From Hobbies Weekly May 16th 1956. Vol. 122, Number 3159.

Make it yourself

Entertain your friends at home — with this 16mm. MOVIE PROJECTOR
Says F. G. Rayer

Finised Projector

This projector can be made without any particular difficulty, and will give very good results. Quite a number of different mechanisms for transporting the film are found in ready-made projectors, but some are very difficult indeed to build at home, due to the complicated nature of the parts required.

For a steady picture, the transport mechanism is very important, while undue noise is undesirable, and very likely to arise with some home-built mechanisms, especially those of the Maltese Cross type. Because of these points, a claw transport system is used, and this is quite silent, even when running rapidly. Provided the important dimensions are measured correctly, the mechanism will work satisfactorily, and it has the great advantage of very few moving parts.

Though the projector is intended for 16mm. film, it would be possible to use 35mm., 8mm., or 9-5mm. films, by modifying the dimensions of movement and gate (the aperture where the film is illuminated). Read more »

Reproduced from Practical Mechanics April, 1962

Original scans below.

A Sound Synchronising Unit for 8mm Cine

By J.M.Turner

A Sound Synchronising Unit for 8mm Cine

With the ever increasing popularity of 8mm cine photography many amateurs will have wished for a sound track to accompany their films.

For satisfactory results it is essential that the tape recorder and projector be synchronised.
The method given here was finally chosen after much experimenting as being by far the simplest and most efficient for amateur construction.

The degree of synchronisation obtained is extremely good. After a three-quarter-hour continuous run which is about the longest possible with standard equipment, the synchronisation at the end is still excellent.

The cost of the unit to be described should not be more than a pound if everything is purchased, but most of the material can be found in the junk box.

Some projectors may be designed in such a manner that it will be practically impossible to add such a unit, but this must be determined by inspecting the existing layout. Read more »

Finished Projector

Making a 9.5mm Cine Projector

From Newnes Practical Mechanics
December, 1956

The film projector was constructed for experimental purposes to project films at 16 and 24 frames per second. The general arrangement of the machine is shown at Fig. 1.

The projector is of conventional design, with an intermittent frame shift by a claw shuttle and a continuous film feed by sprockets. A similar frame shift mechanism may be designed for 8 mm. or 16 mm. film from the film dimensions set out in British Standards Specification 677 : 1942. Read more »