super 8 synchronizers

[filmjockey]

Anyone know the purpose of the guide roller that seems to be common to all super 8 syncs... both HFC and Magnasync... the roller that's kind of "outboard" to the right, attached to a cutout piece of plexiglas? It's unique to super 8 synchronizers... no other format has it.

Does it have anything to do with motorizing the syncs and guiding the film while its being driven at a constant speed? Just a guess. They're engineered pretty carefully, attached to clear plexi so the frame-indicator is still visible when the keeper roller arm is locked in place over the sprocket. (I'd add an image file of the HFC 2-gang I just bought off eBay, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet in the forum.) There are several Magnasync images in the mondofoto visual library.
Thanks,
Michael

[Wade]

Hmmm....my Magnasync doesn't seem to have such a thing. Perhaps it is part of a sound reader where a tape head picks up the sound at the sync mark?

[sciolist]

I think the item you describe is a "sync block roller outrigger". These were listed in the Super 8 Sound Catalog of 1975.

"Super 8 Sound's unique roller outriggers lift the film cleanly away from the sprocket teeth so that it is not scratched and hold it in the guide rollers straight over the sprocket wheel. Film can usually be lowered back into place with one hand instead of fumbling with two hands to pick it out of the space next to the sprocket wheel. You must order these outriggers with the sync block as they are custom-fitted to provide accurate alignment of all the rollers. You need one outrigger for each gang of the synchronizer."

In the Super 8 Sound price list of 1 April 1977 a Moviola two-gang synchronizer with roller outriggers is priced at $165.00. The same synchronizer without the outriggers is priced at $145.00. The HFC synchronizer isn't shown in that price list.

[filmjockey]

Thank you. The outriggers on the HFC sync I just bought have a certain hand-made flavor to them -- the plexiglas is slightly uneven on the edges as if each were made by hand with a band saw and then polished somewhat. Nice how the outrigged roller is attached to the plastic, though. On closer inspection of the photo in the mondofoto visual encyclopedia, there are no outriggers on the HFC sync pictured there. It's listed in the mondofoto index as "Moviola 4-gang sync," although the distinctive HFC serial number plate is clearly visible in the shot. In fact it's the only "Moviola" item in the index.

Thanks again for the info.
Michael

[filmjockey]

Wade, thanks for your reply -- for me one of the cool things about super 8 is the mystery of 30 year old stuff and the solutions dreamed up to work around the barriers of a tiny medium. A fun "lens" to view human ingenuity. This eBay sync has one further mystery, which is scribed index markers on the plexiglas cutouts that line up, 5 (I think) frames apart from each other, to the marks on the circular frame-indicator wheel on the sprocket. Hm. Sound offset? Go figure. And with eBay purchases you often have the fun of speculating how weird abuse marks got on the equipment, like, what were they doing, pounding nails with this? On the wheel in front that you spin to contol the sprocket drive, there are lovely deep gouges in the aluminum -- ah the mystery of it all.

[Jim Carlile]

If you've ever tried to double-system edit super 8, you know what happened. They threw it against the wall.