I now run two Eiki's, the SL2 which i purchased after Bill Parsons pointed me to the sale of it a few years ago. This is main one of the two i use due to the fact it had very little use. After i made an error during a clean up, it was sent to Kevin Brown and my error, along with a full service and a few other repairs were all sorted and it's run like new ever since.
My second Eiki is an NT1, this was a projector which Hugh Scott, former member here and the other channel sent me, this was an act of sheer kindness and generosity after reading my thread regarding my error on my SL2. I can never thank Hugh enough for the generosity he showed me and this wasn't the first time.

I also had two other NT1's prior to this, but unfortunately, neither were any good unless i sent them away which given the fact the cost of postage alone would have been much more than what they cost, it would have been a waste of cash. One was broken down for parts and the other one is still intact but again, will be used as parts if required.

One of the two spare projectors was bought as a rough and ready, but working order machine from Dave Guest. Unfortunatly the packaging was very poor with no padding at all in a banana box so you can only imagine how it looked when i received it. I never attempted to put a film through it.
Last night while having a tidy up i decided that for fun only, i will take one of the two spare cam tanks i have and take it apart as per the service manual, and then attempt to put it back together. I stress that this is purely for fun only. I totally lack the knowledge and know how to get it back in a projector with all the fine adjustments that would be required. I did do this once before but i only dismantled it halfway, it may turn out to be a big fail, but it'll be another experience for me.
I just think it will be interesting to see just how intricate the inside of the NT1 cam tank is.

If Bills reading this, i know he's laughing, or smiling loudly,
I'll be back very soon.

You have nothing to loose Tom, it's sat unused so if you get it all back together and it runs then great, I did the same with a worm gear on a Bell and Howell, it did run afterwards but not as intended, I enjoyed the challenge but like you didn't have the knowledge, with the availability of the Internet nowadays I think I could have got it spot on so hopefully there are videos online that could help you, good luck with it, Mark

Good on you Tom be interested in how it turns out.Any pics on how it’s going?As Mark says you have nothing to loose.,and as we all know it’s getting harder to get these machines sorted.
Watching with interest……

Thanks Gwyn & Mark,
I havnt been able to start yet due to a busy week. What i thought i would do tonight is put up the six pages from the service book that show how complicated these things are to get right.
This is the reason i wanted to point out that this is purely for the fun of it, and to see how it does all come apart and how badly i can get it back together
In the past on one of my older NT1's i did actually take the cam tank apart by 25% in order to clean out the old grease and oil and re lubricate it with fresh. This did work very well and the only problem i had was the worn gate/pressure plates which, when the machine was hot, made a lot of gate noise, i didn't have any problem with the cam tank. At that time i was in conversation with Bill who, when i showed him how far i had started to dismantle, his very good advice was to not go beyond what i had done as this would have needed expertise to get it back together.
I will add images as i go, but for now, looking at these pages really does make you appreciate the skills the likes of Bill Parsons and Kevin Brown have to be able to fully service these items and get all those very fine adjustments set up.
Looking in particular at page 30, just look at those tiny measurement's

[[File:27.pdf]][[File:28.pdf]][[File:29.pdf]][[File:30.pdf]][[File:31.pdf]][[File:32.pdf]]

Rather you than me Tom still we have all the faith in this new adventure of yours .
Still if you can’t put it back together you will have a nice load of spare parts🤪🤪

And still another cam tank in good order. Hopefully i will never need them. The viewing hours i do now are a fraction of what they were just a few years ago. Something i have to get sorted.

If you need any gauges making tom, to align things up, claws etc, let me know mate. I work to plus or minus 2 microns every day, so i am used to these measurements and can measure accurately any part to these sizes, perhaps bill could help you with what might be appropriate, i made something similar for the claw on the elmo gs1200 .

Thats very kind Paul, fortunately, because i have two spare cam tanks this is only for the experience and fun for me really. But i will certainly bare this in mind thanks.
Talking of claws, i have yet to set up the claw on that 810DLUX i bought last year. I've successfully got it all back together and it spins up fine, i just need to find the time to set the claw as best i can.
For now, it's this cam tank i have a fad for.

