carbon to xenon conversion...

[John Eickhof]

I know its way outdated, but theres still a few film enthusiasts around! While i was getting a vintage 35mm Brenkert 100 put together for my former tech in Boise, I decided to convert either a Peerless Magnarc or a Brenert Enarc to xenon for him, utilizing one of three old Christie K series sleds / reflectors I had saved for this purpose. I finally got around to working on them and it appears the sled should fit in either lamp housing so once I know which one he wants, I will start the process of conversion. The K sled resembles the LPA Xelamp type sled used in LP Associates Magnarc conversions of the 1980s plus it has a dichroic aspheric reflector and put out a decent light only to be improved upon by Christies SLC type. Anyway, the goal is to have a vintage lamphouse with enough light to show pix on an outdoor backyard screen! So, if anyone is interested, I will document the progress. Us old film buffs need something to keep busy with!

[Jim Cassedy]

I'd sure be curious to see pictures of the progress. The Union sometimes used to send me down to one of auditoriums
on the Stanford University campus to run some archival stuff for their film department. When i first walked in, and saw
the Peerless Magnarcs, I thought I might be able to 'get my hands dirty' (literally) running some carbons again, but it
turned out the lamphouses had been very nicely converted at some point to Xenon. I'm not sure when or how, but it
seemed to be a very professional job & they put a decent light. Anecdotally, the "Stanford Theater" in nearby Palo
Alto is one of the few places in The Bay Area still running carbon arcs. ☞ Where does one even find carbons these
days anyway? The last time I was looking around for some, the only suppliers left were somewhere overseas, and
you literally had to buy them by the pallet-load. Fortunately I was able to acquire a small stash from a theatrical
supplier who still had a few cases in a warehouse.

[John Eickhof]

I know both booths well! The magnarcs at the Univ had Kneisley xenon conversions, When Packard bought the Stanford, I was hired to equip the booth, Mac Wurtsbaugh was a long time friend, part time tech for me and neighbor of mine in Colfax, He set the specs on the booth, I bought the booth (a nice pair of XLs and magnarcs) out of Manns Keystone Cinema in Reno, overhauled them and set them up for NITRATE film ! The Peerless magnarcs were set up for 8 &9mm sticks and they were going to use the original genny in the theatre but it had to be relocated to the basement! ( because the old genny room next to the both had to be made into a second fire exit due to the nitrate film use) I think they bought a pile of sticks from an old dealer in LA some years ago...During remodel, a scrapper started to cut the genny up! Packard was furious! They paid a motor shop lots of $$$ to rewire it and it landed in the basement Some years later they found some strong excelite 135s? and replaced the magnarcs, in fact Im trying to find a couple reflectors for them now! I still remember the grand reopening watching Wizard of Oz on the big screen! They actually had a f! The operator had the upper magazine open and there was some damage to the machine!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Speaking of LP Associates, I used to put the later Christie plenum kit in the LP consoles. THEN you actually got some light out of them...

[John Eickhof]

Yup LP's console was primitive, I sold and installed the first 8 he ever made in a theatre in Las Vegas he fashioned a buick scissor jack for the tilt mech, great idea but very unstable! (two pivot points in front, just the jack in rear) I rented a welder and fashioned some slotted brackets at Larry Little's shop, welded them in and then they were very stable! Larry and I overhauled 8 Century G1 gunnery heads and RCA 9030s for the job! The G1 heads had a less then 1/2 wide shutter casting! No room for warped shutter blades! ( I have a G1 in the museum with cast in pipe thread mounts and right angle framing assy) For unknown reasons, the optics looked the same as the 8510 LP lamphouse but the light output was hot in the center and dark on the edges...I can see why a cec kit would have helped!

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I for one look forward to seeing pics of the progress of this task, as well as some in-person visits to see and/or assist with it.

I started my film career at an Air Force Base theatre with Peerless Magnarcs converted to Xenon (the sleds might have been Kneisleys, the rectifiers were the old Strong High reactance suitcases, which I later helped the AAFEES engineer change to LP Assoc. 8510 lamphouses and 3 phase rectifiers.)