In case anyone else runs across a similar issue, Samy's in Culver City will send these out for repair. They charge only $17.50 for mailing costs and will call with a price for repair after their off site repair determines what is wrong and repair cost. One can opt not to repair if the cost is deemed to be too high. So, essentially, $ 17.50 to diagnosis the issue and get a repair price. Not bad. I was told in calling around it's most likely that a the assembly will need replacing - being told that's a very common issue with this old projectors. Expect that to run $ 150-200. Dean's Camera Repair in the So. Bay will also repair, but quoted $ 150 to just replace the assembly. If any other pieces have worn out/broken, that's additional.
These are selling on E-bay for a minimum of $ 100 (which you include shipping), but from third-parties, so one may very likely be facing the same repair issues once received or in the near future given the age of these machines. The only way to avoid that is buy from a store that is selling the projector and has already replaced all necessary worn out/broken parts...though when I've seen those available, these projectors run $ 200 approx. Otherwise, you're back to square one. So it comes down to whether you enjoy viewing slides on a projector and, if so, it may be worth another $ 150 to $ 200 investment to get the projector back up and working again.
If anyone has any other suggestions for a local repair shop in and around the South Bay area of Redondo, please let me know. It would be great to find a local store with lower repair costs.
