Restoration of a HMV 109
Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:30 am
I decided to upload photos and descriptions from my current restoration work of my newly aqcuired HMV 109, to show some challenges one can meet. As some on the forum may remember, I was during the summer close to buy a different HMV109, with a reddish finish, and also with replaced plastic door knobs, at at a price of around 90 Euro, excluded shipping, but after advice from fellow forum members it was suggested I would wait for a different 109. And this was a good advice, of course. Three weeks ago, this 109 showed up, in my neighboorhood, and despite its flaws, I after three weeks made an offer, since the seller was unable to sell it, and I finally got it for 50 euro, and collected it last weekend. The only flaws I was aware of when purchasing it, was the broken hinge lid, and the broken veneer parts on the door, apart from that, the gramophone looked nice to me, and also the no 4 soundbox has no rust, no broken mica, and the rubber gasket also look good. In general the soundbox and complete machine, looked good to my eyes.
I am uploading a bunch of photos, showing the exterior and interior of the HMV 109, hopefully it also can be of use for someone else heading for a similar task in the future. Before starting this restoration, I had only serviced 4 gramophones during the last few weeks, 3 x HMV 101, with single spring barrells, and one Victrola VV-XI-A, with a double spring barrell.
When opening the HMV 109, I realized quickly that the HMV 32 motor inside the 109, have much in common with the motor found in the Victrola VV-XI-A. There is however one aspect of the motor, that I want to ask for help on:
When opening the double main spring barrell on the Victrola, the top spring was running clock wise, but on the HMV 32 motor, the top spring is running anti clockwise! This confuses me a lot at the time of writing. I would have expected the springs to be similar positioned as the springs on the Victrola, to allow the turntable to run in the correct clockwise direction? I will not open the Victrola again to compare the two motors side by side, but can someone answer this question for me?
I met another challenge when yesterday removing the double springs, when I realized the rivet belonging to the top spring was broken, or better, the plate holding the rivet, since the hook/rivet obviously had been replaced in the past, now was broken off. I quickly saw that the replaced rivet had been inserted in a way that put a big stress on it, and because of it probably had broken quickly after being installed. For installing it, a new hole also had been drilled through the spring barrell. The broken hook may very well have been the reason why the gramophone had not been in use for decades. The current owner, in his late 60’s said he had never used it, but inherited it from his grandparents, who had stored it since his childhood, but also he had never seen them use the gramophone. There was one disc on top of the gramophone, and the Columbia label was all yellow, while turning the disc over, it had the normal greel color. I guess the gramophone may have been stored for maybe 60-70 years, without being in use.
Inside the gramophone I found around 200 needles, scattered all over the place, and many in the corners around the doors, which also have caused the door to have some breakages. I have tried to fill the holes with Liberon wood filler, but it did not work well, being too soft, and also falling out. I have now ordered a different wood filler, that I hope will work.
I would have preferred to remove the doors completely before working on them, but after disassembling the gramophone completely, I am still not able to remove the doors, without tearing apart the wooden case, something that I don’t want to do, risking ruining the frame.
The lid hinge was from the start my biggest challenge as I saw it, believing I had to search for a new hinge, but the broken hinge part was luckily not lost, it fell on the floor when I turned the gramophone in my lap, and I will now form a thin layer of metal under approximately 50% of the metal hinge that is attached to the wooden box , and glue it under the current lid after gently carving out a few millimeters of wood from the submerged area on the lid meant for the hinge, to make it even.
The woodwork itself looks good on the gramophone, and the decal is lovely. The motor also looks good, but I have to repair the spring case. At first I was unsure how to do it, but after googling a bit, and also finding a youtube video showing how to make a new hook inside a clock spring barrell, I will try to make a new rivet/hook inside the barrell. At first I felt this maybe was a metal work where applying heat was necessary, but I now understand it is cold metal work, and that I after careful measurements, need to fasten the new metal screw by peening the screw on the outside of the barrell, a work that I have never tried out before, but will be interesting to try. I am learning by trying and failing, since I am absolutely not a craftsman, but the fact that I have been able to service and grease up some springs now, give me confidence. I will post photos of the barrell, if I am able to fasten a new rivet/hook. As one can see from the photos the spring used inside this barrell is not fastened by a tear drop hole in the spring, but instead by a hook. On the bottom of the barrel lies the broken plate that was uses as a hook for the upper spring, I yesterday evening drilled the screw out of the barrell, to remove this broken plate, actually the plate as it looks now had been used as an attachment point for the spring, without being curved like the hook for the upper spring, and it of course had put a too big stress on the point.
