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When you replace the coupler, be sure to loosen the framing drag plug. If you fail to do so, you may damage the coupler you are trying to install. This plug is located in the rear fo the projector casting. If you never changed one before, I would advise checking the manual.

Josh, is your gate tension correct? That adjustment will also work loose from time to time, and give you a very nasty picture jump on the screen.

Steve

Just kidding........Its a long running joke actually that started at Moyer Theatres years ago. They also called it the "Original Rock And Roll projector" too.

Actually if you replace the coupler also replace the outboard bearing, no matter what, its felt dust cap, and any other hardware you may need to at that time. Be careful putting the new coupler onto the spleens. The new one WILL be more difficult to mate to them than pulling the old worn one off. We stock all these parts if you need them.

Josh,
Pro 35's are good runners but VERY expensive to repair when something does really go wrong. The big deal with them is that after about 12 to 15 years the machines HAVE to be rebuilt as the seals wear out and the O rings suffer from compression set. This necessitates a complete tear down. New sprocket shafts, shutter shafts, etc are really costly for this machine. I've also seen quite a few broken star wheels in these machines as well. Some will keep going even with it broken, but when it piles up the movement parts are well over a grand alone. The new star is webbed, but I've seen em break too. Ususlly the shutter gear, and intermittent drive gears strip as well when this happens I don't hold a thing against them, they are great machines, and 15 years is a long time. But just be prepared to spend alot to get what has to be put into them for another 15 years of service.

Steve,
Actually the newer X-L movements are no wheres near as good as the older ones were. The cam, especially, is no longer made with the extreme accuracy that the old ones were. Simplex had a nack for doing these critical parts exactly. right. The older ones that had the cam radius screwed down with allen screws were the best units made! The metals were also harder too. I've tested the hardness of many newer and older components myself!
Personally I'd take a Century C or SA movement any day over anything else(Except Kinoton). I can rebuild em and hand fit all the bushings, etc perfectly, and they are usually dead steady, much steadier by comparison than a factory X-L. The Century gate also has more going for it IMHO.
MArk @ GTS

I never had any major problems with my PRO-35's. I found them easy to work on, the seals and bearings can be obtained for practically peanuts from the local bearing shop. (including the outboard bearing which costs about 6 bucks or so.) Seals are about a 1.50.

I changed one intermittant in 22 years, and that was because some doofus rammed the adjustment tight with a pair of vice-grips and screwed up the ball in the movement. When that happened, the starwheel came in contact with a portion of the cam that it was not supposed to.

I changed one shutter gear in the last 10 years, and that was because the shutter snagged a wire feeding the CO douser. I never had to change a vertical shaft, but I did have to change a couple of the older sprocket shafts because of oil seal wear.

Some of the real old Pro-35's had some soft shafts, and the oil seals did cut into them.

I find Pro-35 parts are cheap to maintain, as compared to others. I defend Ballentyne PRO-35's, they can be fixed with a screwdriver and a hammer.

Yes, they do leak oil. So does a Simplex. So does a Brenkert. So does those damn Centurys that have flakey movements.

I'll take a factory spec Pro-35 with the new gate over a factory spec XL or Century anytime.

I changed out 5 Cineshitties with Pro-35's in Post Falls, Idaho and the kids love those things. All the Cineshitties I took out of service came to pass because the movements were run without oil, and they burned up.

Paul

I'll stand by what I said...I'll take an XL intermittent over a Century and just about any other...I've had no steadiness problem out of them and the service life of Simplex intermittent due to it's operation in an oil bath seem to be a bout 10:1 over others.

As to gate design, the Century JJ is much better than the SA which looks like someone guessed, got it wrong and then fixed it. About the only draw back to the Simplex gate was the fixed intermittent shoe. Strong has now fixed that so that the shoe can have a perfect fit to the intermittent which will dramatically increase steadiness. The Century was clearly designed by someone that liked fixing things.

Steve

The Century was clearly designed by someone that liked fixing things.

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