16mm

16MM

Click Here for various 16mm sound projectors, as I find stuff. Further links there to pages about specific makes, which cover both sound and silent machines

Click Here for various 16mm silent machines

Here is some advice on buying 2nd hand 16mm. Not sure these pages will necessatily be legibabble when opened, so there is a pdf as well.

16misc0001     16misc0002     16misc0003     16misc0004     16misc0005     16misc0006     Buying_2nd_hand_16.pdf

 

Some time ago, I put info about my PJ Long Play unit in What's New (see below). Now I find Patrick Moules has put stuff in Flickers and hav some better pix, so I have swiped copies.

img647     img648a     img650b

Here are pix of my PJ unit. This is basically a major restoration project, not least because some idiot has given it a rough overcoat of paint. 

LPUnit1     LPUnit2     LPUnit3     LPUnit4     LPUnit5     LPUnit6     LPUnit7

As far as I can tell, all the parts are present (the projector of course is not part of the unit,which is designed for use with a variety of machines). The motor for the take-up works OK, but I cannot quite see how it's meant to operate. In the configeration shown here, the weight of the motor presses its spindle into direct contact with the large pulley, which is obviously not right. Then there is the question of spool size. The top spool here is a 6000', but that size will not fit on the take-up, which has just a 2000' in these pix. From this I conclude the apparatus was designed to work with 4000' spools, which I don't got. 

The record deck is electric, but I haven't been able to figure out how to connect a power supply, so I can't guarantee it works. I was a bit surprised to see a volume control, as there are no obvious amplification electronics - maybe it just works across the PA input of the projector. Incidentally, it may all be intended to run from 110v; I think the original projector was either a GBL 516 or, as here, a B&H. This one is an American Filmosound and is also available to anyone who is interested, as are a pair of 6000' spools.

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A thought that I have been pondering. Why are some16mm sound projectors so complicated, notably the Bell & Howell machines from the 620 onwards, but other machines too. Do they really need to be so heavily engineered and complex for the job they have to do? To the extent of needing special tools to do certain work on them?

Bear in mind also that 16mm was a very limited medium in professional terms. Picture was small, track was small, oddly compressed and with inevitably limited frequency range. It was just not capable of doing justice to all that engineering, nor were audiences sufficiently discerning to care - such small "improvements" as might be delivered would be lost on them. One wonders if it was a ploy to justify high prices?