5 Star adjustment question

[Frank Raia]

I am doing adjustments on a 5 star sound head and cannot figure out how to set the spacing on the lower pad roller assembly. The exploded diagram shows a stop screw but my unit does not have one or a spot that would have one. Am I missing something? How do you set the pad roller spacing with no stop screw?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Share a photo or two of yours?

[Frank Raia]

Ryan will get pics after work today.

[Frank Raia]

pictures of my sound head

[Frank Raia]

I just had it apart yesterday to clean it and there is no spot for stop screw. I did think maybe the back plate was used for spacing but there is no oval space like in the diagram to possibly slide it up and down.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Not a simplex person, just trying to read the tea leaves.

The only clue I maybe see is P-2304 “stop pin” is mentioned as only being present on earlier models. Perhaps spacing was not adjustable and determined by the stop pin? Does yours have that pin?

Your thoughts about the shoulder bolt and corresponding nut seem just as likely. Is the hole for 4080374 not a slot either? Maybe they are oversized rather than slots?

That stop pin could have just as easily been the stop for the open position.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I think I see now (perhaps).

At least with units having the set screw/nut, you would first adjust the lower pad-roller spacing using those, and then because it rotates the upper away from the sprocket at a different rate, they account for this by including an eccentric shaft on the upper pad roller, which can be rotated to re-aquire 2-film spacing on just the upper pad roller.

As yours lacks this set screw location, I would presume it HAS the stop pin (2304). If you look closely at the shape of the plate 4625 in the diagram, you can see the section the stop pin interacts with (and the two end stops). So I would "guess" (until someone with more experience chimes in), that the shoulder bolt is the axis of rotation (not a slotted hole), but the screw to the right (4080374) on that same plate allows you to rotate the pate itself relative to the rest of the assembly, because that screw's hole IS slotted (I hope). This rotation would move those two end-stops that are cut into that plate for the stop pin to interact with. Where your "closed" stop is set is what determines the lower pad roller spacing. Then it's just the eccentric shaft for the upper pad roller as with the other method.

Seems a bit fiddly, and probably why they added the set screw approach in later revisions.

Older5-Star_PadRoller_Spacing.png

[Ryan Gallagher]

Actually I can see that yours has the stop pin in the photos. It's just a question of if the hole for 4080374 is in fact slotted or not. You said you had no oval but I'm not sure which hole you were referring to. The hole for P-10015 would definitely be circular, even though it was drawn poorly.

[Frank Raia]

Ryan, The P-4625 plate holes on my head are round and not oval so no adjustment movement is possible. It would have made sense to make them oval allowing for some sort of adjustment. I did rotate the upper Eccentric roller shaft. I dont like how that rides on the film. I was hoping I missed something but your analysis is appreciated and i guess it is just a crappy design on the part of simplex. I also dont like the pad roller. Do you know where I can get a metal replacement to the crappy rubber one?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Ryan, The P-4625 plate holes on my head are round and not oval so no adjustment movement is possible. It would have made sense to make them oval allowing for some sort of adjustment. I did rotate the upper Eccentric roller shaft. I dont like how that rides on the film. I was hoping I missed something but your analysis is appreciated and i guess it is just a crappy design on the part of simplex. I also dont like the pad roller. Do you know where I can get a metal replacement to the crappy rubber one?

Someone else may know, but it is possible you have parts from different generations on that machine. If they mixed and matched you could have ended up without either adjustment method for the lower pad roller?

If you plate still has both end stop detents for the stop pin in it’s design, perhaps you could machine the screw hole into a slot? I would guess the slot was actually a slight arc around the axis of the center of the shoulder bolt hole.

[Frank Raia]

Thank you Ryan for your input. You guys are all great!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Someone else may know, but it is possible you have parts from different generations on that machine. If they mixed and matched you could have ended up without either adjustment method for the lower pad roller?

If you plate still has both end stop detents for the stop pin in it’s design, perhaps you could machine the screw hole into a slot? I would guess the slot was actually a slight arc around the axis of the center of the shoulder bolt hole.

Yes, there was an earlier gestation of the 5 Star that I called the 4-1/2 Star. It had no window in the film side door, so it's easy to recognize. There are quite a few differences between the two.

[Frank Raia]

Mark it has a window. I guess it is what is is. a 4 3/4 star lol

[Gordon McLeod]

On some versions one loosened the large allen screw that holds P4625 to adjust one of the pads cant remember which and the shaft of the other pad was ecentric and one rotated it to space the other pad