16mm Fumeo HL2000

[Rob Clarke Tucker]

[Rob Clarke Tucker]

I’ve also had to fit a new gear on the sprocket shaft. Along with a new claw as the person who owned the projector previously had broken one of the claws being three claw. And to add to this I had to replace the voltage for the exciter lamp.

I have now just realised i need to re-grease the gears with mineral lubricating grease as a final attempt. I hoping this will resolve the problem with tape splices. If not i will be replacing the projector as i have wasted to much sweat and guts, time and money on this projector.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Rob, also, you can not cement splice Estar film stock. It has to be done ultrasonically, or with tape.

[Rob Clarke Tucker]

Thanks Mark for reminding me. I may have to get rid of this projector and find a suitable replacement.

Once again if anyone knows of a good replacement and reliable reputable dealer please let me know?

[Lindsay Morris]

Your issue is rather interesting as a few years back I used to do the Sunday screenings in the library theatrette in Perth Western Australia using a HL 2000 and I NEVER ever had an issue with either cement or tape splices going through the machine and overall it was a quite good performer with its only foible being getting the correct takeup tension set when running 6000 foot spools as it always seemed a bit slow and unless one helped the reel get spinning by hand on startup it could at times suddenly snatch the film and break it.

Many of the prints screened there had a mixture of cement and tape splices and in particular there as always at least ONE new tape splice made by me to fit the feature films onto 6000 foot spools coming off 2000 foot library spools.
That "wrap around" of sprockets is normally quite secure and not only the Fumeo did that so did the large Xenon Eikis I have used and again NEVER an issue.

From memory the feed sprocket rotates CLOCKWISE when in Forward, Correct? and if so the film MUST enter the feed sprocket to the LEFT of the pad roller on the RHS, go under the feed sprocket thus engaging the teeth with a good wrap around and then exit the sprocket to the RIGHT of the LEFT pad roller and its firmly in place and picked up by a number of the sprocket teeth.

Is there are threading diagram on the machine as BOTH machines at the library had a clearly laid out diagram attached to the machine?

Only thing I can think of that might give you agro could be IF any of the sprocket teeth are damaged and allows the film to sit high and thus tend to skate around the sprocket.

If I had the chance to get my hands on one of those with the 1Kw xenon lamp in it I would have it in a flash as they generally are a VG performing Mag/Optical 16mm machine and are really easy to thread and use.

I have a couple of Bell & Howell 666 machines with the Marc 300 lamps in them which are really fiddly to thread and are far noisier than the Fumeos along with limited lamp life even the light output is excellent but I would rather use the Fumeo any day.

[Gordon McLeod]

They were a very reliable and gentle machine. There is a Facebook group on Fumeo might ask there

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Here is the threading diagram so we are all on the same page...

[Rich Haddard]

A couple of decades ago, I used my HL 3000 to do Movie Nights at the Park. It always performed flawlessly. The 3-claw pulldown is rock steady and the sound reproduction is top notch. My young assistant is now 28! For some reason my wife objects to this being a permanent fixture in our living room...

[Leo Enticknap]

Xenon-lit, pedestal mounted Fumeos seemed to have pretty much cornered the market for big screen 16mm presentation in England in the '70s and '80s: they were everywhere. My memory of them squares with everything written here: the distance between the pad rollers and the feed sprocket was not adjustable, and the seating of the film through the sprocket was achieved by the back tension on the feed spindle. Because of this, starting a feature built up onto a 6,000ft reel could be somewhat hair raising, because of the jerk and uneven movement that could happen as that much weight began to move. I would tend to put 20-30ft of extra spacing on the start, in case of ramp up derails.

My memory of those things is also that they were very intolerant to prints that were not in good to excellent physical condition. Even with slightly shrunken stock they were noisy, and a warped/vinegary print was almost guaranteed to derail and lose the feed loop. As 16mm dropped out of mainstream use and the only prints remaining were decades old ones circulated by archives, rep distributors, and collectors to arthouse cinemas, this became more of a problem.

Of all the claw-in-the-gate classroom projectors that sold in significant numbers in the UK, I formed the belief that the manual thread Eikis (ST-1, 2, or 3) were the most tolerant of stock that was significantly shrunk, had perforation damage, and/or multiple, thick tape splices. Pretty much anything would run through one without derailing. Unfortunately, they are a lot more difficult to find than the auto-threading RT and NT variants. The mechanisms are still pretty kind to film, but the automatic threading components make cleaning and maintenance more difficult. Apart from the obvious suggestion of Ebay (where these machines tend to go for between GBP 100 and 250, depending on features and claimed condition), these guys are the only vendors in the UK I know of that actually specialize in the sale and repair of 16mm equipment and parts. But of course these Eikis are table-top, halogen lit classroom machines, and don't have enough light to use in a proper movie theater.

The gold standard is a projector that does not have a claw-in-the-gate intermittent, but a Maltese cross intermittent, like professional 35mm projectors do, e.g. the Kinoton FP16 and 18 (I believe that Prevost also made one). But they very rarely come on the market and are hellish pricey when they do, because they are much sought after by the few remaining arthouses and cinematheques that are trying to maintain large screen 16mm capability.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Still, nothing even comes close to an Eastman 25, or the later model 40. I've run them, and have seen 16mm look like 35mm on large screens. The last one I dealt with was at BYU in Provo, Utah. They also inherited Frank Capra's personal 16mm film collection, so there are some very fine 16mm prints there in the film archive to run. They are difficult to find for sale because most are either still installed or have been restored and reinstalled elsewhere. Eastman 25.jpg

[Gordon McLeod]

I always found the Fumeo more tolerant to damaged film than the star and cam machines especially on shrunken film. The worst being the FP16 for jumping on the large intermitent sprocket. Briefly Fumeo also had a geneva base machine

[Rob Clarke Tucker]

Well thanks for all your very valuable input and direction on this, looks like I will be going down the route in finding a Kinoton which i know is not going to be easy to find at a good price here in the UK. I have actually used mainly portables in the past like the Eiki's Elfs of this world along with Bauer and never had a problem like this. But using a portable maybe my saving grace considering sometimes beggars can't be choosers in this game.

After replacing so many parts on this HL2000 and if the grease does not work when it turns up, i will just have to bow out gracefully and except my defeat. Don't get be wrong but i love Fumeo's as the previous one i had an X900 which came from the BFI which i had for a number of years i never had any problems with tape splices. So i know the top sprocket is the problem even after getting a replacement for the split gear as pictured which i thought was the problem. Along with replacing both guide rollers and sprocket.

One thing i like about the Fumeo compared to the likes of Eiki/Elf they have a very short film path plus there is less contact around the sprockets not having conventional sprocket shoes.

[Randy Stankey]

I don't know... Try, maybe, gently gripping the edges of the film to put a little bit of back tension on that sprocket to see if more or less tension affects anything.

[Rob Clarke Tucker]

Thanks Randy I may try that as a last resort if re-greasing the gears don’t work ?

[Randy Stankey]

It could be something as simple as the friction clutch (or whatever) on the payout arm being worn. It could even be just an adjustment. Who knows?
Putting a little back tension on the film is a zero-cost experiment, but for the time. You never know. It could lead you to a solution.