Hello,
First I wish you a Merry Christmas and happy new year comming soon.
Due to some « accelerated » changes in my life , I have been away from « Forums » .
So, Beaulieu’s Projects (And GS1200 too) are on idle for the time.
Last one Beaulieu’s Project is a new Pinch Roller design :
- Polyurethan material
- Simplified cut (No more outside diameter groove)
- Bigger enclosed sealed ball bearing
- Directlty interchangeable with former configuration.(Old one can be reinstalled as well)

Polyurethan :
This material offers many benefits..
- Long life
- Oil, thinners, grease resistant
- Numerous possible material hardness
- Different colours available (Red, Green, Yellow, Black, Blue….)

Simplified Cut :
- Slight outside groove has been deleted to decrease machining costs. According to Beaulieu’s features and informations available, this slight groove was introduced to absorb unwanted increasing thickness due to poor film splices (generally cement splices).
Now , using tape splices these problems don’t show up.
To be note that Beaulieu used a hard rubber coating for their pinch roller.

Here is a picture of a Test part :


Beaulieu’s machines are 40 years old around now. « Pinch rollers » are often time showing more or less important cracks.
Small cracks are not a big problem as electronic regulation can manage with some film « scrolling » fluctuation.

VERY IMPORTANT
Large roller retaining screw (Flat head) is LEFT tightened.
So to loosen this screw you have to turn « clockwise » only.
This screw is fragile : Do not over torque.

To follow...................

Phil, a Merry Christmas and happy new year to you too,
More great news for Beaulie and GS1200 owners, good on you for your perseverance,
Its good having new films releases, but fewer projectors to show them on as they wear out makes them a non starter so well done on this for 2022. Anything that helps collectors keep their machines going has got to ne given a huge thank you.

Hello Tom,

Many thanks for your nice words.
Each project is a long road and needs a serious motivation.
Moreover it is difficult to find workshops from my side which are in position to achieve special jobs as "precision" polyurethan coating and machining on small parts for exemple.
I can find some foreign factories , however UE has "hardened" Customs duties for incoming articles and from the first Euro spent.( Applicable rule since june 2021).
For information, it is recomended to "clear" custom duties at the source. This is something which works fine with DHL without bad surprise (Custom duties has to be payed before sending). TNT is not recommended as you are charged once you do not expect it (sometimes 2 or 3 months later).
Here is a picture taken from an old Beaulieu 708 EL (which probably suffered poor storaging) and leads me to initiate this project.
Note that the projector works correctly in despite its poor condition