Thread: We Have Skills Too !!

Hey John, that paddle looks Great, Nice Job Man. A friend told me how to make the thread holes so they are not fuzzy from the drill bit, take a high speed drill motor or press and mark the holes with a stitch spacing wheel, then use some brass rod to push through, makes smooth little holes. Helped me a lot.

A diamond cross section awl, available from Tandy Leather,is all that is needed. It makes a very clean hole without removing leather

Originally Posted by FAL

Hey John, that paddle looks Great, Nice Job Man. A friend told me how to make the thread holes so they are not fuzzy from the drill bit, take a high speed drill motor or press and mark the holes with a stitch spacing wheel, then use some brass rod to push through, makes smooth little holes. Helped me a lot.

So, I'm thinking and 3/32"" hollow brass rod would work. I actually have some of those. I use them (sometimes) to sleeve straight razor blades that have become wobbly and will not remain stationary after a re-pin. The hole in the blade has been rounded out. Then when you use a 1/16" brass rod to re-pin the blade to the scales, it's nice and tight. Leather working and straight razor reconditioning has many similarities. Many Thanks!

More Than Welcome John, I am student and teacher here, most guys here have more than a few talents to share.
Sounds like a solid method for re-pinning, might give it a try.

Well I finally decided to stop procrastinating and go through the 500+ slide of my dads. I think most of them are of my younger brothers wrestling back in the mid to late 70's. As I recall none are too good but I need to go through them to make sure there's nothing to keep. They are on the classic Carousel round trays, so I dug out my Carousel Projector and got everything set up.

I was about 1/2 through the first tray when the slides stopped advancing, I tried reverse same crap. So I opened it up and was looking around and a tiny piece of plastic dropped out. Well, something was broken but I couldn't find it so off to the web I went. I found a guy at FleaBay who sells parts with pictured instructions for repairing the Carousels and their cousins.

It seems that the most common problem is the 'Solenoid Link' breaks and he had a repair kit to fix it for $15 and $4 shipping so I ordered it. Before I got a notice of purchase from FleaBay and PayPal I got an email from the seller letting me know that he also had a 'Preventative Maintenance Kit' for about $7 more, he also had replacement lamps for $12 ea or 2 for $20 all at no additional shipping.

I bought the maintenance kit but sine my lamp was working I declined on one.

He's in CT and I had the parts and instruction manuals in three days so I read and re-read the one on how to replace the link, once I thought I fully understood the procedure I started in. Dissasembly went fine, I kept some notes and kept the screws in very small ziplock bags. Looking back I should have taken some pictures but oh well.

There's not much room to work and I'm glad that my hands aren't any bigger. Once the solenoid was out, replacement was a breeze. Reassembly took a bit. I finally took a picture and outlined where I was having trouble getting the plate remounted so I could connect the solenoid to it. The seller quickly responded saying that yes it was a tight fit but that's where it came out of.

Well I was reaching the point where brute force and ignorance was about to step in so I said F. I and left it till the next morning. It took me around two hours before I finally got it put back together and it was working just like new. So I read and re-read the instructions for the maintenance (which was some specialty oil and grease) and lubed everything up.

So I cleaned and reinstalled the focus lens, and other lenses and reinstalled the lamp, installed the power cord and the remote cord, inserted a tray of slides and turned it on.

The frigging bulb burned out!!

So I contacted the seller told him of my situation and had him bill me for and mail me two lights. They should be here on Tuesday and I can go back to work.

I just thought that I'd let anyone who has an old Carousel Projector that they can be brought back to life thanks to the seller.

Here's the link to get the Basic Repair Kit:

Kodak Carousel Projector "Advance" Repair Kit Manual Focus | eBay

While the parts and lubes aren't all that trick what you are paying for is the man's knowledge, the pictured step by step manuals.

And It's Well Worth The Money!!

Roy , they make devices that will digitize those slides for you,,, that way the images last for forever. There are even cheap printers that have a slide attachment for the flat bed scanner side. It has been years since I saw these devices. I don't have slides myself, but I have digitized well over 10,000 family photos.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Roy , they make devices that will digitize those slides for you,,, that way the images last for forever. There are even cheap printers that have a slide attachment for the flat bed scanner side. It has been years since I saw these devices. I don't have slides myself, but I have digitized well over 10,000 family photos.

John, thanks for the info

I know that they make such things and there are some websites that I've found that have a reasonable fee for doing the slides, however I have to find which slides I want to keep. That's why I need a functioning slide projector. As I said most of what I saw before the projector broke weren't worth keeping.

I also have many of my grandfather's slides his Early 1960's Ansco Regent Projector broke after only a couple of slides and I'm not going to bother trying to fix it, I'll just transfer his slides to the Carousels Trays. I have been looking at some of grandpa's slides with a loop and a bright white background and there are pictures of my mom and dad's wedding that I've never seen before.

My oldest daughter is going to help me digitalis some family pictures, I have so many but who is who can't be ID'd as everyone who knew can't be asked anymore.

My Avatar is my Grandfather on my Dad's side. Watson Audley Davis. He's the only grandparent I wasn't a Pall Bearer for as he died 4 months before I was born.

It's been said that 'Nothing Lasts Forever' and that's is probably true with things that have been digitalised Kodak used to say that with proper storage Kodachrome Slides would last 10 thousand years. I can't say if they will but I know that some have lasted 64 years as mom and dad married in 1952.

I think once a photo becomes digital, the image will last as long there is a device to view them. Unlike actual paper photos that fade away over time & slides that will eventually degrade to dust size particles.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I think once a photo becomes digital, the image will last as long there is a device to view them. Unlike actual paper photos that fade away over time & slides that will eventually degrade to dust size particles.

I fully agree about the paper and slides however I think the key words are: as long there is a device to view them I would hope that mankind would think enough of it's history to continue to be able to transfer the digital picture files to a more modern format. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I once read about a guy who was trying to digitalise Every Book on the planet to save them for future generations. Talk about a project!

I remember when I was a kid (about 50 years ago) viewing pictures on a Kodak carousel slide viewer. I really had some great memories as I think back to those days. I hope you can get your projector fixed Roy.