Made a slow and steady start this evening. I think we can all establish that pulling stuff apart is easy, here i am just going by the service book one part at a time just to see inside one of these well know parts. This one seems to be in good condition, even the grease inside is still very slippery rather than gunged up and everything spins freely. Starting from stage one, the still frame lever is put into the lock position so that the shutter pulley spins freely. removing the single screw at the back, (image 2), allows removal of the rear plate and pulley. Behind the pulley there is a single slim washer, image 3, the book makes a point of being careful not to lose this washer as it provides the correct clearance between the shutter pulley and the shutter blade and hub. If this washer dropped down when pulling the rear plate away it would be very easy to miss it falling out if you were not aware of it.
Next is to hold the shutter while slowly raising the still image catch, this releases the tension of the clutch spring, once raised the shutter and hub assy with the spring simply pull off.
Next is to raise the still image lever enough to expose the three screws to the next cover, (image 5), once the the three screws are removed the cover comes away very easily, (image 6, 7).

At this point when i did this before, the advice from Bill was to not go beyond this stage as once you start delving further it could be a nightmare getting everything to run properly without the necessary skills and experience of the proper engineers like Bill and Kevin to be able to set it up properly, as i said previously, this disassembly / reassembly is purely because i have two spare cam tanks, this is simply a bit of play on my behalf. At this easy stage of the disassembly it is ideal to clean out and re-lube everything.
When i did this last time it all ran fine, unfortunately for me, the problem with that old NT1 i had was that the rattle noise was within the gate and i couldn't get it right so that one had to become a spares projector as it was an old college machine and wasn't worth spending money on.

Next is to remove the curved plate spring, this spring fits over the fulcrum control pin, a single screw enables removal, then i unhooked the claw lever spring, getting this one back on will be fun , its pretty darn tight. Once unhooked, the claw lever simply pulls away. image 8 shows the curved plate spring and claw spring in place, image 9 is the close up to show the plate spring in place, the importance of this will come into play later.
Image 10 shows the claw spring hanging loose and the curved plate spring removed.
The final image shows the claw lever, the curved plate spring and the little hook for the spring.

I'll carry on with the next part over the next few days. While the cam tank appears to still have good grease, i will clean out the old and re do it all later.
What i have noticed is that the oil holder felt at the top is actually very dry, i have no idea how much oil/grease this is meant to have but if this one was being used, i am guessing it would be too dry for the work these units do and would lead to wear of the cam unless it was sorted. Any idea on this anyone?

Second and last part of the break down,
Removal of the cam and the cam plate by undoing the three screws, once undone they pull away very easily. I took out the oil/grease felt pad which wasn't just a bit dry, it is bone dry. This was the machine i had from Dave Guest which got mangled in the post, luckily it only cost me £25 after a refund from David due to the postal problem so as a spares machine, it's fine. But, i was just a bit surprised at how this was so dry when the rest of the machines workings were plastered with oil and grease, if i took off the back cover and started it up i reckon i could have spray painted a wall with the amount of oil & grease that was in there, yet one of the essential parts, this one, was well under lubricated.

To remove the camshaft, the inching knob and worm gear are removed, while this was a pointless exercise in this case i still removed both items. unfortunately, the cam shaft and bearing assembly would normally be replaced as a single unit. The inner bearing is pressed onto the cam tank shaft and is replaced as part of the cam shaft with bearing assembly.
Looking inside this unit, it should be a well lubricated module, when i took of the cam and plate there still is a reasonable amount on the backside which you cant see without taking them out, its easy to see why these need to stripped down fully by a professional to ensure everything is greased properly.
One thing to note, on the top of the cam tank is that small single screw holding a small cover plate, loosening this screw and turning the small plate away allows for a few drops of projector oil to be dropped in here to keep that oil holder/felt block wet, but as i have been told, not so wet so it all drips down.
So there you go, the last image shows the unit in pieces with the exception of the cam shaft, now its apart, i'll clean everything up and come back on here and attempt to get it back together, cleaned and re-greased and freshly oiled.
I may even get it back in that old machine and see how it goes. One thing at a time first though.

