Century intermittent preparation to run

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Would Marvel Mystery Oil work?

I don't think it would hurt any plastic parts. Would it?

IF MMO is okay, I think that you could use 50/50 mix with regular intermittent oil and run it for a short time before draining then rinsing with pure oil three times would get the gunk out.

As for the rest of the projector, it looks like it just needs a good cleaning. There is a lot of gunk built up in there. A good, "take-apart" cleaning seems to be in order.

Just from looking at the pictures, it seems like everything else is okay, but for those shoes.

MMO is way too thin. Needs to be SAE 20 in a century movement. The oil spiral oil channels are made for that weight oil. Back in the olden days I used LaVezzi oil. But good luck finding that,,,

[Adam Liberman]

1) Oil such as this? https://www.truevalue.com/product/sa...-motor-oil-qt/ Is oil sold as "intermittent oil" the same stuff?
2) These may only get run for a few hours per year. Would a synthetic, such as Superlube Multi-Use Synthetic Lightweight Oil ISO 68 be suitable to avoid eventually gumming up?
3) How can I identify the newer version shoes from the ones that I have? Suggestions on where to find them?
Thanks

[Randy Stankey]

Would Marvel Mystery Oil work?

I don't think it would hurt any plastic parts. Would it?

IF MMO is okay, I think that you could use 50/50 mix with regular intermittent oil and run it for a short time before draining then rinsing with pure oil three times would get the gunk out.

As for the rest of the projector, it looks like it just needs a good cleaning. There is a lot of gunk built up in there. A good, "take-apart" cleaning seems to be in order.

Just from looking at the pictures, it seems like everything else is okay, but for those shoes.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Fill the intermittents half way up the sight glass with ~SAE 20W oil. Only use non detergent oil! If you can't see through the sight glass... if they are that dirty, then the movements should be dissassembled and cleaned. Note that there is an ultra thin gasket between the two halves that you will need to duplicate, or find somewhere. You might try flushing out the movements, but the oil sight glass is plastic. So keep that in mind when choosing a solvent. Once the solvent is drained back out, fill with oil, run for a couple min., then drain. Do that three or four more times to get rid of any left over solvent. Also look at the movement parts list in the warehouse Century C service manual to get an idea of what's inside. There are also two small set screws that adjust star to cam clearance. Don't touch those!! Also those intermittent shoes suck. See if you can get newer version shoes to replace those. With Estar they can actually cause scratching. Good luck!

[Adam Liberman]

I recently obtained two Century C projectors that probably have not been run for decades. I'm looking for advice on the intermittents -- should they be disassembled, or just flushed with oil and refilled? What oil is recommended? One of them has the older type with the pinned sprocket, and the other looks like it might have Lavezzi replacement parts. Also the upper and lower sprockets -- flush, and with what? / just add oil / disassemble and clean? These will be in a home theatre with very light usage anticipated. Thanks.
proj1-int.jpg proj2-int.jpg