Need help with simplex 35 pr-1014 oil pump!

[Jay Brody]

Hi all I am a newbie to this site. I scored some old equipment, a single lens Simplex 35 model PR-1014 and am trying to restore it to its heyday. It’s a reel-to-reel mounted on a lamp house console. I am wanting to replace the oil to where it just works normal again. Easy swap, right? WRONG. Before I dumped the old oil, I added a little bit of fresh oil in there after I got a new motor to see if it ran well. It ran fine for a bit and then all of the sudden stopped pumping oil where it’s supposed to go completely! Now it just sprays all over at the bottom of the inside the gearbox! I let it run for a couple minutes before I shut it off because I was concerned about oil not getting to the right places and “frying” the metal gears. Then I refilled it with some compressor oil, which is unfortunately clear. So now it’s impossible to tell how full it is. I turned it on and let it run for a bit and the same exact problem that had happened before was doing the same thing again the entire time! It never flowed right once. I started and stopped it a couple times to see if that worked and it didn’t. I didn’t want it to let it run “dry”, so I drained it - again. I then reopened the gearbox window and it’s totally impossible to inspect the little oil pump part for damage, blockage, etc. Does anyone know how to work on the oil pumps in these old machines or even how to get to them?? I am hoping that I’m not going to have to take the whole metal casing off just to just get to this thing.
I know these things are built so ridiculously sensitive when it comes to the inner workings where some stuff is separated by hardly any space at all and I do NOT want to even think about accidentally breaking something! I can put up pics but I have to take a few first. I can video chat, email or text as well. I could really use all the help in the world! I’m located in Orlando, FL. My email is jaybro1727@gmail.com. Thanks in advance you guys!

[Dave Macaulay]

The oiling system on XLs is a bit sketchy at best. There's a pickup tube, the gear driven pump, and an outlet tube that goes to the top and dribbles oil on the fire shutter governor... that spinning governor (late models do not have a governor, just a paddle wheel thing to sling oil around) throws drops of oil all around and lubricates everything. The square (triangular?) funnel should collect drops and dribble oil into the intermittent housing. The funnel outlet tube has to driible out oil just between the flywheel and housing to oil the intermittent properly.
Two screws hold the pump in but you have to disconnect the outlet tube to remove it, the pump and pickup tube should come out together with some fiddling and twisting. There are two types of pickup, normal and drive-in, to suit downward and upward projector angles. The pickup has a perforated metal screen that may be clogged.
Oil just squirting around the pump could be a broken outlet tube but even at full efficiency there is not a huge oil flow, if you see oil running down inside the glass when running... all is well. It can look like a major leak around the pump if the drive gear is in oil, it churns and throws oil around. But the pump can not pump enough oil to cause that churn so don't panic over it.
The pump is a squirter, not continuous flow. Each turn of the gear makes a bit of a squirt. Unless it ran dry for quite a while it should not be terribly worn out. You can disassemble and clean it, how it works is clear once opened up.
It does not need much oil flow. As long as drips are slinging off the governor you're good to go. On reinstallation you just get the driven gear engaging with some backlash, not tight to the drive gear.

[Randy Stankey]

I have replaced a few of those oil pumps, back in the day.
It is mostly a “nuts and bolts” type of job. Just be sure everything is installed correctly and it will work.

As Dave said, one thing to note is that the pump intake can be installed two ways. This was because, in some installations, the projector might be pointed upward instead of downward... in a drive-in theater, for instance.

90% of the time you’ll want the pump to be the normal way and most of the time you’ll find it that way.

Just be sure it’s installed the way you need it to be and you should be good to go.

As an aside, it used to be common for techs to put a small magnet down in the oil sump in order to collect any metal shavings that come off the gears. This keeps any small particles from getting into the works and causing premature failure.

I used to use “cow magnets.” They are long, skinny cylinders, about the size of your finger, that farmers would force down a cow’s throat so that it would stay in the stomach to collect any bits of metal that a cow might accidentally eat, thus preventing the cow from being injured internally.

