[nashou66]

Not sure if many of you know but to get a new bellow for your Marquee LC projector you would need to send the entire tuba assembly back to VDC for a new replacement. they of course would flush out the chamber, clean the C-element and replace and refill your LC housing all at once. i was quoted about 400 . it could be more. A bellow should be a very cheap part but they wont sell to the General public any longer and many of us can do this on our own or know someone who can. So I have found a company that will make new bellows , but start up cost is what needs to be addressed.


They would make a steel mold and it be made exactly as the sample I gave them and with a better material to reduce the sweating and intake of moisture through osmosis if they can find a better material than the 99% silicon material the bellows are now made of. the details of this are on this thread:

Marquee Bellow Quest for new Manufacturer!!


The more people that want bellows the cheaper they would be and aslo

the whole Project can move forward, I need at least 50 commitments(1 bellow) for ti to be feasible and keep cost under 80-100 dollars each.

If your a Marquee LC owner having an extra set of bellow would be a good idea.


I also may have found a cheaper source for original panasonic LUG's

at a discounted Price off VDC's. This person Purchases new CRT's once their units reach 8000 hours( they Run over 100 Marquee LC's). So they get a discouted Price for a volume purchase, they would add in our needed CRT's to there order. I am not sure how much they would be discouted but id say from what he hinted it be near 800-1000 per tube, i'm going to ask him about 700 and see if its with in there cost

so G90,Marquee, and Barco 909

owners might have a new place for new not rebuilt CRT's. One thing I'd probably mention is I dont think they will take responsibility for the tubes

since they are just passing them on to us and probably not making much per tube. Although i am sure they would try to send it back to the original seller

for a replacement, I think its VDC, he wont tell me.


But this thread is to bring awareness to the Bellow situation for the Marquee 9500LC and Vidikron Vision One Projectors.


thanks


Athanasios

Marquee Bellow Quest for new Manufacturer!!

 

[nashou66]

Ok here is the list from Curts site: this is for a price of 50 dollars per bellow.


Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:53 am Post subject:

Ok here is the list:


Nashou66: 6

Galen: 3 maybe more?

CRT_BEN: 6-3 ( I'll Add in 6 since they will be 50 each is this ok Ben?)

CMJhonson 3

Dragnm: 3 (since they will be lees than your 80 i threw you in for an extra one )

J Kildare: 3

K-L-O: 3 ( getting them just for the cause !! Awesome!!!)

DB Cooper: 3 ( For his Girl so he can get some lovin )


Total: 30



Now if we can get the big boys in here like Tim,Curt, and possibly Terry I could let then know this week with the go ahead!!


If we can get up to 100 we can get the cost per bellow to 30 bucks, but i dought we can get it that high i hope to get 50 and then it will be at the break even for the tooling cost. If I hit 60 i will break even for total over all cost.


Athanasios

 

[nashou66]

Dale called me last week and asked if i could drop off the stainless steel metal gasket ring for holding the bellow to the tube face plate. He needed to make sure the screw holes were in the correct place.


So i went to his office and he showed me the cad files and the 3d model of the bellow. Nice work on his part reverse engineering. he then took me for e tour of the plant to show me how they would be made by a three piece press mold

process. Now that i have seen it done to another product they make i understand. they make thousands of parts for almost every industry, they also made the first test O rings for the booster rockets on the space shuttle, and no theirs were not used for the one that exploded, although its Ironic that their prototype actually lasted during more test's than the company Nasa choose to make them, go figure!!


So He said he'd like to send me the model drawings to post here but is afraid I wont commit so i told him to send me a bill of terms and I'll give the first installment. So its Go guys!! I am trying to decide how to do this for ordering or payments. paypal worked great last time for the C-elements. Its just the fee's that piss me off!!! I wish i could take CC #'s to my business account but then it mess up my books for work. So looks like I have to keep the paypal method.


So there would be the paypal fee and this time i will take into account for foreign buyers as there is a higher fee for them.


So lets start getting a list going and I'll post my paypal e-mail and begin collecting and make a list of who has paid and # of bellows ordered. Once the bellows are manufactured i will personally test one on a tube and run it for a few hours to get it warmed up then shut it down and let it sit for a couple weeks before i decide if they are ready for use, i may ask the help of a few reseller here to test them also, id send one first paid shipping then let them report back and begin sending out

the rest. I am not sure how long the whole process will take from collection of funds to manufacturing and final testing.

They would have to schedule the product to be made on the line and they told me if they have lots of work it could be up to 4 weeks.



So lets get this thing going!!!!

Nashou66 at excite . com is the paypal email for those who know they want three bellows at 150 plus add 3%

paypal fees for US and canada and 4% for all other countries.


For individual i posted earlier how much for those i will go back and update that info

here.


Post what you need at the link bellow

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewt...=177499#177499


Athanasios

 

[Prehjan]

I am still stuck in 8 inch ville, otherwise I would join...


I have a lead on a vision one which is local...I m gonna check it out this weekend and if that works out and the seller isn't insane, then I will join in, then all i will have to do is get bellows and change the green then I am in zen mode!


It just makes me wonder how all these non-techie/non-CRT audio/video guys come across 9 inchers for peanuts and try and make a killing selling it to people like us. (...did I say try?)


Martin

 

[nashou66]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Prehjan /forum/post/16027582


I am still stuck in 8 inch ville, otherwise I would join...


I have a lead on a vision one which is local...I m gonna check it out this weekend and if that works out and the seller isn't insane, then I will join in, then all i will have to do is get bellows and change the green then I am in zen mode!


It just makes me wonder how all these non-techie/non-CRT audio/video guys come across 9 inchers for peanuts and try and make a killing selling it to people like us. (...did I say try?)


