"The Danson is actually of Italian design by a firm called SAFAR (Societa Anonima Fabricazione Aparecchi Radiofonici). The original loudspeaker fret had
this moulded in. The original amplifier was based on side contact valves  (never common in the UK). Although the blurb talks of 'English type
valves', I suspect the amplifier pictured is Italian.

At some point in the mid 50s the 'Danson development company' went bust and was bought by Beam-Echo (also responsible for Avantic HiFi gear)
they went over to using a British amplifier based around the Mullard 40 series valves. The panel then has 4 (I think) white control knobs. The
'SAFAR' decal was then removed from the loudspeaker fret. I suspect that the whole projector was still bought in from Italy minus amplifier which
was then added in the UK. The model was then known as the 'Danson 540'

In around 1960 Beam Echo were bought by EMI and shut down. The 540s were being sold off cheap around this time. Danson is supposedly named after a local park."

Paul is a collector with projector and other interests; his website is www.schimmel.webspace.virginmedia.com/

He has also sent copies of 2 ACW pieces on the Danson.

I have been trying to bribe Paul with promises of one of four Dansons currently in my hands (only one being really mine), cos he can do amps and I can't.

We only get a couple of hours on occasional evenings. So far (this is July 2010), we have gotten 1 amp working pretty well, but the projector runs rather

slow.  Paul took the amp from another away with him, as it was doing incomprehensible things, This is the one that's mine, so I have taken the

opportunity to dismantle the mech, to see if I can identify any possible causes for slow running.

And what a can of worms it is. Lets start with two general views of the dis-assembled mech, front and rear, plus two views of a very busted flywheel.

The mech is attached to its casing by four bolts, which can be seen more or less at the corners of the front view. Originally, these bolts were fitted with

rubber mountings, which have disintegrated into a mess of some sticky but mostly brittle gunk, which I have removed. You cab see the stuff had rotted

the paint round the bolts, too. In this view, I have also removed the claw cover, the motor speed control cover, the sound drum and the two-stage

exciter lamp cover, plus the somewhat unsophisticated multi-point oiling system, which feeds just three points, cam and rear claw pivot and flywheel bearing.

Also loose, on the right, is the PEC mounting, to which I shall return. The speed control is an odd item; there is a screw-threaded knob

on the cover for the speed control, and all it can act on is that odd little pivoted thing, here in the "open" position - you get another view of this in a

"closed" position later.

In the rear view, you can see the four odd-shaped blocks on which were mounted the outer bearings for the flywheel and the shutter (this plate also houses the

[cracked] condenser). The flywheel did not want to come off; in the end it broke rather than move. I have included a pic to show what it was like before I

destroyed it, which also reveals the highly-sophisticated multi- (OK, three-) point oiling system (the tube rising alongside the lamphouse joins the little "bath" at the top, which contains a felt pad.

The tubes also seem to contain string wicks).

You should be able to see where the three spokes between the rim and the centre were attached; there are also some pix of the much-traumatised

centre. I'm not really sure what happened. I could understand there being some distortion - it's made of very Mazac-like stuff ( I can see cracks in one of the

other, still intact, flywheels), which would tend to make the flywheel jam on the shaft - but there seem to be spline-like rings round the shaft that might also

have contributed. But this would be daft, as it would make it nigh impossible to remove. And why would you fit TWO securing screws if you had splines and if

 you did not intend it to come off? In the end, I had to  saw/drill/hit the centre of the centre off the shaft, and I am now faced with an interesting repair job.

You can see there were three springs, sort of riveted to the flywheel, which nest into those holes in the big brown gear wheel. I'm not sure I understand

these; the effect in situ is to give the flywheel about 0.25 inch springy movement either way relative to the gear wheel, so I suppose it gives a bit of

damping as the flywheel is started from scratch. But it must also act when it stops........ I need to think about it.