I suppose you could use almost any small magnet that would fit into the bottom of the sump. Just be sure it is tucked out of the way so that it doesn’t run afoul of any parts of the mechanism.

As I remember, many Simplex projectors had magnets built in but I still put magnets in just for an extra measure of confidence.

Any time you change the oil or do maintenance in that area, just pull the magnet out, wipe off the metal bits and put it back in. I bet you’ll be surprised at the amount of junk that magnet picks up!

[Jay Brody]

Thanks guys so much, and thank goodness the manuals are online for this thing! I need to locate the oil filter. It’s not listed anywhere in this manual other than saying it needs to be cleaned. Is it going to be evident once I take off the 2 screws that hold the pump on? If the filter is clogged what is the best thing to use to clean it? Just curious. I am going to try those steps today and see what I can find out regardless. I will let you know if I can fix it. Thanks so much! Meanwhile I’m going to put these messages close to my work area!! I’m just glad I don’t have to take the whole thing apart!!

[Jay Brody]

Hey guys, didn’t get it working but I think I figured out the problem. The white plastic gear is just spinning on top of the oil pump wheel. I don’t think this is normal. Correct me if I’m wrong? They don’t show any of this stuff in the manuals!

[Randy Stankey]

If the oil pump drive gear spins freely, something's broken. Or, are you talking about the gear that mates with the drive gear?

Whatever... Something's not right and it needs to be fixed.

The pump, itself, isn't very complex. It should be repairable.
Here's a link to the parts catalog: http://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/m...SIMXLPARTS.pdf

See page 1-22 and 1-23 of the manual. (Pages 29 & 30 of the PDF file.)

Cleaning is done, manually, by taking it apart and wiping then flushing with clean oil before reassembly.

To be honest, I haven't disassembled one of these oil pumps, myself. I just pulled them out, cleaned the exterior parts, flushed with oil.
Occasionally, I'd get a coffee can, etc., put some oil in it and dunk the pump assembly in the can then spin the gear by hand to push oil through it. I just did that until the oil came out clean and I was satisfied that it worked the way I wanted.

On the rare occasion where I found a bad oil pump, I just replaced it. When I had to service a dozen theaters, each with an average of ten projectors, I didn't often have time or inclination to fart around. If I knew what the problem was, I might take the time to disassemble and repair but, most of the time, I had a theater manager looking over my shoulder asking, "Will it be ready for the 6:00 show?"

I might have time to put aside a bad pump or other assembly and repair it later. Then I would save it in the trunk of my car for a time when it was an emergency. Most of the time, it was better to replace it with new.

As for the oil filter. It's just a little screen on the end of the intake pipe.
See part no. G-2046 on pg. 1-23 (30) of the parts catalog.

Just take it off, manually clean it then flush with oil.
I.I.R.C., some may have been magnetized... Memory fades.

Personally, I used cow magnets. I never had any problems with filter screens getting clogged or metal shavings getting into places where they shouldn't.

[Jay Brody]

Genius Randy, thanks for the link! I am going to try to fix it myself first and see what happens. Yeah, the white plastic gear just spins on the pump wheel. Thanks for the info.

[Randy Stankey]

Maybe the gear is loose on the shaft. It might just need to be re-tightened, assuming that nothing's been wallowed out.

Maybe the two, little, spring loaded impellers have popped loose. Don't know.

Take it apart and look at it. It's not THAT complicated.

I hope you get her back together!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

It ran fine for a bit and then all of the sudden stopped pumping oil where it’s supposed to go completely!

