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Topic: The Century (Projectors) Family Reunion
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-18-2002 04:08 PM
I don't want us to go off-topic in the Century Projector (aka "Centry Projector") thread.I posed a question to Gordon about the differences (or similarities) between a geniune Century machine and the various copycat models (Monee, Westar, et al). Gordon wrote: quote:
ICECO sells the westar with century pitched gears or the original westar pitch that was actually superior in design
Also some parts are made as assemblies (upper and ower sprocket assemblies) So not all parts are interchangeable
What do you mean by "pitch" in this case?
Also, the upper and lower sprocket assemblies...you mean the gear, the shaft and the sprocket roller? Are you referring to the fact that some of them fasten with screws, whereas others fasten with conical pins?
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Richard Fowler
Film God
Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted 08-19-2002 08:46 AM
The Westrex 2001 is a fine machine.....I have two running in platter houses for 20 years with two overhauls with no problem. The upper and lower sprocket bearing assembly and outboard main drive removeable bearing support make it easy to tweak for smooth operation. The intermittent drive gear on the vertical shaft and bearing support are slightly different from the Century type, again which allows for final tweak for smoooth operation. A wek spot is the lens mount which is not too forgiving in a tilt situation but works fine level.
Cinecita has been out of production for 15 years and have recently restarted very limited production due to increased building in India. The units sold to ORC where pretty poor and it was obvious that ORC did nothing in quality control since I remember I had to cut a piece of metal off of a soundhead casting so the drive belt could be installed:rolleyses: Cinecita had labor disputes ( which probably contributed to their quality control ) and they shut down their plant.
Monee, the largest supplier of the Indian Centurys is the source of the "Rebadged Westar" units sold by ICECO ( with a Kelmar turret vs the Monee, which the early ones had a problem in indexing accurately ).ICECO will supply either the 14 pitch or Century pitch gears as required by the customer. The intermittents, at least, would have the seals and bearings replaced or at most than intermittent rebuld kit installed to make them more reliable for platter use. Monee has moved to a new plant a couple of years ago and in their latest literature they have a picture of the four unit intermittent test stand to run in the units.
Indian parts are from four sources and vary in quality. We replace the set screws in the gears with stainless allen screws which tend to solve most of the operational problems with the gears.
The V-8 is a tank and the gear train was designed for a 50,000 service life if properly maintained. The weak spot on earlier units was the combination fire shutter picture douser which required constant adjustment which in later model was replace with a "zipper" type changeover. V-4 seem to run forever if you remember to push the oil plunger ( a la E-7 ) prior to each show. I installed a sixplex in Miami 20 years ago ( after removing the equipment from another cinema ) with platters and they are still chugging 12 hours a day.
Cinemeccanica US has, like most suppliers, have downsized, so telephone support is not as great as before but they are trying in addition to our staff in taking care of questions. The parent company has been under the same ownership for 80 years which is extremly rare in this business.
I found PRO-35 easy to keep on the screen has long as you changed out the framing coupler yearly and the oil seal and general recondition on a five year average......and keep it oiled of course.
Richard Fowler
TVP-Theatre & Video Products Inc. www.tvpmiami.com
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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-20-2002 03:35 AM
Pete, The projector heads and soundheads had just been hand painted, with three coats of Hammerite gloss white enamel radiator paint, which never discolours, and is extremely hard wearing! A whole day was spent on each projector head, and same for each soundhead, stripping out all removable parts to make a thorough job. You can also get the radiator paint in satin finish, but the gloss finish is so much smarter. The RCA 9031 soundheads were installed new at Cranleigh in 1954, the projector heads were Ross GC3s, a Pathe Equipment package! So hence the unusual set-up afterwards in 1970 with the Westars 2001s. This was quite common in some ABC cinemas during the late 1950s when Ross or Simplex projectors were replaced retaining the RCA sound system. Following this period Plilips FP20s took the scene. I’ve worked on the older Westar projector heads without the removable upper & lower sprocket assemblies, also they had the smaller 50mm lens barrel! Claimed to be the first two Westar’s installed in 1947 at the Playhouse, Hampstead (later Classic, then ABC, now closed). These were mounted onto Western Electric Universal Bases.
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