Remember my dad's old movie projector from the 70s. Found it in the basement, all tangled up with film that looked like spaghetti. Took a whole afternoon just to get one cartoon to play without the film jamming up. That weird whirring sound when it finally worked was pure magic.
Yeah, that whirring sound is the best part. I had the same thing with my uncle's old slide projector. The film kept getting stuck and I almost gave up. What worked for me was using a soft cloth with a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on the film gate, just to clean off any old gunk. Letting the film sit out to warm up a bit first seemed to help too, made it less brittle. That first clear picture felt like such a win.
Man, that reminds me of my grandpa's old tube radio. Spent a weekend trying to get it working, cleaning all the dust out of the back. When I finally turned it on, the dial lit up this warm orange color. Tuning the dial felt so heavy and solid. Found some weird station playing old timey music, it was like a time machine.