Planetarium Destroyed

[JustBob]

I was drawn to this site by a discussion about a Spitz Star Projector on a lift or elevator crashing into the covers. What I am seeking are similar to hens teeth. I live in Roswell, New Mexico, and a few weeks back we had a flash flood that destroyed the Roswell Art Museum and the Roswell Planetarium. I have been working to try to activate the elevator for the Spitz A4 Star Projector to raise it out of the pit. The museum would like to dismount the A4 and store it for now. All the control electronics are gone, so all I have to work with is the lift mechanism. I have had no luck at all finding any information on the elevator. The water that entered the planetarium was full of adobe clay, common here, and it has coated everything at the bottom of the pit. Everything is a light tan color, so it is very difficult to determine what is what.

There is a bundle of cables that ascend from the bottom of the pit and some of them are directed through a hole on the side of the pit and appear to exit in a hole in the floor about 15 feet away from the pit. Several of the cables terminate at a terminal board bolted to the elevator frame at the top. The Tambour door motor is connected to this terminal board. I am hoping that the lift motor is terminated here too. Because I cannot locate any schematics, wiring diagrams or even a point to point wiring list or any other documentation for the lift (elevator), I cannot identify the motor cable. The coating of adobe clay is not helping either.

What I need is to know is: 1. Where the lift motor is physically located, and what it looks like, 2. where the lift motor cables might be routed in the pit, 3. and, can the motor cables be accessed at the terminal board, or in the hole in the floor.? Any information that can aide in raising the projector will be greatly appreciated. I have attached 4 photos of the bottom of the lift in the Pit, showing adobe coated components.

Please excuse the intrusion if this is not a topic that should be discussed on this site. Thank you, Bob

[laserist]

contact Ash Enterprises.

www.ash-enterprises.com

They do service on lots of the old Spitz projectors. As you can see it's a chain lift. There are limit switches in one of your photos - all gunked up. I doubt you can get it working, but if you can hook onto the sub structure (in multiple places), you should be able to pull it up...

[lasermaster1977]

laserist has a good suggestion for ash enterprises.

I know there were similarities between the earlier Spitz A4 and the Spitz 512 elevator story I posted here, the primary difference being that the 512 updated to using digital control signals that enabled pre-programmed motion sequences. The 512 did use a chain and sprocket elevator lift mechanism, that I remember. I think the 512 main sprocket drive motor was mounted directly under the cylindrical base but that's been close to 50 years ago and the planetarium I was at had all the Spitz manuals/schematics etc..

The one photo of yours shows a side idler sprocket with the chain coming from under the cylindrical base, under the sprocket and around it by 90 degrees. I seemed to recall the chain, once routed vertically around the side idler sprocket sat in a vertical u-shaped chain guide channel. The u-shaped chain guide channel was affixed at the bottom of the pit at one end and the projector steel or aluminum frame assembly that the base shroud encased at the top end. The chain and chain guide channel terminated at the top of the projector frame that sat over the pit.

Warning: this is a vague recollection that is my memory of the 512 elevator!
If the top chain anchors points are loosened and removed so the chain doesn't encage any of the side idler sprockets, the the projector and it's cylindrical base should be able to be lifted, as laserist suggested, by hooking on to the base sub-structure in multiple places to lift it up. The projector's base guide bushings should then slide up their steel guide poles with them being the main friction of movement.

I think there may have been a gear-reduction box before the main drive sprocket that the elevator motor turned but honestly I wouldn't swear to it.

Best wishes and I hope you achieve success.

[JustBob]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. We have made some headway at least by gathering information. Essentially all I have to work with is the elevator motor, and a hidden cable from that motor to some location at the top of the elevator, or in a cable run through a pipe in the concrete floor. I recently was sent scans of some of the documentation for the A4 which shows the elevator control circuitry, but does not specify what cable it used to supply the motor power. There was mention of an 8 conductor cable that was used for the elevator and limit switches, so we will be looking for that. The last resort is to attempt to pull the whole thing out of the pit if we cannot use the motor to lift it. WE will be the limit switches, by eye, if it can be powered to move upward, as all the circuitry that made sure it moved up and down without incident is gone.

Disconnecting the chains is a method we had not considered, so that might be a way to raise it. Thanks again, Bob (or JustBob)

[lasermaster1977]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. We have made some headway at least by gathering information. Essentially all I have to work with is the elevator motor, and a hidden cable from that motor to some location at the top of the elevator, or in a cable run through a pipe in the concrete floor. I recently was sent scans of some of the documentation for the A4 which shows the elevator control circuitry, but does not specify what cable it used to supply the motor power. There was mention of an 8 conductor cable that was used for the elevator and limit switches, so we will be looking for that. The last resort is to attempt to pull the whole thing out of the pit if we cannot use the motor to lift it. WE will be the limit switches, by eye, if it can be powered to move upward, as all the circuitry that made sure it moved up and down without incident is gone.

Disconnecting the chains is a method we had not considered, so that might be a way to raise it. Thanks again, Bob (or JustBob)

Please let us know how things turned out for raising the star projector.