Don’t Try To Fix Stuff Unless You Know How

So last week I found this super cool vintage film projector made in the late 1940's... an "Ampro Stylist 16mm". I purchased it at St. Vincent's Thrift Store at Montana and 27th Street for just $20. I was pretty excited when I plugged it in as all the vacuum tubes lit up. Then I turned the switched to engage the motor and nothing happened. I found a repair manual online and I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon disassembling the thing. After I already had it half apart I came to the part of the manual that shows where the motor is located and it's associated parts. Then I had that Eureka moment... the motor was missing altogether. I looked online for a motor to one of these but the projectors are hard to find and parts are even harder to find.

I wanted to get it working because I thought it would be fun to have friends over and we could all watch black & white B-Movies from that era... new plan, sell the parts individually (such as the front control panel pictured below). I figure if I'm having that much trouble finding parts then someone who owns one would have just as much trouble. Over time I think I can recoup my $20 times five or better.