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• Fig. I — A piece of sewer pipe, parts from a windshield wiper, and gears from a Ford are jus* some of the unorthodox items used in constructing this 400 foot 500 watt 8mm. projector.
• Fig. 2 — Rear view shows classic design of housing turned by hand from simple hand drawn plans. Originally, projector was to be about same size and weight as a Filmo "8". It weighs several times as much and is more than twice the height. It projects brilliant steady pictures.
I BUILT my inn
PROJECTOR...
Fugitive From A Wartime Scrap Drive, It Boasts Modern Features And It Works!
N N
T,
HE camera stores' salesmen laughed when I wanted to buy a projector, so I built one myself. This, in a single sentence sums up the history of the homemade 8mm. projector pictured on these pages.
It all began about a year ago when I innocently purchased a small 8mm. camera for six dollars, not knowing why except that the owner, a friend of mine, needed the six dollars more than the camera. In due time I satisfied the curiosity aroused within me by this new acquisition and purchased two rolls of film, then proceeded to make movies of our two little sons.
When these films were returned from the processors, there followed a great deal of squinting and eye-strain
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ing on my part in an effort to see just what was on the film. Shortly afterward, I was to be seen entering one, then another camera store in quest of an 8mm. projector, only to be met with laughter and occasionally some sarcasm. "Didn't I know there was a war on?"
But I didn't give up. I next kept a vigil over the classified columns of newspapers in the hope that some amateur would offer his equipment for sale. But this procedure proved equally disappointing, due partially to a shortage of
gasoline ration coupons or to the fact that someone else invariably got there ahead of me. By this time, real desperation had set in. Eventually I was able to borrow an 8mm. projector and screen for one evening and my eager kiddies finally saw their first home movies. Another family of cinebugs thus were born.
Determined to have a projector, I decided to try and build one. I had not seen many 8mm. projectors, only the pictures of them. The one I borrowed was the first I ever had my hands on. In my visits to camera stores, I had collected numerous folders and catalogs on projectors, and the one extolling the 8mm. Bell & Howell appealed to me most. From the illustrations, it seemed at the time the easiest to copy. I decided to try.
My first step was to accumulate as many of the parts as possible — gears, sprockets, etc. — but this proved to be almost impossible. Wherever I went, there was always a little matter of priority to block the way. But a canvass of all available camera repair shops yielded such items as a condenser lens,
• Fig. 3 — Author Ferris makes final adjustment on the takeup spindle of his completed projector. Only tools used in construction were an electric drill, vise, several files, a hacksaw, pliers and a screwdriver. Intricate parts were turned by a machinist on a lathe.