall effect coil that has come loose from a motor housing perhaps. Photos enclosed; any assistance is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter

[Steve Klare]

Hi Peter,

As I remember this guide, it's supposed to be held up against the sprocket to hold the film on the sprocket's teeth. I have a similar machine I can look at later unless somebody else can explain better.

You have also encountered the famous Eumig Hum Bucking Coil.

What this is about is there is a very sensitive sound head in there to pick up the weak magnetic field on the sound stripe and provide a signal to the amplifier. Unfortunately there are weak magnetic fields everywhere, so this is prone to also picking up those. These come through the speaker as hum if we let them. What this coil is for is to pick up that exact same stray magnetic field and since it is connected electrically opposite in polarity and in series with the head, allow these two stray voltages to cancel out leaving nothing but the audio signal from the sound stripe (-ideally). There is kind of an art of moving these around to fine tune the voltage so the cancellation is exact. (Please be gentle: everything involved is pretty delicate!).

Unfortunately yours seems to be busted loose from its moorings: it's supposed to be mounted on that copper strap so it can be bent around into the optimum position and angle.

This technique of hum cancelation is also used in electric guitars: same problem.

[Peter Borlace]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply. should the guide be held in place by a spring? Mine moves up and down on a pivot and will stay in position but I would have thought there should be a spring of some kind to keep it in position.

Thanks again,
Peter

[Steve Klare]

It makes sense to me that his guide should be pulled up by some sort of spring, so that when the film auto-threads it will mesh with the sprockets and be held in place, but I'm not sure exactly how this is done. Later on I can take my own out and know for certain.

My main problem diagnosing these is my own hasn't needed a lot of attention! (20+ years later we are acquaintances at best!)

[Peter Borlace]

Thanks Steve, that would be great. The projector looks to be in almost mint condition, just needs a bulb, assuming there is no missing spring!

Regards,
Peter

[Graham Sinden]

From memory there is no spring, it it just held up against the sprocket wheel as it is not loose (the correct word escapes me at this time)

Graham S

[Peter Borlace]

Friction?

[Paul Adsett]

This wonderful machine was found in a skip? Tell us more about how you found it Peter

[Steve Klare]

OK, I came home, had some homemade lasagna for dinner, and finally sought some facts here!

This is my Bolex SP-80 Special, made by Eumig and basically a Eumig 800 Series operating undercover.

#1 Hum Buck Coil Mounting
.

The coil mounts on that copper strip.

.

The coil has a bracket that slides over the copper strip. There are two possible ways to slide this on, and it's important to mount it facing the right way or the hum bucking coil's voltage will not subtract but add to the signal and make the hum much worse. It could help to actually hold it in place either way and listen to the hum before you commit yourself.

I'm guessing the end of that copper strip is at least close to where the coil needs to be.


#2 Guide Under the Rear Sprocket
.

That guide seems to be rigidly mounted on my machine. (It looks like you are missing some parts here.)

[Graham Sinden]

Yes Friction.

It should pull right down but only when the cover is removed. It's a long time since I used my 824 as I only use it for Standard 8.

Graham S

[Peter Borlace]

Hi Paul,

It was a very lucky find indeed. Builders were clearing a loft of a house they were renovating and of course no one wants old cine/movie equipment any more!! I saw the red Eumig box but had no expectation that it would have anything worth having inside because it was so badly torn and beaten up. I asked if I could have it, and the answer was yes and to help myself if there was anything else of interest. I also found a box full of Standard 8 films shot in the 1950s to 1962, including one of street scenes in NY in 1953 and a journey on a train in the US. There is also one of a holiday in Venice in 1962 together with various family holidays in Europe. Interestingly and quite sad is that one of the developed rolls had the name and address of the owner/photographer written on it. I looked up the house address on Google Maps (not the same as where the skip was), and found that the house was demolished in 2018. The older images showed that it was a beautiful old Victorian villa with a large garden, now replaced with 3 nondescript habitation units! I haven't been able to trace the family, but I would imagine, as often seems to happen these days, old films/photos have no relevance to most people. Anyway, projector looks in almost mint condition, no lens fungus, bulb burnt out but apart from that, looks complete. I haven't looked at the films yet as I don't have another projector, but looking forward to seeing what is on them. Most are b/w but a couple are in colour.

Regards,
Peter

[Peter Borlace]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for taking the trouble to dig out your projector. It looks like a metal part is missing, there are screw holes on the plastic part of mine, presumably where this part attached. Finding that part is not going to be easy!

Thanks again,
Peter

[Peter Borlace]

Hi Graham,

It does move, not slack but as said, a friction fit. From Steve's comments, it looks like a part may be missing.

Thanks,
Peter

[Steve Klare]

Peter,

I think you may have stumbled upon somebody's parts machine (I can't criticize too much: I've been known to have a few myself!)

I found myself in a situation once where I had two dead projectors and everything that was bad on one was actually very good on the other. I spent a Saturday transplanting parts onto the good chassis and ended up with a really good machine.

It's possible the best future for this machine looks something like this: whether you keep the machine or pass it on to someone else.

I've never owned one, but I've always admired the -824D. It's sad to meet one looking under the weather like this!

[Peter Borlace]

Hi Steve,
I'm not sure it is parts machine. Looking at the Van-Eck.net website, there is a close up of the sprocket guide that looks exactly like mine, it does not have the metal bit that yours seems to have. I also think it was a treasured machine because it had the standard 8 gate clipped inside the cover. I have the super 8 sprockets too, but I took them to convert to standard 8. I suppose the best test would be to find an old reel of film and try and run it through. I have ordered a super 8 reel for the take-up, so should have that in a couple of days.