When I bought my GS 1200 a few weeks ago, I also bought a couple of new parts from van Eck. I did this after some advice from Bill Parsons.

Today I finally got around and started to install the new parts. I do not have small screw drivers here at the cottage, so I had to use my good old friend; my Leatherman in addition to a spring hook I had bought from van Eck also.

I had to remove the lens aswell to get some working space. Everything went fine until I was about to re-attach the screw for the spring (the one I point at with the spring hook). Suddenly I lost the screw, and it dropped into the projector where I could not see it. It was a complete circus while I tried to recover it. I opened the back cover also, but I could not see it on the bottom where I expected it to be. I had to turn the projector around back and forth until it finally dropped out, and off course, fell on the floor where I had to search for it with a torch light. But I found it, and this time I managed to reinstall it :-)

Now I have the two new parts in place. I had a test run with a test film (again from van Eck) since I didn't want to ruin one of my regular films in case I had made a mistake. Worked like a charm!

And here ends the dramatic projector report from Norway ;-)

For all of you with a GS 1200 that can't figure out where this screw is; The picture where I point at the screw is upside down, it seems.

A little bit of advice, if theres a chance of losing a screw in the innards of your projector Elvind, just fill with tissue paper, so there's nowhere for it to go, do your repairs on a dust sheet, invest in a powerful magnet for locating little circlips, springs etc, Believe me, its
a bloody nightmare when a gate screw works loose and the spring can be anywhere.

Very good advice there, Hugh. I also damned myself for not having the projector further in on the table and not having some cloth under it. I will also invest in a set of small screw drivers here at the cottage for this kind of work.

May I just suggest the following before even attempting to undo any screw or fastener on any projector in the future Eivind, a magnetic tray, magnetic telescopic tool tip preferably with an LCD lamp built in, a serviceable set of instrumentation screwdrivers and small internal/ external circlip pliers plus a decent dentist style mirror tool.



This is over and above all of what you would generally find in a standard tool box and it will pay you back many times over, over the years!.

Yes, it is pretty obvious that I should have been better prepared.

I haven't heard of magnetic trays. That sounds like a really good idea. This combined with Hugh's excellent tip about tissue paper in the cracks where I don't want it to fall I wouldn't have had this nightmare :-) I need to look for this here in Norway.

If you undo the final few turns of any fastener using a magnetic tipped tool attached, that is pretty much all you will need.

A word of advice though, never in very close proximity to delicate and sensitive electronics nor directly to remove magnetic heads!!

Then Blu tack is the best solution and take your time, always!

Another invaluable piece of advice I can give to you so far as dismantling any GS 1200 sub assembly is concerned, many of the screws fitted have very soft heads and originally were fitted using very high torque methods. Many are really really difficult to remove on these machines without rounding the phillips head screws etc etc.

You basically get only ONE chance so the tool always has to be the right one,with precision fit, especially on these machines!
You have been warned as I am certain Bill will testify.

It can be done though if you bear all this in mind.

I like all the suggestions posted! I have a tool that is a telescoping rod with a strong magnet at the end (similar no doubt to what's being suggested.) It has been a godsend when the inevitable drop of a screw happens. I also keep a flashlight on hand to assist as well. Of course dropping a part always seems to happen when you're very tired!

Hopefully, the telescopic magnet can PREVENT the dropping of screws and circlips etc in the first place for the vast majority of what is removed. That is the idea.

For everything else, there is Blu tack.

By keeping your instrumentation screwdrivers permanently in a magnetic tray, they themselves will become part magnetized of course, and this in term, minimizes the risk of dropping very small screws into the machine.

As Hugh so correcrly highlighted, all slider vents etc should be covered by a cloth also before commencing work.

Thanks again for all the input! You should have been here when I dropped the screw. The projector partly disassembled with me complaining and saying how stupid I was, and my wife wondering why on earth I had disassembled a working projector (having watched film just a short while ago) :-)

We've all been there Elvind, just to complicate things further, there are some screws that are non magnetic, Andrew suggested "Blu Tack", which is fine, if you don't have any to hand, I've seen me wrap a piece of fine wire around the screw, lower into position,
and finally fix it in, even a bit of Vaseline on the screw head will affix, anyway, maybe we should do all this stuff in the shower cubicle
with the drain covered up, just to contain the springs, clip and screws that somehow end up miles away from their point of origin.
Another little tip, now that we have the technology, take pictures in sequence, good for reference, I'm lucky, know bugger all about
electrics etc, so any problems on that score, Yoda is my man, Bill Parsons by any other name, could even be Harry Potter, he's a wizard too.

Good suggestion from Hugh about the wire; a tip I read in an old book for handling tiny nails or screws was to have a strip of card, and push the nail or screw through that, then you can hold the card while you screw into place. I had something similar when I took apart part of a rewind arm on an old B&H projector, it seemed to explode and small ball bearings were all over the table, managed to get it all back together again.

I know the feeling Robert only too well, sometimes one needs three hands, I've even resorted to sellotape to hold something in place
while a fiddly screw is put in place.

Those little crocodile clips on a heavy base with a magnifier attached are very handy for detail work including soldering tasks. Then you can have up to 4 hands!

You know the type...
http://www.tmart.com/JM-501-2X-Helping-H...CFckV0wodD0MAyA

This comes from a booklet issued in the 1930s, by Hobbies , of Dereham, Norfolk. They used to make Fretsaw machines. I believe they are still in business.