• Remove the funnel from the front of the lamphouse in order to gain access to the back of the projector head. For about a year I was removing the whole lamphouse until Darren very kindly pointed out that there was no need to do this!
  
• Remove allen bolts from the back of the shutter cover
  
• Loosen allen bolts securing shutter assembly to its shaft
  
• Inch the motor until the intermittent sprocket is just starting to turn, then position the shutter blade so that the leading edge is just obscuring the entire gate aperture.
  
• When you're reasonably certain that the shutter is in the right position, tighten the securing bolts and reassemble the projector.
  
• Make a loop consisting of a piece of head leader, or black spacing with clear frame lines. Lace it up, fire up the lamp and focus the picture.
  
• Using the projector's racking handle, inch the frame line up and down the screen. The contrast between black and white will show any ghosting very clearly.
  
• If there is any ghosting, you'll need to repeat the procedure in order to adjust the shutter and hopefully get rid of it. Let the lamp cool down thoroughly before removing the funnel again, and be careful of hot surfaces.
  

Personally I found Vic 5s to be the easiest machines for shutter timing I've ever come across. Three-blade shutters are a little bit more tricky than two-blade ones, as there is a little bit less leeway in the size of each blade. But unless you're running silents you won't need to worry about that.

Try a Simplex or older Century....wanna time the shutter? Just turn the knob while the machine is running until the ghosting is gone...now that is simplicity!

Most people go for centering the shutter over the aperture whilst the intermittent is half-way through pull down (2.5 teeth on a 16 tooth intermittent) for 35mm.

Steve

I really miss that feature on the new Century machines.

Me too! The Westrex variant had this too.

Try timing the drum shutter on a GK-37 and a Vic 5 really is simplicity itself!

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We have a pair of Century projectors that had the timing knob inside the back of the mechanism, rather than using the flexible cable to have the knob in front. Always felt uneasy putting my fingers next to the moving gear train to "fine tune" the timing while training my eyes on the screen. One slip, and you have gear teeth imprinted on your fingers, or worse.

just a thought.... how old is your Vic 8? Older mechs have a different shutter with smaller blades on the disk. This makes it very very difficult to totally remove travel ghost. Sound Associates, or your local dealer, can supply a newer 'reduced' shutter with slightly larger blades that gets over this problem. I have replaced four of them when I did a full equipment change in my four screens, all now Vic 8. I also supplied Darren in York with one recently and he is very happy with the results.

As for adjusting the timing of an existing shutter, it can be done without pulling the lamphouse back and removing the shutter housing.
Remove the saftey glass from the shutter housing and lock the fire shutter open. You can then see what you are doing as you work thru the lamp house opening. Slacken the three screws that lock the shutter in place taking care not to losen them too much. Then retard the shutter if the ghost is at the bottom of the picture or advance the shutter if the ghost is at the top. (BRAT.... Bottom-Retard-Advance-Top) Providing you take care and don't rush this method works well.

One other thing to watch out for is this... is the ghosting staedy and constant in one direction. The shutter is mounted on a two part circular coupling plate that has four springs connecting the two parts. The spings are some sort of shock absorber allowing the two parts to rotate within each other and find a middle position. If these spings are weak they need to be changed as this can cause irregular ghosing. Also if the assembly has got dirty the self centering function may not be working correctly and the shutter will not rotate within the mounting and find its middle position. They can be changed on the projector but it is a very fiddly job. There is also a similar coupling within the casing. The drive shaft from the motor also has the same type of coupling. You can tell if these springs are weak, or even broken by grasping the motor handle and turning it back and forth rapidily a few times. You should 'feel' a constant springy feeling if the springs are in good condition. If not you will feel and hear a definate clunking sound as the play on the coupling hits its full travel. All of these couplings are intended to reduce shudder and give smooth running.

Hope this helps. Any problems contact me directly.

Regards Ken.