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Author Topic: Rebuilding Christie Ultramittents Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-19-2008 07:10 PM                     Other than sending these back to Christie for repair/exchange, is there anyone who rebuilds these at a more reasonable price?  |  IP: Logged Tristan Lane Master Film Handler Posts: 444 From: Nampa, Idaho Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-20-2008 01:01 AM                     American Cinema Equipment in Portland, OR will rebuild these for much less than Christie. Many of the big chains use them for rebuilds. Highly recommended. I've sent a lot of intermittent movements to their shop and have had great performance.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-20-2008 07:00 PM                     Thanks Tristan. I'll give them a call.  |  IP: Logged Randy Bowden Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-21-2008 08:57 PM                     Gee, thanks Tristan  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-25-2008 10:14 PM                     As a side note I did an Ultramittent overhaul today with one of the new LaVezzi Ultramittent Kits instead of fitting, lapping the bushings and sorting ball bearings myself as I normally do. I have to say that LaVezzi has finally hit the high mark in rebuild kits. If you laid all these parts out in a big windstorm they'd literally blow themselves right back together. All the parts are literally a perfect fit and its just a 30 to 45 min rebuild job not counting the run in time. Mark  |  IP: Logged Randy Bowden Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-28-2008 04:56 PM                     I wish I could say the same thing about the quality of Lavezzi cam shafts that I've been getting. There seems to be a real lack of consistency with the cam pin, the more common problem being that some are slightly over sized and pull through with too much resistance, so I have to fix that little problem to get them working properly. The other not so common problem being that sometimes you get a pin that is not pressed in strait and will hardly pull through at all. Having said all that, I almost always have good things to say about Lavezzi quality. Although I have yet to try out the Lavezzi rebuild kit for the ultra, I really do like the Century kits a lot.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-28-2008 10:58 PM                     Randy, When we were rebuilding Ultramittents for Christie a number of years back (I believve you guys were too) the parts batches we received from LaVezzi were not tolerance matched at all and gettingthings matched and then ramped up to rebuld them was not an easy task ... I think you'll find the kit parts are much better matched, however if there is a tight pin its not all that big a deal to lap out the slots in the star a little. Mark  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-29-2008 04:45 AM                        In fact, it is far better that they be a bit tight, rather than loose. This is the process lapped by you and then "run in" during the in inital assembly. Of course a thorough cleaning after run in is essential to remove the particles shaved off during run in. Wed use a heavy duty industrial ultrasonic cleaner for this. As regards LaVezzi matching....maybe, but we take 25 or 30 newly purchased cams & stars and "rematch" them. We once didn't and had left over parts that were unusuable. Let's just say that we are better at matching than they are! Louis  |  IP: Logged Randy Bowden Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-31-2008 05:29 PM                     Mark, I have never actually lapped out the star wheel, just being honest here, but I don't really know how to do it properly. What I have been doing is using some 1200 grit sand paper on the cam pin. It usually does not take much to get it into spec. just enough so the pin will pull through smoothly. I do this with the simplex cams and usually it results in an intermittent that runs so quiet you can hardly tell it's on. Of course there are the ones that pull through perfectly right out of the box, thus making my job much easier. Sadly, if and when this DCIP thing goes through, I suspect I will see a tremendous drop off in rebuild work. Who knows how many years I have left in this. I currently get about 95% of my business from Regal, AMC and Cinemark, so I'm not looking forward to the day when my rebuild work goes away, as I actually do like fixing these things.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-31-2008 07:40 PM                     I've had to lap out Century C stars a number of times. I use a piece of glass and lapping compound and count strokes making sure that each side of the slots get the same number of strokes... works really well but don't loose count! Thats a really good idea about the 1200 grit Randy... the fine lines that the 1200 grit will put into the pin are actually very good oil carriers and the cam pin will last alot longer than if it were just smooth. I always thought that a cam pin with tiny little grooves around the diameter would also be good oil carriers and make the pin last longer. The Brenkert roller pin was alo a very good long lasting design. I don't recall anyone else ever doing a roller pin but there may be others.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Randy Bowden Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-31-2008 08:30 PM                     Ya know I've never actually had a Brenkert Int. apart. that's interesting and I wonder if it's anything like the pizza-meccanica intermittents. The V-5 has a cam roller that's basicly a sleeve that fits over an eccentric pin. When you get a new star it comes with the cam pin roller assy and the pin will definitely drag through the star, but it's also supposed to do that. I can run the intermittent in at about half of film speed, by the time I come back in the morning, the cam has seated itself to the star quite nicely. Pretty cool actually.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-01-2008 07:52 AM                     Yea, The Brenkert is modeled after some of the European stuff. Shakamecanicca and Prevost mainly. Mark  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-01-2008 10:04 AM                     Brenkert was patterned after a early Ernamann  |  IP: Logged Dick Prather Master Film Handler Posts: 259 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-01-2008 02:35 PM                     Power's 6B intermittents used roller pins in the 1920's. The 6A did not. Probably other European and Japanese machines did also. I agree with Gordon about the Brenkert intermittent. Had a couple apart to check for wear and never found any. Long lasting movement. Randy, I havent had to lap a star for a while. We used to get oversize cam pins and lap stars to fit on some rebuilds. Quality from LaVezzi is usually pretty good. There were lapping blocks made for this. Never found one for sale. Dick  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-01-2008 05:40 PM                     The other interesting thing about Brenkert movements is that neither the star nor the cam are hardened steel. Prooves that when you do it right it lasts long no matter how well hardened the metal is. Ballantyne s steeltars and cams are also not hardened... they also see many tips break off of the stars... Dick... LApping blocks in many sizes can be bought at many machinery supply places. A piece of glass the correct thickness works just as well though. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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