• Posting pictures of your projector would help alot because there are at least 5 different eras of Simplex X-L.... BUt the following is what comes to mind first...
• Simplex's always ran much better and longer with a slight down tilt, or up tilt. I bet you are running the machine with it set almost level. In that case the oil will completely pump out of the sump and the machine will starve for oil. Tthat one of about 20 reasons reason I hated Simplex's. I had quite a few customers that ran their machines basically dead level like that and they always had issues with parts wearing out, mainly intermittent parts because the intermittent is being starved for oil. The oil collector that drips oil to feed the intermittent should drip at least a couple times a second at the minimum... a constant stream of oil out of that collector is way more desirable. This problem was rectified in later Simplex's after Strong started building them. They put a shaft seal on the outboard intermediate drive gear that goes through the side of the casing... as well as a new oil sight glass in the lower right corner of the film compartment, This allows considerably more oil to be put in the sump than on a projector with a front mounted oil sight glass... at least on the later machines the oil stays in till the shaft seal wears out then and it too runs out and you were right back at the original problem. I used to change those seals yearly in multiplexs that ran lots of house every day so that didn't happen.

[Don Furr]

We had an XL at a Malco Drive-In that, I was told, had a modification in the oil pick up sump that was extended more to the rear of the projector so the sump would never run dry. Several years later I bought that XL from Malco for home use and unless I'm dreaming, I changed out the pick up back to the original because the XL was not pointing up in my home install.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Thats correct Don. There were parts available to move the oil intake screen to the rear of the projector. The sump also holds a lot more oil in the rear than in the front.

[Don Furr]

Whew!! Glad to know I wasn't dreaming that up. That was back in the mid 70's. It was also the same projector/ORC lamphouse that I had a 6K bulb explode at the exact moment I opened the douser. Scared the B'jesus out of me.

[John Eickhof]

Mark is correct, there was an actual kit for 'drive-in' use or negative tilt, also, there is no actual filter, just a small screen on the pickup. XL pumps are notorious for air-lock thus an air bubble gets lodged in the pump itself and will cause intermittent oil flow as well as the later models used the long rear pick up in the front for regular projection and this causes a lot of suction required to prime the pump, i used to convert all machines to the early type pick-up by cutting down a long pickup tube and removing the small junction block and directly installing the pickup to the bottom front of the pump, you will not believe how much oil will flow. refer to the oil pump diagram in an originbal 1952 xl parts manual. Another old trick is to remove the pump, remove the 3 fillister screws holding the cover, pull the two square impeller blocks and spring out then stretch out the spring a little and re-install. if the gear spins but the shaft dosent, then the taper pin holding the driven gear on the pump is broken, replace the pump! good luck

[Jay Brody]

Hey all, trying to upload attachments. Last time I tried they never posted and it just deleted those photos on my phone. I’m going to attach pics again in hopes it will show you all. Basically the pump works perfectly, it’s just the metal wheel and the plastic gear around it are worn and failed. I want to at least try to fix things myself before I have to do anything else. Is there any way for me to personally freshen the knurl up on the metal? Can I melt some the plastic that is supposed to go around the wheel with a soldering iron which in turn, will fuse together the metal wheel and gear? Can I use some kind of industrial strength epoxy to increase the bond to it? My guess is that the constant rotation under high torque loads in combination with a constant bath of oil being slashed over it would make an epoxy fail faster than I could put some on. Am I correct in assuming this? Is melting part of the interior portion a more viable fix? I could even melt enough other hard plastic over it just enough to increase the interior portion of the gear so I can sit lightly hammer it in place for a permanent fix. There are so many options with fillers that CLAIM to be resistant to chemicals and fillers out there so that’s why I am asking. So c’mon pros, let me know what you think so I can make an informed decision! Thanks

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

In 42 years of servicing and rebuilding Simplex's I have never seen that happen. Call Magna-Tech in Miami and get a new gear. I can not think of anything to secure that back on the hub so it actually stays on permanently that won't be attacked in all the oil. Some sort of adhesive would probably hold for a while... but you would be in for a surprise eventually when the oil attacks the adhesive and dissolves it. And it's actually risky to try to attempt to re-secure it for the cost of a 50 buck gear. If you seize the intermittent from unknowingly starving it for oil, then the two tiny fiber gears there will also strip. BTW, that gear is either Nylon or Delrin... so nope, you can not melt it. It is also highly possible there is a very tiny almost invisible hairline crack in the gear from the center to the outside teeth that wold have caused it to let go. I have seen that happen on many other gears in many other projectors.