Is your picture shake up and down or sideways?

Like Ken said, the first thing you should do is clean the projector.

1... Pay special attention to the film "trap" and "shoe". Make sure there's no crud on any of the bands or rails, etc. It looks like hard, baked on black stuff, sometimes. Use your favorite projector cleaning fluid and a Q-Tip. (90% Isopropyl/rubbing alcohol is easy to get at just about any drug store for about $1) You may have to use your fingernail to scrape it clean, too. (A PLASTIC scraper may help)

2... Check the lateral guide rollers at the top of the trap. They should be clean and free-rolling. Use 1-2 drops of 3-in-1 oil on the bearings if needed. Be kinda' 'stingy' with the oil. If you get it anywhere but on the bearings, it will mess stuff up. If you use too much or slop some around, clean it off.

3... Check the "studio guides". (The two rails that the film runs between.) They need to be perfectly paralell and just the right distance apart. You're SUPPOSED to use a special tool to check this but it's about $800! In an emergency, I just get a brand new roll of film and make sure it's wound on the core perfectly smooth and tight. If it rolls down between the rails and just rubs against them it's okay. If not, you've got a problem. How do you fix it??? 1) call a technician. 2)Use a piece of film or a steel straight edge to line them back up by eye. This is kind of a bitch to do unless you've been shown... Use option 2 only as a last-ditch, save-the-show, emergency measure.

4... Check the "tension bands". Are they loose, worn or 'dinged up'? Can you turn the tension knob kind of easily? Tighten or replace, etc. as necessary.

5... Check your threading. If you pinch the film in the gate wrong, the whole thing goes catty-wompass! You can tell if it's a mis-thread becasue it will go away when you stop the proj. and re-thread.

Is the machine noisier than usual? You see the silver ring protruding out from the intermittent sprocket shaft? When it's running, try holding it in your fingers and put some pressure on it (almost like you're trying to slow it down) Does the shaking and the noise go away?

How do you fix that? We had had it happen to us once. I couldn't fix it so I just replaced the whole intermittent with a spare I had lying around. I still haven't been able to fix the broken one.

 |  IP: Logged

You can't. It will need to be replaced and the box repaired by your service company.

Sara,

How did you go with my suggestion?

I tried many of your ideas... nothing has worked yet. There is a nasty noise coming from the projector (no matter how we thread)and the film moves in a clockwise circle. I looked at the film trap and it was clean. I couldn't really find anything loose on it. QUESTION?
How tight should the trap shoe (Film straps) be? Could this have anything to do with my problem?
Anyhow... any other suggestions?

 |  IP: Logged