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Author Topic: Soundhead Oil Question Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-12-2006 11:34 PM                     Old booth, I got it running again (Baronet, 4th & Kingsley, Asbury Park NJ) and I have a question about oil in the soundhead. In the booth is a jug of Brenkert oil (for the picture head, a Brenkert), a small can of Simplex oil, and not much else. The soundhead is a 50s RCA "Photophone Sound Attachment" MI-1040E, type PS-24, and it looks for all the world like a Simplex SH1000 but doesn't say Simplex anywhere. What kind of oil is recommended for this old relic? Oil in there now, have no idea what it is, and would rather drain it and replace with new. Thanks guys. [ 07-13-2006, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: Gary Crawford ]  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-13-2006 01:16 AM                        Gary, I can't answer your question but take your e-mail address out of your post or the mods will be all over you like a cheap suit. (It's for your own protection so you don't get spammed.)  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-13-2006 06:38 AM                        30 weight non detergent. The older RCA soundheads were actually manufactured by Simplex; hence the very similar design. Parts are not the same, even if they appear so. Oil from any source incl. theatre equipment dealers like us. Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-13-2006 06:48 AM                     30-weight is way too thin...try 40-weight it is closer to the correct stuff.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-13-2006 08:57 AM                        Reminds me of Nick Mulone's dad ask me what oil to used in a Century C intermittent. I hestitated to answer then he said that he was using 20 weight. How long? "Since 1948." OK, don't stop...it is working for you. Louis  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 07-13-2006 09:03 AM                     RCA Photophone manual recommends 40 weight for general use and 20 weight for very cold climates.  |  IP: Logged Dick Prather Master Film Handler Posts: 259 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-13-2006 09:37 AM                     The RCA MI-1040 soundhead dates back to the mid 1930's with lots still operating. 40wt "NON detergent" oil is what's recomended for normal operation. I have used 50wt for warm booth with platter use. The oil slingers and gearbox oiling do not work properly if the oil is too thin or thick RCA was making soundheads long before Simplex in the late 1920's. I never heard of them making soundheads for RCA. The SH-1000 came out in 1938 and looked like an updated 1040. RCA had new models in 1938 also. Dick  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-13-2006 11:17 AM                     Thank you for the help, guys! Yes, the place is "historic", wasn't sure the equipment was THAT old. Original Supers with hand-crank holes and 1929 "temporary" WE bolt-on sounds heads still there too, but not in operation. Really old Ashcraft arc lamps, and the place runs and runs well after some tinkering. Will let you all know how we make out running the place. Glad the oil is available most anywhere. I'll go with the 40, no telling when the oil was last changed in there. The booth hasn't run for something like 25 years, but it lives again! Thanks again everyone.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 07-13-2006 12:51 PM                     One more thing after adding the oil; as Steve suggests 40 or heavier, make sure the level visably drops in the gauge glass when the projector is started regardless of the line on the gauge. Have enough oil in there for this to happen.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-13-2006 03:03 PM                     When draining or filling the oil, make sure the drain tube is open. I've seen a few with drain pipes plugged with sludge (they apparently rarely checked or changed the oil) and getting the old oil out and new in was rough. When filling, be aware that the shafts that come out of the gearbox are not sealed. There are "oil slingers" that keep most of the oil dripping around inside from getting out, but if you fill the gearbox above the bottom shaft level... well it's just going to drip out immediately. The mark on the sight glass should allow the bottom sprocket shaft gear to be in oil all the time, the oil just gets carried up the gear train while running and lubricates everything. At extreme projection angles the oil level may need to be lowered as it can come out at the drive shaft to the motor on the front.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-13-2006 08:35 PM                     The best lube made today that I have used for bronze gear based sound reproducer gearboxs like yours is Mobil-1 Synthetic Gear Lube. If you use this stuff the lube won't turn black on you like SAE 30 or SAE 40 weight will. The gearbox will also last almost indefinately. We always send the customer a new bottle of it with any rebuilt gearbox. Its also fine to put it into existing gearboxes but I'd reccomend a change at 10 hrs, 20 hrs, and then again at 50 hours and about every 1000 hrs there after. You need to get the old oil and any sludge out of there! Note that this lube has the consistancy of about 30 weight oil but because it does not break down it is rated as a 75/90 weight lube. Its really amazing stuff that also doesn't smell nearly as bad as Hypoid Gear Lube does. Also, if you tear down a gearbox that has had this stuff in it for any length of time you will still find a good coating of it on the upper gear... with regular SAE oil it all runs to the bottom of the gearbox in a matter of hours! Mark  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 07-15-2006 01:16 PM                     Just for curiosity sake, why wouldn't some grade of Mobile1 synthetic be better for a Simplex 1040 film head, than the typical oil used?  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-15-2006 01:24 PM                       FWIW, I have used 90wt. gear lube in bronze gearbox reproducers, as Mark suggests, with excellent results (though not specifically in a 1040); little to no leakage, and the gear teeth hold it well over a long period of time.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-15-2006 05:28 PM                        In the soundhead, lubrication is direct. In other words, some of it gets directly on the teeth and on the bearing races. In the 1040, there is, in addition to the gear meshes, a series of bronze bearings that are lubricated by having one end exposed to oil wetness, which then wicks onward to the place where oil is required. The heavier the oil, the less the oil will flow into all places where it is needed. Louis  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-15-2006 11:58 PM                       Roger that, Louis. I wasn't sure about the 1040s.  |  IP: Logged

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