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Author Topic: Framing Lamps - On or Off? Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-22-2006 02:23 PM                     Last night, I was having a discussion with a fellow employee about whether or not the framing lamps should be left on while the projector is operating. I've always felt that leaving them on during the show was unnecessary & it caused some parts in the head to get hotter to the touch upon threading. He's on the side that the bulb will have longer life if it never gets shut off & forced to cool rapidly. To me, it's an inexpesive bulb. We have XL's & a Century C that are in question. Any opinions on this?  |  IP: Logged Brian DeCiancio Film Handler Posts: 52 From: Warren, OH, USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 10-22-2006 02:28 PM                        quote: Steve Scott ...the bulb will have longer life if it never gets shut off & forced to cool rapidly. I'd hate to see his electric bill at home if he employs this logic there! I have always been told that incandescent bulbs have longer life if they turned off when not in use. Fluorescent bulbs are best left on if needed only in intervals.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-22-2006 02:38 PM                     I rarely see a incandescent lamp fail when lit it is usually on turn on or off they fail due to filament shock that said in the grand scheme of things I wouldn't worry about it too much  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 10-22-2006 02:57 PM                     Am I missing something here? It's a 6 watt bulb. How much electricity could it possibly use? In my experience with them, they last longer when left on. Like Gordon said, it's the on and off that usually blows them.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 10-22-2006 03:09 PM                        You probably risk more wear to a far more expensive component... the switch!  |  IP: Logged Marin Zorica Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 671 From: Biograd na Moru, Croatia Registered: May 2003 posted 10-22-2006 03:44 PM                     On ISKRA KN-3, KN-4 projector when You push bottom for dowser to open/changeover, frame lamp automatically goes OFF, and lamp in oil tube (for oil control) automatically goes ON!  |  IP: Logged Andy Muirhead Master Film Handler Posts: 323 From: Galashiels, Scotland Registered: Dec 2000 posted 10-22-2006 05:41 PM                     Do you really need it on in the first place?  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 10-22-2006 06:14 PM                     Andy you're right. Most theaters I know don't thread up in frame anyway.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-22-2006 06:46 PM                     Yea..with the Christie P35GPS machines that uses the 7w "christmas tree", candelabra base, decoration bulb (which loves to burn out quite often), I'd forget about using the framebox and would frame up in the aperture area - tons easier when you could swing that trap open quite wide.. And doing this is like doing a framejob on an old SuperSimplex, or E-7 where you HAD to frame up in the aperture area.. Yea, know a bunch of booth clowns who doesn't even care about framing up - not worth their effort. (Sad....) -Monte  |  IP: Logged Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-22-2006 06:58 PM                     We don't have problems threading in frame. The five-or-so managers that work in the booth were all trained well enough for that. Since we got the lights rewired some months ago, it had just come up as a difference in operator style debate.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-22-2006 08:26 PM                        Vibration is the enemy of that bulb particularly a 120 or 240 volt bulb. The xl bulb has some advantage due to the short, thick filament. We have wired them off of the other side of the motor relay for years (the motor is on, the bulb is off....we don't provide a switch.) Louis  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-23-2006 11:07 AM                     I never used the framing lamp. I don't care if it's on or off or even if the lamp is burned out. Once you learn to thread up, in frame, you don't really need the light. None of my student operators even know it's there. They can all thread correctly without it. As a matter of fact, the framing lamp in my projector is burned out and I've never cared to order a replacement. Unless you have a kind of projector that can't be threaded by looking through the aperture, the framing lamp is just a crutch, AFAIC.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-23-2006 02:23 PM                     Some of my threading lamps behind the intermittent are burned out and others are still going strong. I'll only change them when I maintenance the particular machine - never just on a whim between shows. As for door lamps (which is what I think you mean by 'threading lamps'), they're pretty much obsolete in my opinion. I do, however, use the door lamps to mark various machines that have been worked on or lubricated when I'm doing quick checks and out of numerical order so I don't mess up or waste time. If I use them I usually leave them on between shows. Because our machines are back-to-back and close together; when I give booth tours to people I want to impress, I'll turn off the booth lights and turn on the door lamps. Providing no shows are on the screen, eighteen #55 bulbs throw off enough shine to light a path and give the booth a great look - almost candle-lit ambiance. Businesswomen with the local Chamber of Commerce are more pleased to see that than oily old machines.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-23-2006 02:35 PM                        My least-favorite booth configuration is the type where there is a big plate-glass window across the front wall, rather than individual portholes for each machine. In that sort of booth arrangement, I turn off all the room lights and just use the framing lamps/door lamps (and maybe a small lamp on the rewind bench) to light the booth. It works fine and avoids shining light into the auditorium through the giant window. I tend to be pretty fastidious about bulbs in general and always replace burnt-out bulbs immediately, even if they aren't strictly necessary to do the job. I just don't like the look of light sockets without working bulbs in them. On Simplex X-Ls, the framing bulb (but not the door bulb) shuts off when the door is closed. On Centurys, the bulbs stay on all the time. On Kinotons, the framing bulbs shut off when the motor is running. I don't remember what happens in Cinemeccanicas. No idea which scheme is best, if it even matters.  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 10-23-2006 03:39 PM                     Cinemeccanica, generally when the douser goes up, the thread lamp goes off. On some Century units we have installed LED cluster lights with some running 5 years with no problems.  |  IP: Logged

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