Small Format Film Forum

Dashed bad show what?
I succumbed to temptation and bought an Elmo 16 CL off eBay - the seller had a Q&A asking about condition and said it ran with no problems!!
It arrived - I unpacked it - I plugged it in - loaded up a 400' short (GB Wartime News - I'm bang up to date!) - switched on - focussed - THEN realised there wasn't any sound from the internal speaker so I plugged in an external speaker - still no sound - THEN realised the back reel arm (which had got to about 300') was no longer taking up.
Woe, woe and thrice woe! I checked the amp fuse and tried the bit of paper roundabout the sound slit - nothing - but I did get a noise when I removed the external speaker Din plug.
I took the rear reel arm cover off and watched the belt stuttering even with no load - and the little nylon(?) roller at the bottom of the arm seemed to slip although the metal centre was moving OK.
Before Kevin beats me about the head - maybe I should have stuck to Elfs? Any and all bright ideas gratefully received. Although the sellers blurb said 'No returns' I have asked him/her (alig108 of Doncaster) [as a buyer no feedback between sep 09 and Jan 10 - as a seller no feedback since Apr 09] {24 feedback left from 27 deals} for comments before I do anything further - after all he said on the listing 'no problems'!!
Now I'll go to bed and weep!
Cheers, David E
P.S If I keep it - where do I get other prime lenses from??

David, your take-up problem is one of the two main issues that doom the 16CL (the other one being the rubber drive rollers turning to goo). It can be fixed. Remove the arm cover and you will see that one of the belt guide rollers is spring-mounted. Give a good clean to everything and check the tension. If you think that you can't get any more tension, you need to change the belt. Seller "isellprojectorbelts" on Ebay usually has some. It's the "smooth" or "early" version. You can also get the whole KIT. Or maybe the spring is missing from the roller assay. The best solution, though, is to upgrade to a cog and toothed belt system. Very easy to change. LARRY URBANSKI is a reliable source for the "ELMO 16mm 16-CL, TRV-16, REAR ARM UPGRADE KIT".

Before going any further with your sound problem, let's try the basics: Is your CL an optical or Opt/mag model? Is the exciter lamp lighting up ok? (sometimes, changing the lamp can fix a lot of things...) Can you check very carfefully if nothing is stuck in both the external speaker socket and the microphone input socket (at the back of the machine). Don't hesitate to remove the back cover (if you change your take-up system, you will have to, anyways.)

Keep us posted.

The seller messaged me to say she (Alison) was selling it for a friend who said he'd run a film thru it and it was fine! Now I've had a message from the 'owner' (K. Garner, Yorkshire) asking me to ring him. I'll let you know - the sago(sic) continues!
Cheers, David E
P.S Ta for the helpful thoughts - now all I have to do is understand them!!!!!!!!

Hi David, What you need to do is get a reduction in the final price and then let me have your machine to sort. I live in Essex so I'm not a million miles away.

The take-up probs can be sorted. I have done my Xenon version for the same reason.
The sound maybe a little more problematic but nothing to much I'm sure. Once these machines are running well they are a real joy to use.

Luckily for us if we need spares Richard Patchett here on the forum has most of them. Kev.

Lord Kevin - this looks likely to happen. May I PM or email you when I have more news??
Cheers, David E

Of course you can. No worries at all. Always pleased to be able to help fellow collectors. Kev.

I have 3 elmo 16-CL's and on two of them the amp has gone bad, because like you I get no sound, but mine would blow the fuse (the same fuse controls the rewind) as soon as I turn on the sound...I still believe they are great machines but I have my worries about them now where as I never did for years before...The rewind problem I have had to fix on all of them and have obtained the kits from Urbanski film.....Did you make sure the rubber rollers are good and not melting? That can be the death of a good film if you don't check it out first....

Greetings
I carry the old belts and the new take up kits
I also repair those amps, Funny thing Elmo used 4 different ones
I have 2 rebuilt in stock ready to ship. There should be a number on them.
Check my web site for the parts (belts)
http://www.rcsclassic16mm.com/index.html
I ship anywhere
Thank you
RC

what do the amps run? I did not see them on the site..

Greetings Dino
Those amps run $70.00 each exchanged 120 days warranty.
The reason those are not on my web page is that i do a lot of repair work on projectors that might need one So i have in stock instead of fixing it, at the time. When said projector is on my operation table, undergoing surgery. Or until some one asks about them
Like i said they use 4 different ones
RC