Home Movies (1944)

• Fig. A — Closeup view of lamphouse which was turned on a lathe from a piece of metal soil pipe. Top is cap from an automobile gas tank. a Univex projector lens, a 500 watt lamp and socket and, the most fortunate of all, two 8mm. film sprockets for feed and takeup. With these few parts, I ventured to begin my project. I next searched out a machinist who could do a bit of work for a civilian without interfering with his war work commitments. From his lathe emerged several parts fashioned from scrap metal such as found in almost any garage. By now, my brainchild was beginning to take definite form. I prefer to skip quickly over the ensuing five or six months of struggling with iron, brass and sheet metal that proved so stubborn in the hands of one totally ignorant of their proper handling. You see, I am an automobile upholsterer by trade; never had any mechanical training; and my only tools in fashioning this projector were an electric drill, a vise, several files, a hacksaw, pliers, and a screwdriver. A skilled mechanic would chuckle at some of the points of construction embodied in the "innards" of this projector. The machinist who did the lathe work for me swore the thing never would work the way I was going at it. He spoke boldly in terms of tenthousandths of an inch while I mumbled vaguely of thirty-seconds and sixtyfourths simply because the six inch rule I happened to be working with was calibrated in these two divisions. Where the mechanic worked in close tolerances, I labored on the basis that if one part was a bit out of line, the next or interlocking part only had to be made out of line the same ratio in order to add up to a perfect fit for the whole. To give an idea of the great lengths I went to in obtaining parts and materials for this projector, let me point out some of the more interesting of them: The streamlined lamp house with modern cooling fins shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, is a section of metal soil pipe, turned down on a lathe. Top of the 231 • Fig. 5 — Here is shown the power plant — a vacuum sweeper motor and blower; also the geared tilting device and the variable rheostat. lamp house is a gas tank cover from a Ford automobile. The motor and blower (Fig. 5) is that of an old vacuum cleaner. The geared tilting device, shown in detail in Fig. 5, is the worm and pinion gear from the mechanism that automatically raises and lowers the top of a Ford convertible coupe. It works perfectly . The rheostat I obtained from a radio shop and I made a ventilated housing for it from a piece of scrap grill metal. Some of the parts in the intermittent movement were taken from an automobile windshield wiper. Internal gears were mostly those from an old Pathex 9 '/2mm. camera, plus several from a discarded phonograph motor. The film gate, lens holder and sprocket "dogs", shown in Fig. 6, were turned from various pieces of scrap metal. Some were shaped with a file while others were turned on the mechanic's lathe. The switch box, shown in Fig. 4, is an ordinary house lighting system flush-type box covered with a panel of bakelite fitted with snap switches. The gear box and main body incorporating the reel arms were made of ordinary sheet metal cut to a pattern drawn free hand. The base is a sheet metal plate joined to the main projector body by means of another short section of the metal soil pipe. Some of the modern features incorporated in the projector are: A geardriven film rewind which operates by simply pressing a lever near top of gear box; efficient framing device operated by convenient lever at top of shutter housing ; independent switches for motor power and light source; and 400 foot reels. Two questions are invariably asked me whenever my projector is shown: "How much did it cost?" and "How long did it take to make it?" Saving money was not the object when I began construction of it. I was desperate to own a projector and when I was unable to buy one, I determined to make • Fig. 4 — Film gate and track was ingeniously made, by hand with file and hacksaw. Lens housing is in sliding carriage. A thumbscrew locks lens in focusing position. one. Thus, I did not spare the cash to gain this end, although I'll admit it cost more to build than originally expected— approximately $125.00. As to the time spent in building it, that is a story in itself. Soon after the project was begun, my enthusiasm became boundless. Every spare minute was devoted to it. I would come home from work, quickly gulp my supper while sitting on the edge of my chair, then disappear into the garage, there to remain until one or two o'clock in the morning. This went on practically every night — Sundays included — for six months! My poor wife was frantic. The youngsters were growing up and hardly knew their father. I'm sure I heard the elder whisper quizzically to his mother the day the projector was finished and I brought it into the house for a demonstration. But that's the way with a cinebug once he contracts the virus cine. To us of gadget and mechanical bent, our pleasure comes in achieving with our hands, while our brother hobbyists, the filmers, revel in the pleasure of shooting movies. I suppose I'm headed for that experience too. For I recently bought a new and better 8mm. camera. But at heart I'm a gadgeteer. Since completing this projector, I have converted an old model 16mm. DeVry machine to 8mm., and have built a compact portable 8mm. job enclosed i n handy carrying case, ic ~k *k