Advice on Eumig 710D and Mark S pressure pads

[Martin Davey]

Dear All,
I have 2 questions relating to 2 Eumig projectors.
1) 710D I want to know how to access the heads for cleaning. I presume that B and D should release the spring loaded pressure pad? I don’t want to find out that a lot more has moved out of place without checking first. I do have another 710D which I believe to be an earlier design (which has no focus knob for example), and on which the arrangement is quite different, using a spring loaded catch that is moved by 90°.
2) I recently purchased this Mark S. All looks good while I await new motor bearings to be sent, except for the sound head. There appears to be this very thin piece of metal with rounded corners which is very loose, wobbles about at various angles but is still not able to be removed. I presume this is part of the head assembly? I have tried to wiggle it into a position where it locks in place to no avail. Unfortunately there is no access to even see the sound heads/ pressure pads. Am I going to have to remove the flywheel and whatever is lying behind it?
Thanks in advance.

[Joseph Banfield]

The bottom photo is the Mark S and it is supposed to be loose. It's the spring loaded pressure pad that moves up to clamp and read the sound heads. You can remove the sound easily for cleaning...simply pull the two plugs on the right from their sockets and grab the entire sound head unit and pull it towards you and it will pop out its spring mounting clip. Replacing is the reverse operation. Only the original Mark S for standard 8mm releases the sound heads in this way....the other Eumig sound models you will be removing screws. At least three of them if memory serves. For your 712 that would be B and E screws...don't touch C or D or you WILL BE sorry indeed!!! There should be another screw holding the soundhead to the chasis of the projector. No the flywheel does not need to be removed nor does the rear cover for that matter. I would just leave them alone actually as I've never seen any that had any crude in there. For some reason that area stays remarkably clean! But you will want to definately clean both the capstan and pinch rollers on both of those machines because they do get very dirty!

[Tim Gillett]

Yes for the 710D, removing the two black screws B and E allows removal of the shiny spring steel part which should allow the pressure assembly to be removed, exposing the downwards facing heads. There is a total of four heads, two erase heads and two record/play heads, all of which can be carefully cleaned with some Isopropanol on cotton buds/Q tips. You can check the four white plastic "fingers" are intact and able to extend freely under their own spring pressure. The brass plate below is to allow the fingers to be retracted from the heads for film loading. The brass screw A is preset in the factory to laterally align the fingers against the heads.

I think it's important to remove and replace the pressure assembly with the projector control level in the clockwise "play" position (projector not connected to the mains of course). Otherwise there will be fouling of the pressure assembly's brass part against the lever which retracts the fingers for film loading. From memory I dont think it's possible to replace the pressure assembly unless this is done.

Removing the entire head block requires removal of the larger black screw above screw A (not visible in your photo) and unplugging the head wire from the PCB. This removing can make it a lot easier to see the heads for inspection and cleaning.

[Martin Davey]

Thanks so much Joseph for your quick and useful reply which all checked out! I can see now that the metal loose plate had become unstuck seemingly, judging by the glue marks on both surfaces which explained why it was turning in all directions.
I'm not used to Eumigs, mainly just using Elmos. With the accessory pack that came with the Mark S were some things I'm not sure of their intended use. There are some S shaped electrical contacts, and a tool which looks like a screwdriver, but the blade is very thin and looks like it would fail under use. What is the intended use for these please?

[Martin Davey]

Thank you Tim. I did find on the other 710D I own that (after trial, error and frustration) the projector should be in the play position to fully set the pressure plate correctly!

[Joseph Banfield]

Martin, those extra metal "S" shaped pieces are extra fuses. If you look at the bottom area of the the transformer you will see one of them in place. The Mark S shipped with exactly three extra ones!

The screwdriver adjusts the recording input levels on the rear panel and can also be used to remove the screwed-on lamp cover...only the two versions of the original Mark S for standard 8mm (there were two radically different gate designs used on the original Mark S) used that type of lamp cover...the rest were simply snap in place type of lamp covers. That screwdriver was also supplied with the Mark S (Super 8 version), and the 701 as well as the 709 also for setting their recording levels.

Also keep in mind that the Mark S is a tube amp so there are high DC voltages used on the plates of the tubes so be careful when poking around in there when powered up!

