Wolverine 8mm converter randomly stops in the middle of recording.

[Tim Swaback]

Hi everyone. I tried searching for my issue but came up empty.

I have a Wolverine 8mm digital converter (the $299 one) that I am having an issue with. After recording for about 2 minutes it will stop. It doesn't give any error message it just simply stops recording like I had hit the stop button. I bought a 32gb SD card specifically for this machine since I was having compatibility issues with my micro SD cards (the manual mentioned this)

Has anyone else had this issue? Any thoughts on how to fix it? Yesterday I ran a whole reel through in a half hour and it worked flawlessly.

[Stan Jelavic]

Hi Tim, can you provide a few details. Looks like the problem is intermittent but you do not say that. One possibility is that the film got stuck but I assume you would notice that, The other possibility is the frame sync connection issue. Possibly the frame sync connector is not in all the way.


You will have to open up the back cover and then make sure that the sync connector shown is in all the way.
One more question. When the unit stops is the display still working?

[Tim Swaback]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them tonight.

Yes the problem is intermittent. It worked fine yesterday, it is randomly stopping today. When it stops the display stays on. Nothing strange happens, it simply stops recording and advancing the film. If I hit the start button it starts up again for another minute then stops.

[David Brown]

Hello Tim

I just tried to search for an older post I made about this problem. No luck finding it, so from memory (that's a warning!) I had a dirty claw sensor. The machine I bought was old and had been used commercially. After capturing hundreds of reels it began to stop too. That's why it was for sale for parts.

I cleaned everything inside. The claw has a plastic finger that interrupts a photo sensor. If that stops happening the machine stops thinking the film is stuck or finished.

Your machine may not be very old, but could be dirty. I will look for a picture I might have. Stan might already have a picture or easily take a new one?

Anyway I don't have that right now.

[Tim Swaback]

I really appreciate the help here. I opened the machine up and disconnected and reconnected all the wires I could see. After that I was able to do 2 scans without issue. Hopefully it keeps going.

It's so exciting to see these films. I was born in 1984 and I have 27 3" rolls of my childhood from 1984-1987 that I've haven't seen since I was probably 7 out 8 years old!

[Stan Jelavic]

Hope that was that Tim.

[David Brown]

Tim

I'm sure it was hard to visualize my description in #4.

Here are some pictures for anyone else that might have that problem.

The bottom circled in red can be removed, screws are accessed from inside the rear cover. Not my first choice!

The S8/R8 switch and the claw switch can be accessed from a trap door the red arrow is pointing to.


There are no screws holding the door.



The switch can be cleaned out with canned air sprayed thru the trap door.

[Stan Jelavic]

Good point David. That could also be the cause.

[Tim Swaback]

Thank you all for the help. It is now up and running well.

https://youtu.be/kSPDggtLRw8

[Stan Jelavic]

Awesome.