Single frame advance on an Elmo ST-180 projector?

[Patrick]

Just wondering if anyone knew a way to advance a film frame by frame in an Elmo ST-180 projector? And if so, would the shutter blades move accordingly, just like when it's running at 18 / 24fps? For example, when a frame lands in the gate, after advancing the film frame by frame, would the shutter be completely out of the way? Yes, I know that if the original globe was still in place, the film would be burnt. I'm thinking of replacing the lamp with an extremely low wattage light source.

[carllooper]

I just replaced a projector's motor with a stepper motor, using software to drive it at whatever rate one likes, and stop/start it at any position one likes.
While not an Elmo ST-180, most projectors can be adapted in a similar way, and I imagine the ST-180 would be no different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx8-vBzieKc

[Patrick]

I just replaced a projector's motor with a stepper motor, using software to drive it at whatever rate one likes, and stop/start it at any position one likes.
While not an Elmo ST-180, most projectors can be adapted in a similar way, and I imagine the ST-180 would be no different.

Ah cool thankyou. I'll have to read a bit more about stepper motors. It looked pretty versatile from that youtube link. So I suppose, if I wanted to, I could command it to advance just a single frame, have a rest and then advance another frame rather than let it run at a specified frame rate? You probably have guessed by now but I'm considering doing transfers with such a set up. I was planning on doing something similar a few years ago but I abandoned the project. I'm now thinking of a more simplified approach and since I have a digital camera with interchangeable lenses these days, it might be a bit easier in some ways.

With the Elmo ST-180, I was still planning on using that to project films. If I was to install a stepper motor, I think I would prefer to use another projector. Though nice thing about the Elmo projectors in general is that the lens can be swung out to the side, providing clearance for a digital stills or video camera to get in close with an appropriate lens. I guess I could always look out for another Elmo projector.

[carllooper]

Ah cool thankyou. I'll have to read a bit more about stepper motors. It looked pretty versatile from that youtube link. So I suppose, if I wanted to, I could command it to advance just a single frame, have a rest and then advance another frame rather than let it run at a specified frame rate? You probably have guessed by now but I'm considering doing transfers with such a set up. I was planning on doing something similar a few years ago but I abandoned the project. I'm now thinking of a more simplified approach and since I have a digital camera with interchangeable lenses these days, it might be a bit easier in some ways.

With the Elmo ST-180, I was still planning on using that to project films. If I was to install a stepper motor, I think I would prefer to use another projector. Though nice thing about the Elmo projectors in general is that the lens can be swung out to the side, providing clearance for a digital stills or video camera to get in close with an appropriate lens. I guess I could always look out for another Elmo projector.

Yes, it's for Super8 transfers that I did the mod to my projector. I ended up getting three of these projectors (Elmo K-100 SM) - the first one I got for modifying, the second for just projecting films (no mod), and the third was just given to me by a friend and just happened to be coincidentally the same model as the previous two.

The stepper motor is great because one can just get it to advance a single frame, and then stay put for however long one likes, before advancing it another frame. Having it stay put means one can have exposure time as long as one likes. My first exposures were about 30 seconds long - due to a very dim light, and very small iris on the camera, at a very low ASA - plus the data transfer time was slow (for 5K uncompressed captures). I've since brought this turn over time down to 3 seconds per frame - most of that time being data transfer time.

C