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Author
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Topic: Parts siezed by lamphouse guck
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 11-05-2005 02:33 PM
Went up to the booth last week to discover trouble. We hadn't run film for about a month. What I found on BOTH Peerless lamphouses was that I couldn't open the dowser mechanisms on either lamphouse. The dowser mechanisms were firmly "locked." And I don't mean just hard to open, but they were so tightly siezed that moving the dowser handle just slighty in the very small amount of play that was left would cause it to bang metal to metal with no further movement at all, as if it were hitting a stop pin.
A close inspection revealed that a substance of some sort had dripped down the stovepipe flu and run into the top of the lampuhouse. White lines showing the dripping trail were visible on the outside of the pipe itself and down along the outside and inside the lamphouse body. All the ferrous metal parts were rusted, but even more bizarre was a corrosive crud that covered many of the metal parts, pitting and discoloring them. The reflector protection wings had these white stuff pitting on them and the mechanical mechanism that swings them away was completely seized. It could not be moved. There was no play at all in the pins that rotate the wings to open. When I tell you it was seized as if it were welded in position, I am not exaggerating.
I soaked the entire part, first penetrating oil for two days and then WD40. The part would give not a hint of loosinging. Finally after the third day, I was able, with lots of force and a vice grip, to get it to turn oh so slightly and only when the cast frame was put in a vice and I applied all my weight to it. After three hours of working this part back and forth ever so slightly, I finally freed the four wings.
The only scenario that we could come up with is that the very heavy rains that we had recently may have somehow gotten into the exhaust fins on the roof and washed down into the ducting. But plain rain water might account for some rust (there was very little rust on the frozen mechanism itself; rust was more evident on other parts, screws and rods. It was this white chalky substance that was the mystery, drying in white streaks down the sides of the duck piping and on parts in the lamphouse. I am guessing that the water mixed with that sooty powder that is deposited by the burning arcs in the chimney and created a very caustic liquid.
So my question is this, what IS in that sooty deposit that it would mix with water and cause such damage? I mean, wherever there was evidence of it in the lamphouse, it caused paint to blister along with the other damage.
I never would have expected that such damage would be caused by just some innocent rain water. Whatever is in that ductwork is pretty nasty.
Then on the other hand, the facilities people said they were cleaning out all the ductwork in the theatre, but none would admit that they ever went near the booth exhaust system. The coincidence is a little too, well, er...coincidental.
Anyone hazard a guess as to what's the more likely scenario and has anyone seen such a thing, i.e., pipe soot reeking damage to parts?
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 11-06-2005 01:30 PM
Nice to know this is not a completely unique phenomenon. So I will have to see what if anything has changed on the roof with the vent unit -- I am assuming SOMETHING is different....it's not like we've never gotten any driving rains in 30 years.
As for the ducking, I could conceivably put a U trap somewhere in line so if water does get in, it won't be able to pass down the rest of the system. A U with maybe a drain tube at the bottom so it carry water away to a pail or the sink or something.
As for the lamphouse, everything's been ripped apart, cleaned and working smooth as butter....almost. In trying to loosen the shaft on one of the clamshell half mechanisms, the pinhole for the spring return broke off, so no way to attach the spring until I can get another hole drilled. Right now, the clamshell will pull up out of the way, but when it comes back down, only one side returns to position, which is no big deal, because when powering down the arc, it doesn't spit crap back to the reflector so it can be turned off without benefit of the clamshell protection. I just need to manually turn it back into position before I strike the arc again.
BTW, the reflectors were both stained a bit with this dripping stuff. Just our luckily that I am awaiting brand new cold reflectors that are being given to us because, as the supply company owner put it, "I couldn't give those things away." But he did, to us! We've had a very friendly business relationship that goes back to when his dad sold us the original booth equipment, so that is why he gave me a ring when he found them in storage. But he's almost right -- Magnarc parts are in about as much demand as parts for gas light fixtures.
I've seen the light....and it's CARBON ARC!
PS -- Bruce....Yes, a single letter in a misspelling can do that to a sentence. I fixed it lest someone think I am racist.
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