Old Items in our theater's basement

[John Eickhof]

I too agree with Randy, I knew and did business with Robert Potts for over 35 years, sold hundreds of the various models of platters he made, right back to his first model Super Platter I have sold all makes and models of platters and for the money the later one just pre strong was Bob's best, I called them the 'hardware store' platter cause you could pretty much get anything needed to keep em running at your local ace hardware! I miss Bob and his assistant Susie and right up to the end, D&M co, (Bob's brother in law ) made the strong models at their plant in Illinois.

[Randy Stankey]

I called them the 'hardware store' platter cause you could pretty much get anything needed to keep em running at your local ace hardware!

Yes! And, rubber rings around the drive wheels were drive belts from a vacuum cleaner, IIRC.

I never had to replace more than the drive belts or the odd nut or bolt on my platter but it's pretty handy when you can get virtually any part you need from the local hardware store rather than having to call the manufacturer or a dealer.

Beyond that, just check to make sure the variac is properly aligned and calibrated, once or twice per year. I never had a problem.

[Brad Miller]

Randy, there are tons of Christie AW3 platters still sitting around in booths. That Potts needs to be removed from the planet.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Pots - Strong platters were almost no trouble at all, and I serviced equal numbers of Potts and Christie platters when I was out west. The only issue very late into the game was when all lead was removed from Electronics and Electrical stuff. Once that happened the payout head micro switches failed often, and randomly. While at CLACO, we came up with a solution. That was to let the microswitch operate a triac, which then fed the deck motor. Once I installed a lot of those little boards that we made up, the micro switch failures ceased... All platters require maintainance! Does not matter who makes them. I also had some Kinoton platters to deal with, and I will say they had right around zero problems. Mainly booth monkies would break things on them. All in all If a theater had Potts, Christie or Kinoton... It didn't matter to me.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I too agree with Randy, I knew and did business with Robert Potts for over 35 years, sold hundreds of the various models of platters he made, right back to his first model Super Platter I have sold all makes and models of platters and for the money the later one just pre strong was Bob's best, I called them the 'hardware store' platter cause you could pretty much get anything needed to keep em running at your local ace hardware! I miss Bob and his assistant Susie and right up to the end, D&M co, (Bob's brother in law ) made the strong models at their plant in Illinois.

John,
One time Bob Potts was kind enough to bring us parts we needed. Can't remember what it was exactly... But he threw the parts in his airplane and flew them to us. Met him at the nearby county airport and then he insisted on going with me to see the theater. It was a Classic Cinemas location too. Anyway, we repaired the platter and I took him back and watched him take off... That was a pretty cool day... Oh, BTW, he had a cool folding bike he had made up that stays in the plane. I got to pedal that around for a few when I picked him up...

[John Eickhof]

Brad...the christie aw3 weak link was the center bushings and thrust bearings on the discs, they required at min yearly maintenance removing discs cleaning the thrust bearings out and the bushings then re grease and reassemble...especially in the western states...the lubriplate supplied would dry up and harden into a high abrasive and wear out the bushings...wobbling discs were the result especially when booth monkeys would run the mut at full speed...christie would not sell the press in bushings so i bought custom nickel sintered oilite bushings from mesa bearing ( a $3.50 part vs christie telling you to replace the entire disc at $500 each) and would replace the worn out ones in the field with a jig and driving tool i made then the post, and thrust bearings would get synthetic gear grease and would routinely get serviced once a year, this was absolutely necessary on aw3 70mm platters, my other dislike is the crappy 1/4" nylon bearings in their film rollers...same problem, roller noise and wobble...all other major platter makes used large ball bearings and tapered roller bearings in the disc centers,,,way more rugged...out west you never used lubriplate on anything, especially centurys, it would dry out and become cement like and wear out fiber gears like mad, either short fiber grease like petroleum jelly or synthetic gear oil worked best and never built up! the best use for lubriplate is engine assembly as a short term lube used on first start up untill motor oils circulates and washes it away!

