Hi. I wonder if any of you would be able to offer advice on 3D printing something to make my film shows that much better. A brief overview of what I’m about and what I’m trying to achieve and your thoughts on whether it’s at all possible using 3D Printing?
I love to shoot 16mm cine film. Usually negative film that ends up after being scanned as a digital file on a computer but I also love to shoot reversal film where you get a positive image back after processing (like slide film) that you can project on a 16mm projector (old school). I usually shoot holidays, trips out and family occasions on reversal film to project (it’s a bit of a family tradition).
I have a wind up point and shoot Bolex 16mm camera and a while ago i got it converted from Regular
16mm to Super 16mm film. For those who are not film buffs all 16mm equipment was originally designed to shoot Regular 16mm film where there are perforations both sides of the film and the cameras, lenses and optics are all designed to write a 4:3 Aspect ratio image onto the film.
That was all turned on its head when there was demand for lower priced widescreen cameras and the
Super 16mm format was born. By permanently getting rid of 1 sides perforations or soundtrack meant the picture area could increase in size and be more rectangular and have an aspect ratio very close to 16:9. Basically a better use of the format making more use of the film for the picture. Here’s Wikipedia for a screenshot of the differences:-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/16mm_and_super16.png
I have a 16mm Bell and Howell Projector made in Chicago Illinois in the good old USA given to me by my dad who was given it as a retirement present in the very late 80s. Its immaculate and hardly run any film. Just as with all 16mm cameras all projectors were manufactured to show standard 16mm film as all film would come one side with perforations and the other with a soundtrack so would only project a 4:3 picture area off the film.
Having had my camera opened up to capture the extra picture area I’d like my projector to project it and not crop it out. So in effect I just need to widen the projectors gate. I have got various people to try and take a regular 16mm gate from a donor B&H projector (usually a butchered sold for parts type) and open it up in there metal shop but it is such a small area to be working on that even the ones that have been successful in opening the gate and not causing the film to scratch when running through it usually cannot expand the frame line straight. Any waver in their hand while making the change is magnified x200-300 times depending on screen size. In a word i get a bigger picture in a very dodgy looking frame.
The beauty of getting the Bell and Howell projectors modified is that there are so many of them out there and I think from the 70’s onward they all had the same type of gate. The other great benefit I’ve found is that the original projector lenses that come with them (certainly mine) project the extra picture area without any problem. It’s as if they thought this wonderful idea would come 2 decades later 
Is there a service that could take my Regular 16mm gate parts and laser scan them and then extend the frame size in there model to match the Super16mm format and then 3D print them?
Some things to note:-
The projector housing gets very warm when running with a 250W bulb so if this was designed in plastic
would the plastic used by 3D printers be capable of standing up to the boiling hot temperature produced without melting? Also the plastic would have to be very smooth so as not to scratch the film. Could this be done in metal if not and at what cost?
Best Regards
