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Topic: Bauer U3

Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-21-2000 05:13 PM

From the "Bone Head Moves of All Time" thread:

>>"I was helping thread up the projectors (BauerU3) during training..."<<

There is still a cinema somewhere with actual Bauer U3's installed?? Cool. I used to run those way back when working at a large 70mm theatre. (Yes, we had a few 70mm prints, too, even though running 70mm through U3's is by many considered to be a true bone head move by itself...)

So how many of you have seen a Bauer U3, and how many of you tried to run 70mm through it? And how did it go, and what did you think about the machine? Any experiences, good or bad?

I ask because the U3 was a pretty common projector around here a couple of years ago (mostly because it cost considerably less than a DP70), and I really learned to like it, in spite of the fact that a U3 looks more like a fridge than a projector.

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Ben Wales
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Southampton. England
Registered: Jul 99

posted 01-21-2000 05:32 PM

I have seen a pair of U3's still in daily use over a year ago in a Belgium Cinema, I do have a photo of it (slightly dark picture) somewhere.

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Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-21-2000 07:15 PM

With or without the mag soundheads? (There was an awful 35mm optical only version of the U3, and I'd hate to think that Belgium's last few pairs would lack 70mm...)

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-21-2000 09:42 PM

Until recently we had a pair of U3's running in Toronto I ran Stakeout in 70 on them and hated it Noisey as hell
The U2 was a vastly superior machine which I still didn't care much for
The U3 reminded me of a Victoria 5 on steriods
My favorite 70 maachines are stil
The Westrex5000
Norelco DP70
Zies(prevost) Favorite35/70

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-22-2000 05:52 AM

I used these in the late eighties at Village cinemas in Sydney. The annoying thing about them is that they had a turret on the front but an apeture plate which (theoretically) couldn't be removed while the gate was closed. We managed to do it anyway by just opening the gate a fraction. Enough to slip out the plate and throw in the new one.

Ran "Batman" in 70mm on them and "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" also in 70mm. (Bonehead move or not, they gives ya the movie, you's gots ta show it)

These also had the glass slide machine hanging off the rear of it using the same lamphouse.

I'm not sure if they are still in use there.

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Devriendt Miguel
Film Handler

Posts: 14
From: Belgium
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-22-2000 05:57 AM

We still are running on U4, those are very good ones to

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Martin Frandsen
Master Film Handler

Posts: 270
From: Denmark, Europe
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-22-2000 06:21 AM

There are lots of U4 and B12 still running in theaters in Denmark.

But spare parts are getting very hard to find.

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Serge Bosschaerts
Film Handler

Posts: 70
From: Schoten, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-22-2000 10:26 AM

The U3's that I and Ben Wales saw end 1998 are in Cine Kursaal in Turnhout, BELGIUM.
Sadly, only 35mm optic and a operator who didn't know what a Dolby tone loop was ...
Here in Belgium there still a lot of cinema's running on B12 & other Bauer machines.
I have worked with the U4 for a couple of years but for me the B12 is still the better machine.

Miguel, I'm curious ... what cinema are you working in ?

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Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-22-2000 07:24 PM

>>"Until recently we had a pair of U3's running in Toronto I ran Stakeout in 70 on them and hated it Noisey as hell"<<

Part of their charm, some say.

>>"The U2 was a vastly superior machine which I still didn't care much for
The U3 reminded me of a Victoria 5 on steriods"<<

Reminded me of a projector that desperately wanted to have a platter attached to it, actually, but never really figured out what was missing. That, and a fridge.

I've run U2's, too, but I never liked them. There was something twisted about the way was threaded before the gate. Never felt right to me.

There was a lot of work involved in making the U3 to behave. But it was possible, and we did it. The pair we had treated 70mm prints very well, in fact, and gave wonderful presentations.

A nice thing about the U3 was that the lamphouse mirrors didn't need refocusing when moving from 35 to 70mm. Every time I get to show a 70mm print today, I need to refocus the mirrors (in Cinemeccanica Zenith X4000 lamphouses) which makes it almost impossible to move from a 35mm presentation to a 70mm ditto (or vice versa) without having to clear the auditorium.

>>"My favorite 70 maachines are stil
The Westrex5000
Norelco DP70
Zies(prevost) Favorite35/70"<<

I run Favorit70 machines at my theatre, and consider them to be the best 70mm projectors ever built. It's a bitch to find spare parts that fit, but nevertheless...

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Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-22-2000 07:35 PM

>>"There are lots of U4 and B12 still running in theaters in Denmark.
But spare parts are getting very hard to find."<<

B12 parts are almost impossible to find. The few machines I knew of have been replaced with Victoria 5's (or the theatres've been closed down for good) and the machines are in the hands of collectors that would NEVER part from them.

Re the U4: what kinds do you run? The only one I ever saw live closely resembled a 35mm version of the U3 but had the supply reel (6000') _above_ the machine instead. I've seen pictures of U4s with a horizontal supply & takeup reel setup that looked a lot like a platter system to me.

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Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-22-2000 07:45 PM

>>"I used these in the late eighties at Village cinemas in Sydney. The annoying thing about them is that they had a turret on the front but an apeture plate which (theoretically) couldn't be removed while the gate was closed. We managed to do it anyway by just opening the gate a fraction. Enough to slip out the plate and throw in the new one."<<

Weird. The ones I ran had a combination plate that (usually) had apertures for 1.66, 1.85 and scope. It was easy to choose the right format while the gate was closed and the projector was running.

I always thought that the turret was the really weak spot of the U3. If you weren't careful when switching to a new format, you could easily reinsert the turret with too much force, the lense would move ever so slightly, and you'd lose the focus between the formats as a result.

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Stephen Jones
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: Geelong Victoria Australia
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-22-2000 10:32 PM

Are the Bauer U3,have spent many years useing these fine projectors.There are several still running here in Melbourne.At the cinema centre in Bourke Street city use both U3&U4 and they are still going strong.Used the U3 only useing platter and automation,the ones I had,had the mag heads removed which were sent else where.I remember it took a while to get the Pennywise automation to be compatible with the Bauer circuit board but we worked it out changed relays to a newer type and all was well.They are still going strong this very moment.And they run quite,long as the gate bands are in good condition.The only prob I had with them is when useing reconditioned prints very hard to focus evenly yet the Kinoton handeled these recon prints with ease,and the Kinoton another fine projector.

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Chris Wootten
Film Handler

Posts: 50
From: Moonlit Cinema, RAAF Tindal, N.T. Australia
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-27-2000 06:22 AM

I currently run a cinema in Aus which uses U3's and they run like a dream. Quiet, with very little maintenance these machines were bought second hand from the Army. They are now on an Air Force Base and keep the troops amused and their families entertained. A new cinema has opened in town with projectors imported from India and have had no end of trouble with them. The RAAF has 12 cinemas of which 5 have Bauers, either U3's or U4c's. I turn over a lot of operators as we get posted regularly and they are the easiest to train on. I luv em.....

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-27-2000 09:19 AM

The Bauer equipment must be fairly common in other parts of the world, but it's amazingly rare here in the US. I know of only one theatre here that has Bauers (U-2's...the 35/70 model that looks a lot like an AA-II, but with square magazines).

I know a guy who has a Bauer 16mm interlock projector which he likes, but he tells me that parts availability is a problem.

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System Notices
Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi

Posts: 215

Registered: Apr 2004

posted 06-21-2005 03:49 PM

It has been 1972 days since the last post.

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