[Don Furr]

Out of 11 theatres we owned most were Strong with 2 AW3's, 7 of those big, heavy orange ORC platters . I lost count of the micro switches I replaced in the Strong's.
No trouble with the AW3's but the absolute worse were the Super Platters. They were pure junk!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Out of 11 theatres we owned most were Strong with 2 AW3's, 7 of those big, heavy orange ORC platters . I lost count of the micro switches I replaced in the Strong's.
No trouble with the AW3's but the absolute worse were the Super Platters. They were pure junk!

I called them "Stupid Platters"....

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Brad...the christie aw3 weak link was the center bushings and thrust bearings on the discs, they required at min yearly maintenance removing discs cleaning the thrust bearings out and the bushings then re grease and reassemble...especially in the western states...the lubriplate supplied would dry up and harden into a high abrasive and wear out the bushings...wobbling discs were the result especially when booth monkeys would run the mut at full speed...christie would not sell the press in bushings so i bought custom nickel sintered oilite bushings from mesa bearing ( a $3.50 part vs christie telling you to replace the entire disc at $500 each) and would replace the worn out ones in the field with a jig and driving tool i made then the post, and thrust bearings would get synthetic gear grease and would routinely get serviced once a year, this was absolutely necessary on aw3 70mm platters, my other dislike is the crappy 1/4" nylon bearings in their film rollers...same problem, roller noise and wobble...all other major platter makes used large ball bearings and tapered roller bearings in the disc centers,,,way more rugged...out west you never used lubriplate on anything, especially centurys, it would dry out and become cement like and wear out fiber gears like mad, either short fiber grease like petroleum jelly or synthetic gear oil worked best and never built up! the best use for lubriplate is engine assembly as a short term lube used on first start up untill motor oils circulates and washes it away!

John,
I always used synthetic lube on the bushings and thrust bearing, no troubles. Still cleaned and relubed yearly though. But other common issues were motor driver cards, and the push button assembly to select the decks for make up. If you pressed that switch while making up, the contacts could arc over and melt. Sometimes leavi Not like they couldn't still use the other two.

[Randy Stankey]

I don't know of a brand of platter that didn't have its quirks and problems.

Christie platters had problems with the filter cards and the light pickup assemblies. If you didn't calibrate the motor control cards, just right, they would spite you every time.

SPECO platters had trouble with the takeup elevators and that stupid bridge rectifier inside the control box.

Even Kinoton platters would spite you if you didn't clean the capacitive film sensor at least daily. If you cleaned the sensor before every show, they ran perfectly.

Potts are no different. They aren't the best platter but they aren't the worst, either. Like every platter system, you just have to know their quirks and how to handle them.

Like I said, it's usually not the platter that causes problems but the operator who doesn't pay attention to his job.

I wouldn't recommend outfitting a megaplex theater with Potts platters but, in a smaller operation, they are perfectly serviceable.

Regardless of the brand of equipment you use, the key is to pay attention and do your job.

[John Eickhof]

the most unusual platter i ever had to work on was the Rank / EPRAD...it had the single motor drive and vertical shaft through all three discs using solenoids to apply braking surfaces to regulate the feed out platter ...awful design not to mention it was impossible to scoop a print on or off the bottom or middle disc!....and last on my list was the feeble Simplex AERO-MATIC if the loud screaming blower motor didn't drive you crazy, the scalping you would get from the reverse angled disc braces if you reached und a moving platter to adjust the air valve on the disc below....

[Sam Chavez]

Ah yes, the Simplex Blowjob. And ORC made an endless loop platter so bad they wouldn't admit to manufacturing.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

There was a theater in Kaysville, Utah that had a Simplex BJ platter... Thankfully, it was relegated to just making up prints and nothing else... Only one of those I ever ran into. The owner said he took it out because it made a lot of noise.

[John Eickhof]

for sure! I had five of them in a small circuit in central cal, after a few employees had their hair removed violently and customer complaints of loud noise i replaced them with potts a3s...never another problem! and the bright puke green ranks would drive you crazy with the loud clicking of the solenoids through out the show!

[Ryan Gallagher]

That Hollywood Rewind still sells for a bit of change on ebay, especially if you have two.

That century audio basement too, if it is relatively complete.

I think that decorative cast-iron triangular base would make an amazing "Ghost Light" base for a historic theatre!

Ryan