First of all, I oil intermittent's 'as required' i.e i check them regularly, and top-up when they require topping.

Also pad's and rollers are 'as required' or at least once a month/fortnight. Also any other parts containing lubrication.

(greasing of gears is done monthly, period).

The thing is i've just been requested to perform this task (oiling machine) at least twice weekly, and preferably thrice weekly! I know lubrication of the machines is paramount in smooth running, but i'm sure over-lubrication is affecting other systems - In our four screens i only trust the automation in one of them, i'm sure the amount of oil dripping about the machines has leaked into the (badly placed) auto sensors located below the sound head unit. Probably saturating them with oil. I have no proof but an instinct that this may be the cause. I haven't had much bother with them before, but now the machines are being saturated, i've never had as much bother, with motion being lost, etc.

Also i've noticed the machines are so much greasier, oil collects in pools towards the rake, and the leaders are caked in oil!

Apparently they are cleaned and all excess oil soaked up prior to run, but you know as well as i that it takes a few runs for all the excess oil to 'leave the party'

For your information, at the moment i estimate our machines are running 122 hours per week, cumulative, divide by four and thats what each machine is doing.

Having done the math, are you agreed that we are over-oiling the machines? I reckon once a month + 'as required' is a reasonable suggestion.

I'm in charge of machines that were purchased used/rebuilt and I'm fanatical about inspecting and cleaning them otherwise they are prone to frequent and untimely breakdowns.

These are Westar Century heads and I have them on a schedule to be dismantled, thoroughly cleaned/degreased (best way to inspect) and remounted with fresh lubrication every three weeks. Preventive maintenance is key when dealing with older equipment.

Generally, I believe that intermittents should be refilled as needed - with the occasional oil changeout occuring every three to six months according to your budget - but these projectors here are having problems right now, so the general rules won't apply.

In your case, I suppose it would be good to know the age and condition of the equipment you use.

Sounds like things may be raging out of control there (someone's going overboard) but it might help to know the motivation behind the sudden paranoia. Why do they now insist on over-oiling? Did a machine run dry one day recently?

------------------
And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

My rule of thimb is..........
Do not use anything that is NOT synthetic based in any projector or intermittent. Anything else is old fashioned and will only promote wear much faster, and require more frequent service.

Use of Lubriplate, animal based, vegetable based, or other kinds of grease is wrong. Use of old fashioned petrolium based oils is out of date, old fashioned, and has vrtually no meaning when much more modern oils are available which last longer, do not break down, and stay cleaner as a result.

Which type is your choice, but there are many available and at little or no greater cost than the old fashioned stuff. Why not prolong the life of your expensive equipment and make your own day a bit nicer!
Mark @ GTS

 |  IP: Logged

The idea doesn't sit well with me, either, but the problem is that theatre owners often cut their budgets in strange places....like in the booth. My hunch is that they find it hard to spend money on a department that nobody ever sees.

I found it interesting that the best-kept booth I have ever seen was an IMAX booth in Miami - it was a glass-encased room and customers were encouraged to watch the operators working. I always thought that the next project I was involved with would have a glass-encased booth so that the owners would then be forced to invest in its upkeep!

To illustrate this problem with a personal anecdote, I once worked at a multiplex where literally $150,000 was spent on a new concession stand...meanwhile, I couldn't get any funding to fly in the electrical technician so that we could have Xenons strike reliably.

Some theatre owners choose to completely ignore their booths until program interruptions and show cancellations start happening...only then do they see how central the booth is to their livelihood.

So...yes...some booth techs are not as lucky as we are and they may find that they don't have the luxury to change oil as often as they'd like, or even as often as they ought to. And some techs have not "arrived" yet to the point where they can walk away from such jobs.

Those busted gears in the photos I posted are a prime example of what happens when there's a nonexistent budget for the booth. Not only wasn't there a budget, there was no booth tech...all they had was a manager who had some experience working with soda machines!

Mark, I'm sure that if we Film-Techers ruled the world, all the trains would run on-time.

It amuses me to think that I used to detest the whole idea of unions...but, every once and again, I can see where there is some wisdom in it. Our union guy in Detroit cost a lot of money, but we never had equipment failures and we hardly even knew he was there at all. He may have been cranky sometimes, but he made his work look easy.

------------------
And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

------------------
And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

Here's what I was brought up to do to Westars and Centuries.

Daily - Check and IF NECESSARY, top up intermittent oil level.

Weekly - Oil all plain bearings with a few drops of the appropriate oil. On a Westar those are the top and bottom sprockets, the rep-set holdback shaft, and the intermittent outrigger bearing.

Monthly - Clean and re-grease all gear pairs, paying particular attention to the sliding gear area on the vertical shaft, same goes for the tufnol pin on the end of the fire shutter arm. Lightly oil the fire shutter Watt Governor assembly, and the gate closer assembly.

Bi-Annualy - Drain an re-fill intermittent.

We used to use genuine Westrex oil and as Gordon said, Moly grease on the gears, and in place of the old 'anti-fret' I used silicon grease on the sliding dear area.

Actually, the cost is considerably more. Large coated cups (85oz) were in the 12 cent range IIRC, and bags of the same size were about 2 or 3 cents. The cost of inventory on hand and the spce used were other minor factors, but another big factor was dumpster costs. The big heavy popcorn cups don't compact naturally. We cut our dumpster pickups by half when we converted over to bags. It was a huge savings. We also noticed that for whatever reason there was much less popcorn spillage with bags, which made cleanup faster. Noise used to be a factor with bags, but I think the problem had to do with the type of coating that was being used to keep the oil from seeping through the bag.

 |  IP: Logged

Ever heard the expression, "penny-wise, pound-foolish" ?

As for the bags, I may have misremembered the exact figures but I know we were talking about coins per unit and I know what the markup is like...and it just seemed ludicrous to be looking for ways to save a few more cents when the movies were not looking and sounding good and when there were interruptions and cancellations happening all over the place.

I realize that some of you are theatre operators and managers, and I'm not trying to characterize the entire industry as a bunch of greedy philistines. I feel that my words or maybe my tone may have been misinterpreted here. And I'm sorry if that's the case; it was unintentional. I was merely trying to explain myself when my "budget" statement was brought into question.

I personally don't care how much a popcorn bag or cup costs if my lamps are dying all around me and my platters keep throwing my prints during the last reel...that's what those days were like.

This is off-topic anyway. That was unintentional too.

------------------
And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.