You will notice that, through all of this, the main drive belt remains in place. I suppose part of my plan was to try to replace it, on the grounds that it

had probably stretched and would cause reduced speed. However, to get the belt off I had to go even further; I had to prise off the mini bearing on the

shutter shaft, because the big gear wheel simply would not come off else. Then I had to remove the speed control/governor unit (the screw has a LEFT

hand thread) and the brushes underneath, remove all four screws securing the motor to the main mech plate and finally disconnect one of

the wires from the motor to the speed control/governor brushes. Then, and only then, could I remove the belt. This is insane. What an

appalling piece of design. (left is the machine fully disassembled for belt removal). All right, there have to be compromises to squeeze

everything into such a small casing, but to have to virtually completely dismantle the thing to change a belt! Actually, the belt on this

one is still in very good shape (it's a solid, fabric-reinforced flat-bottomed V,) but it cannot but be a bit on the loose side.

I've found a round rubber belt of about the same size, but to try it I shall have to virtually re-build the projector. What fun - not.

Here are close-ups of that speed control thingy in open and closed positions, then a view of the exciter lamp covers (basically the inner cover holds the lamp

down against a sprung contact and the outer cover is secured to this by a ring nut rather like those used for panel-mount switches). Then we come to the PEC.

What you see here is the base of a PEC of the type fitted to the Debrie D16, ie with a modern thin-pin valve base. The highly sophisticated connections are

tiny thin strips of brass , folded over, with two tiny holes each for the valve pins to pass thru. Alignment to the exciter seems to be by guess. There should be some

kind of cushioning pad at the head of the PEC and presumably round the PEC to hold it. In fact, it looks like what we have is a nasty rubbery mess. (I discovered I

had maligned it; very good bits of rubber, in fact).  In order to insert the PEC into its housing, you have to pull the wires up through that channel they're in,

to give enough slack to manoeuvre. While you do this, the connections come off because you are twisting and straining them. Another shocking piece of "design",

if one can call it that.

Just a couple of general close-ups; note the prism rather than a mirror; then the sound drum housing and the drum itself. The film retainers are a very close fit;

they have a slot in them to accommodate the sprocket teeth. The final pic is a blow-up from the pic at the top of the page showing this part of the machine

(not the same one, tho') with everything actually in place.

I'm off to make a new flywheel.

And here it is.

I should explain that I had to hand a round piece of aluminium, with a hole in the middle, a failure from a motor end-cap attempt. What I did was to cut out

the inside of the old flywheel to match, leaving a "shelf" approx the depth of the original 3-piece "web" of the flywheel. The new centre then sits on this shelf,

as in pic 1 above. I had to drill holes thru the circumference of the flywheel into the new centre, to take screws to ensure it was held rigidly together. You can

just see two of the four holes - the screws are sunk in below the surface. Then I had to fit a new core, as the hole I already had was way too big. Basically,

I just took a slightly oversize bit of alu rod and forced it in. I did much the same with the three pins that locate the springs on the other side of the flywheel.

The new core carries the screws to secure the flywheel to the shaft, so I had to cut away the inside of the new centre to make room. I also cut channels to

make screwdriver access easier. I can tell you it took a bit longer to make the flywheel than it has to write about it - I mite with hindsight have been better

off just making a complete new one.

I am now in the process of reassembly, but can't get very far until Paul has seen to the amp. I'm trying to fix up yet another Danson now I've sorted the flywheel

problem. If only I could get the amp to work, I could test it in the one with the repaired flywheel. But I can't.

Actually, that's not strictly correct. I do, of course, have a working amp from the first projector we worked on. Sound was OK but proj was definitely slow.

Put it in with my re-belted mech and Whizzo! Bags of speed - had to crank it down a good bit - and volume, much of it achieved, interestingly, by turning up

the tone control, which had more impact than I am used to finding. Only problem is the mech is making a rhythmic noise. I did notice the shutter was scraping a

bit when I had it apart. I am not sure I want to go back in and look any further, as I have no plan for extended use.
So now we know:-

a)  the amps can work well;
b)  the speed problem is probably the belt;  the one I replaced is fine in terms of rot/durability,

but appears to have stiffened up and has slight kinks/bends in it. I think these two factors, plus

maybe a bit stretching, account for the low speed achieved;
c)  replacing the belt is likely to mean replacing the flywheel, too.