I guess this is it for now, I am attaching a lot of photos, showing the gramophone from both the inside and outside.
It wuill for sure also be interesting to read if someone can explain a bit more about the direction of the two springs, compared to the Victrola springs!
I am uploading a bunch of photos, showing the exterior and interior of the HMV 109, hopefully it also can be of use for someone else heading for a similar task in the future. Before starting this restoration, I had only serviced 4 gramophones during the last few weeks, 3 x HMV 101, with single spring barrells, and one Victrola VV-XI-A, with a double spring barrell.
When opening the HMV 109, I realized quickly that the HMV 32 motor inside the 109, have much in common with the motor found in the Victrola VV-XI-A. There is however one aspect of the motor, that I want to ask for help on:
When opening the double main spring barrell on the Victrola, the top spring was running clock wise, but on the HMV 32 motor, the top spring is running anti clockwise! This confuses me a lot at the time of writing. I would have expected the springs to be similar positioned as the springs on the Victrola, to allow the turntable to run in the correct clockwise direction? I will not open the Victrola again to compare the two motors side by side, but can someone answer this question for me?
I met another challenge when yesterday removing the double springs, when I realized the rivet belonging to the top spring was broken, or better, the plate holding the rivet, since the hook/rivet obviously had been replaced in the past, now was broken off. I quickly saw that the replaced rivet had been inserted in a way that put a big stress on it, and because of it probably had broken quickly after being installed. For installing it, a new hole also had been drilled through the spring barrell. The broken hook may very well have been the reason why the gramophone had not been in use for decades. The current owner, in his late 60’s said he had never used it, but inherited it from his grandparents, who had stored it since his childhood, but also he had never seen them use the gramophone. There was one disc on top of the gramophone, and the Columbia label was all yellow, while turning the disc over, it had the normal greel color. I guess the gramophone may have been stored for maybe 60-70 years, without being in use.
Inside the gramophone I found around 200 needles, scattered all over the place, and many in the corners around the doors, which also have caused the door to have some breakages. I have tried to fill the holes with Liberon wood filler, but it did not work well, being too soft, and also falling out. I have now ordered a different wood filler, that I hope will work.
I would have preferred to remove the doors completely before working on them, but after disassembling the gramophone completely, I am still not able to remove the doors, without tearing apart the wooden case, something that I don’t want to do, risking ruining the frame.
The lid hinge was from the start my biggest challenge as I saw it, believing I had to search for a new hinge, but the broken hinge part was luckily not lost, it fell on the floor when I turned the gramophone in my lap, and I will now form a thin layer of metal under approximately 50% of the metal hinge that is attached to the wooden box , and glue it under the current lid after gently carving out a few millimeters of wood from the submerged area on the lid meant for the hinge, to make it even.
The woodwork itself looks good on the gramophone, and the decal is lovely. The motor also looks good, but I have to repair the spring case. At first I was unsure how to do it, but after googling a bit, and also finding a youtube video showing how to make a new hook inside a clock spring barrell, I will try to make a new rivet/hook inside the barrell. At first I felt this maybe was a metal work where applying heat was necessary, but I now understand it is cold metal work, and that I after careful measurements, need to fasten the new metal screw by peening the screw on the outside of the barrell, a work that I have never tried out before, but will be interesting to try. I am learning by trying and failing, since I am absolutely not a craftsman, but the fact that I have been able to service and grease up some springs now, give me confidence. I will post photos of the barrell, if I am able to fasten a new rivet/hook. As one can see from the photos the spring used inside this barrell is not fastened by a tear drop hole in the spring, but instead by a hook. On the bottom of the barrel lies the broken plate that was uses as a hook for the upper spring, I yesterday evening drilled the screw out of the barrell, to remove this broken plate, actually the plate as it looks now had been used as an attachment point for the spring, without being curved like the hook for the upper spring, and it of course had put a too big stress on the point.
I guess this is it for now, I am attaching a lot of photos, showing the gramophone from both the inside and outside.
It wuill for sure also be interesting to read if someone can explain a bit more about the direction of the two springs, compared to the Victrola springs!