The original Mark S for standard 8mm sound film is by far my favorite projector made by Eumig and those are overbuilt in quality. The vacuum tube amp alone should have won some type of award for squeezing that huge power transformer and three vaccum tubes into a space smaller than any of the projectors from the later 800 series! And Eumig even eliminated a rectifier tube by installing a solid state rectifier instead of a vacuum tube rectifier which would have had a high failure rate because of the heat generated in an already hot and tight space. Those tube amps Eumig used in their early projectors are very reliable, not to mention the excellent capacitors they used in the amp. I have yet to come across a faulty tube amp in that series, not even a faulty vacuum tube. Dirty contacts is usually the problem with this amp both on the recording switch and the muting switch for the soundheads. And sometimes the spring-loaded power contacts to the circuit board or the spring contacts for speaker. But all very easily fixed. Eumig even designed these tube amps to pull out in one single piece without even unsoldering a single wire. About the only bad things you could say about this model is of course the drive disc problem and the very heavy weight of the vacuum tube models.

Shane Collins (a member here on the forum) once sent me a copy of an original ad for this projector showing some young petite woman in a flower print skirt holding this machine in one hand like it's a lightweight purse with a smile on her face from 1964...NOT LIKELY as it is one very, very heavy beast in such a tiny case...if an original Mark S falls on your head, you're dead!!!

But still it is truly remarkable engineering from the wizards in Vienna!

[Shane C. Collins]

Joseph is right these early Eumig's are by far some of the best engineered projectors ever made! My recently shot Ektachrome Super 8 home movies will only be threaded into my two Eumig models. The ever trusty Eumig Mark S Super 8 only machine, and the wonderfully made Eumig Mark S 709 dual 8 projector. The semi auto-threading is one of its nicest features. However, the twist to focus lenses are also my other favorite design with these early marvels of engineering! I must also mention that my home movies are silent! But, the ever trusty Mark S and 709 both were designed to run silent films with the heads, and pressure pads disengaged from the film path. And because I use both of these machines for that reason I don't have to worry about any extra wear to the heads, etc. However, when I am ready to watch a sound commercial print the Mark S 709 springs to life! This model is by far my favorite of the two I own. The 709 is so versatile it checks all the boxes for my use. I must also include here that the 709 uses both separate sprockets, and gate plates for both Super 8 and Standard 8. Those compact tube amps really are a marvel of design and function! As Joseph stated the wizards of Vienna! And here is the photo I believe he is referring too. This was for the 709 model.

[Joseph Banfield]

Yep, that's the photo!

[Paul Adsett]

an original ad for this projector showing some young petite woman in a flower print skirt holding this machine in one hand like it's a lightweight purse with a smile on her face from 1964...NOT LIKELY as it is one very, very heavy beast in such a tiny case

Probably taken with a stripped down version of the projector, just the external parts.

[Brian Fretwell]

Probably taken with a stripped down version of the projector, just the external parts.

Or with it resting on something that has been cut out of the photo.

[Shane C. Collins]

I don't know it looks like every muscle in her arm is straining under the pressure of the 709. I can see veins clearly popping out... My guess is she was never right in the years after holding this beast! Eumig probably paid out one hefty bill for her lifelong therapy!

[Martin Davey]

Thanks all for the info on the Eumig accessories, most interesting reading!
I received the motor mounts yesterday and immediately put the projector back together. It was quite fiddly getting the motor to line up with the speed control but apart from that all went well. I've put various sound films through it and I'm very pleased with the result, and it means another projector brought back from death! Incidentally this example is in perfect condition and has not a mark/ chip on it. I can see the collectability of this era of Eumigs, the attractive styling with the cream coloured paint. I also have a mark M as well as the two 710 mentioned previously.

[Shane C. Collins]

Thanks all for the info on the Eumig accessories, most interesting reading!
I received the motor mounts yesterday and immediately put the projector back together. It was quite fiddly getting the motor to line up with the speed control but apart from that all went well. I've put various sound films through it and I'm very pleased with the result, and it means another projector brought back from death! Incidentally this example is in perfect condition and has not a mark/ chip on it. I can see the collectability of this era of Eumigs, the attractive styling with the cream coloured paint. I also have a mark M as well as the two 710 mentioned previously.

Martin I'm happy to hear the projector is once again working as it should! The lining up of the motor and speed control, as you mentioned, is quite fiddling to say the least. My 709 is like your Mark S very clean and not a mark on it! In fact I believe my 709 was never used as the drive discs were perfect! The Mark S Super 8 projector is a marvel of form and function.