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Author Topic: aw3 platter keeps spinning Shane Hoffmann Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Fond du Lac, WI, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 09-06-2003 12:53 PM                     We are having troubles with our Christie Autowind 3 platter. We are currently showing two movies in this theater, and when I laced up the film to rewind onto the bottom platter, it kept on rewinding and I had to turn off the platter, remove the second movie (which wasn't being shown) and rewind it onto the top platter. I tried to adjust the film return photosensor like the troubleshooting section in the manual said to do, and it either wasn't helping, or I was doing it wrong. I would like to have it fixed soon because it is a hassle to take one movie completely off the platter just to show the other one. Has anybody else had this problem? [ 09-22-2003, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: Shane Hoffmann ]  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 09-06-2003 01:19 PM                    So does the platter turn continuous in both take up and pay out does the platter keep turning when the arm is in the off position. Are these platters using the green motors?  |  IP: Logged Shane Hoffmann Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Fond du Lac, WI, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 09-06-2003 02:27 PM                     It happens only with the take up, not in the off position, and it is not with the green motors.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 09-06-2003 03:42 PM                    If you are unable to adjust the speed using the tips section there may be a problem with the speed control board. Try swapping the board with another and see if the problem moves with it.  |  IP: Logged Scott Manley Film Handler Posts: 59 From: Austin, TX USA Registered: May 2001 posted 09-06-2003 03:45 PM                     I would try to set the LED levels and then go thru the speed adjustments. If it still acts up I would suspect the variable density filter.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 09-06-2003 03:48 PM                    oh one thing to check that could be a problem is with the variable density filter becoming loose for some reason.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 09-06-2003 03:57 PM                        Do you have a braion in the deck when you are trying to take up? I have had this problem and found that sometimes if you put a brain in the deck it will solve the problem until someone can come out and fix it. I believe it is caused by A plastic piece that is connected to the take up arm getting caught up.  |  IP: Logged Shane Hoffmann Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Fond du Lac, WI, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 09-06-2003 04:35 PM                     yes- there was a brain on the deck when i tried. thanks for all of your suggestions. I think we'll have a technician in soon anyway if we can't figure it out.  |  IP: Logged Mike Pennell Expert Film Handler Posts: 150 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 09-06-2003 05:13 PM                     Check and see if the fingers on the payout head arm are going all the way back. Sometimes that arm needs to be slightly adjusted.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-06-2003 11:18 PM                     The platter comes to a stop when at the "0" position (ready for payout) but doesn't stop on take-up.... Likely causes are if there is a centerfeed in place (fixed or removable), the feed fingers may be bonking into the first of the 3-roller cluster and preventing the feed fingers from swinging all of the way back (yes they move on take up). If this is the case, bend the feed finger arm such that the fingers clear the roller on take up. If the feed finger arm is loose (held on by one screw) then tighten the screw (located below the dust plate with the two guide posts). The next likely problem is the nylon finger on the take up arm is broken and is not pushing the feed finger shaft all of the way back (btw if this is the problem, you have other issues..since a free swinging feed finger spindle with the proper return spring tension will move on its own). The nylon finger is located on the take up arm but the business end is sticking inside the arm of the platter deck. In short, you aren't going to see it from the outside. A simple test of it being in one piece is to move the take up arm towards the vertical post, and try to move the feed fingers (GENTLY) towards the payout position. You should feel some resistance and a spring action to force the feed fingers back toward the cluster rollers. DO NOT FORCE THE FEED FINGERS ANY MORE THAN IT TAKES TO FEEL THE RESISTANCE. If you don't feel any resistance the nylon finger is broken. Lastly, move the take up arm back and forth at a slow but reasonable amount of speed (like the film moves it on start up)...look at the feed fingers...are they tracking with the take up arm or are they moving in a herky-jerky fashion? They should track the take-up arm. If they don't you have binding somewhere or dirt mucking things up. Steve  |  IP: Logged Michael Elam Film Handler Posts: 84 From: Clarksville, IN, USA Registered: Mar 2001 posted 09-07-2003 02:06 PM                     I work on these things all of the time, You either have a bad control card, or a sensor. If you have the type control card that has a white resistor near the top then suspect it, if you are using Infared Red sensors instead of Photocell then suspect the sensor. The disc MUST be at a dead stop at 20% or the first notch on the feedplate.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 09-07-2003 02:30 PM                     If everything mechanically checks out OK after you did the tests like Steve mentioned, then I would think you have a bad control card or the LED sensor unit. There is really not too any things that can go wrong with the AW-3.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-07-2003 03:10 PM                     How fast is it spinning? If it is spinning somewhat slow, did the payout arm make it's way all the way back to the ZERO point when the movie finished?  |  IP: Logged Shane Hoffmann Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Fond du Lac, WI, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 09-07-2003 11:38 PM                     the platter does spin at it's normal speed. It also has the red light sensor-- I played around with the return shutter some more and I had it working, but when i tightened the set screw again, the very slight movement made it go out of whack again and I was back to where I started.  |  IP: Logged Trevor Bailey Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Woonsocket, RI Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-08-2003 06:54 PM                        I have to go with Steve on this one...95% of the time that this problems appears, it is one of the items Steve has mentioned. Another thing that I have noticed it that the variable density disk can be slightly out of alignment on older AW3s. When the platter is at rest, looking into the end of the support arm, if the variable density disk can be moved to the right (counter-clockwise) slightly and then the problem disappears, it's time to take things apart, re-align, and tighten everything back up.  |  IP: Logged

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