Today, i gave the tank unit housing and the components a good clean up to remove the old grease, i use a motor trade de-greaser which when applied dissolves the grease and oil instantly. Then each part had a gentle wipe over to clean it properly and remove any residue.
As always with these things, i was aware of the two fibre washers on the claw arm, they always stick on with the grease so i removed them before i lost them.
With everything cleaned up, i have added these images to show what they should look like, i didn't take the claw pin off the arm for obvious reasons, far too finicky to play with this item and i didn't want to disturb the fine setting.
When Kevin Brown had my SL2 a few years ago, he did service the cam tank as a matter of routine, what he did tell me was that if one or both of those pivot points wear, this will make the machine run noisy, if this is ever the case, a replacement claw arm would be needed as the parts cant be replaced. I'll put these images up and then i will be ready to attempt to get it back together.
Dont you just love those manuals that state, reassembly is a reversal of the above? .

Tom,

This is a great project, and your process will be very helpful to many of us here on the forum to learn more about the cam tank. Thanks for giving it a go!

Part two re-assembly,
Much easier to put back together than i thought, i have only used a minimum of grease and oil so as not to waste it as this unit is unlikely to be used.
What i may do later is get it back into the old spares machine, it does run all be it a bit rough but it'll interesting to see well i get this unit sorted.

Can anyone reading this spot anything wrong? I'll explain at the end,
Starting with the inching knob and the worm gear drive before moving to the main inner parts. the plate and cam were secured in place by the three screws, then before fitting the claw arm assembly back in place i put a few drops of oil onto the pivot point, i also put some super lube grease onto the cam and plate as well as the cam follower on the claw arm.
Next was to loosely screw the claw arm spring into place, the the lower spring locator was fitted under the plate which was easy but you can certainly feel how much tension there is in this spring. Once fitted i ran a light line of oil through the spring and using a cotton bud, "brushed" a light coat of grease along the spring and at both ends as per images. Then the once the spring was in place i tightened up the top screw. Next was the leaf spring, and again, a drop of grease at both ends and at the securing end, i put a little bit of grease in behind.

If you go by the book, it is recommended that the oil holder / felt is replaced, this one was so dry i didn't want to waste my oil but i did prime it and it did take a fair bit. Bill said to me a awhile ago that if you over do the oil and grease in this unit it can have an opposite effect and cause other problems.
If you look at image 11, the close up of the felt, you will clearly see the area where , if you loosen the screw on the top of the cam tank, swing the plate away, you can drop in some oil which falls directly onto the felt which should keep everything lubricated. As the oil seeps through it will keep that all important outer edge of the cam oiled.
Next was to refit the plate cover and the final pieces were the shutter and spring, along with the pulley and end plate, ensuring to remember nothing is left out, which it wasn't.
Thats it, job done!

So can anyone see anything wrong?
The reason i ask is simply this, when turning the unit by hand, everything seems fine except one vital thing, the claw moves up and down, but unless i'm blind, i cannot see any forward/backward movement. But i can see anything that i have done incorrectly. If i cant figure it out, i will take it apart again and repeat the process.

Hoping someone may know the answer. It's almost there and ready.

Looking at your pictures tom, i can see an eccentric cam that the claw rolls around, and this claw is spring loaded from the from of that arm, the plastic/nylon buttons are pressing against the plate on the rear of the cam, is this plate the wrong way round maybe?, because that's what would allow the claw to move in and out to advance the film through the gate as it spins in sync with claw when timed correctly.

Thanks Paul, that plate is definatly on the correct way, the way its designed, if you put it on the wrong way the three screws wouldn't fit through. The cam when fitted onto the shaft sits in the concave of the plate, (if that makes sense).