Martin

thanks Martin !! I hope you get the 9500 !!! I am holding off on my 9500LC conversion of my 8500... I got two 2004 ultra 8500's i will use as is first then i'll swap them to 9 inch tubes i have that large supply, that only needs a VNB mod to have them work.


Athanasios

 

[draganm]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Prehjan /forum/post/16027582


It just makes me wonder how all these non-techie/non-CRT audio/video guys come across 9 inchers for peanuts and try and make a killing selling it to people like us. (...did I say try?)

Martin

I'm not sure what outfit your refering to but most of the overpriced 9" machines come from HT or AV company's. A lot of times they installed the machines new "back in the day" and they seem to use the machine's new price as a reference when they replace them. Price is usually about 3 or 4 times real market value since they are in fact selling them as is.

I picked up a Vision last year for $1500. delivered and it's a mess. All 3 tubes burnt and big leak on blue. Luckilly it leaked on someones couch since it was ceiling mounted but the only really nice part of this thing is the silver case.

Really hoping the Athanasios bellow thing pans out.

 

[Prehjan]

Draganm I agree about the boardroom devices...but lately it seems that the mechanic down the street has a better chance of finding one for free than us which are actually looking for them!!!


Thanks Nashoo


Martin

 

[nashou66]

I made the down payment for the tooling cost's, now we just have to wait.


Athanasios

 

[draganm]



Quote:
Originally Posted by nashou66 /forum/post/16031853


I made the down payment for the tooling cost's, now we just have to wait.


Athanasios

I think the tooling cost is unbelievably good. Even 10 years ago that would have been a $10K mold. If you look at the bellow they're probably hogging out two 10" square chunks of steel. Thank goodness for modern CAD/CAM and high speed CNC machining.

 

[nashou66]



Quote:
Originally Posted by draganm /forum/post/16033604


I think the tooling cost is unbelievably good. Even 10 years ago that would have been a $10K mold. If you look at the bellow they're probably hogging out two 10" square chunks of steel. Thank goodness for modern CAD/CAM and high speed CNC machining.

I think its a great price too, my friend works for mentholatum and i was talking to him about the project. he told me he has a mold for a single disolvable pill

that was to be used for cancor sore's. that single mold was 6,000 !!! I told him

how much mine was and he couldn't believe it, but his was also in stainless steel.


I think 2300 was a great price. I hope i can at least get the investment back.

So far only three have committed so far out of at least 10. Hope i don't have to wait to long, my 0% on the CC ends in september and I still have to make the minimum payments so less disposable income for me till it all comes together.


Athanasios

 

[draganm]



Quote:
Originally Posted by nashou66 /forum/post/16033680


I hope i can at least get the investment back.

So far only three have committed so far out of at least 10. Hope i don't get have t wait to long, my 0% on the CC ends in september and I still have to make the minimum payments so less disposable income for me till it all comes together.

Athanasios

they will sell, and in a reasonable time frame once they're made. It sucks that more people aren't chipping in though but it's typical human nature. If I was in your shoes I would stick to the plan which is to give the pre-payment people the cost + shipping price and everyone who buys after they're made pay whatever VDC charged befoe they started hoarding them. I think that was $150. each

 

[nashou66]

Well there done guys!! woo Hoo!!!

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying Society.~Aristotle

Marquee Bellow Quest for new Manufacturer!!
Marquee Modifications and Performance Enhancement
Marquee C-element and Bellow removal
Marquee Stuff

Athanasios

 

[draganm]

man those things are sexy, all new and shiny, and free of leaks and fungus, and did I mention they're NEW and this is the only place in the WORLD you can buy them

 

[nashou66]

Oh Boy i wonder whats in this Box?

100 Bellows!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who pre ordered i will be boxing them up and weighing them and will send out

paypal requests for shipping in the next coming week.


Thanks to Dale at Apple Rubber for doing a great job reverse engineering these for us !!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


Athanasios

 

[nashou66]

Thanks to all those who pre ordered and got this project rolling!!


the bellows are available here: Marquee Higher performance LC chamber Bellows


thanks again everyone!!!


Athanasios

 

[Gerbrand]

In the start post you mention something about cheap PLUGs. Has there been any movement on that? My tubes are nearing 12000 hours, so I am starting to look for replacements.


Gerbrand

 

[nashou66]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerbrand /forum/post/17285823


In the start post you mention something about cheap PLUGs. Has there been any movement on that? My tubes are nearing 12000 hours, so I am starting to look for replacements.


Gerbrand

What PJ?


Aferg said he'd only get the lower price if 50 or so tubes could be ordered, and that would be when he put an order in for the service company he works for. I am sure that order has been filled. they replace the tubes in the simulators every 5k-8k hours, thats when they order new tubes, the more they order the cheaper they get them as they are made to order from what I understand. I think Thomas makes an LUG for them. So the more he orders the more money he saves his company and also he'd get the HT crowd cheaper tubes too boot !!


I have not talked to Aferg in months so not sure what going on over there.


Athanasios

 

[draganm]

nash the prospect of getting 17 home theatre types to each pitch in $3k to order 50 tubes seems about as likely as the Pope endorsing abortion.

 

[nashou66]



Quote:
Originally Posted by draganm /forum/post/17287117


nash the prospect of getting 17 home theatre types to each pitch in $3k to order 50 tubes seems about as likely as the Pope endorsing abortion.

That is why i never pushed the issue here or with Aferg.


I actually have feeling these are the same tube that Greg Eiseman gets.


Athanasios

 

[Gerbrand]

It wasn't clear to me from the start post that you would also need to order at least 50 tubes to get the discount. I was thinking (hoping...) that they would just order a few extra on top of their regular 300.


If they would cost $ 3k for three tubes, they would not be much cheaper than ordering them from Greg, anyway.


Thanks,


Gerbrand


BTW I have a BG1209s