Advice needed on HMV 32 motor

[snallast]

Hello

Having restored my HMV 460 pretty much, the motor (that I have already cleaned and greased except for the springs since they made no noise) made a strange noise when I cranked it and now only plays 5 seconds til it slows down. What could have happened? Can one spring break and the other continue working a little? It's a problem since it's my everyday recordplayer!

I'm not sure what to do. I watched this video "Rebuilding Victor 2-spring motor": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R9i7zp- ... H-puTcQiwk

And it does'nt look easy. I live in Spain so sending the motor somewhere abroad to be repaired is not something I'd look forward to doing /*damages and lost stuff in mail*.

If I do try to do it myself, which springs should I look for and where? Should I change both of them even if one is still good? I don't know much about the gramophone's history, having bought it about a year ago.

really greatful for advice!!!

[OrthoSean]

Do the springs still have tension as you wind or do you hear a slipping sound? You could have one broken spring, but it's hard to tell by what you've described here. If the springs are holding tension as they should and everything slows down, you might want to be certain you didn't reinstall the governor bearings too tightly, that can cause one of these motors to grind to a halt.

Sean

[snallast]

I've had and used the machine daily for 6 months at least and everything rotates freely even now, governor and so on.

I now wound the motor much harder and yes, it slipped all the way, so one or more springs is definitely either broken or loose. That much is sure. Suppose I should simply open and look. Not having done this before I fear a little for the teeth of the gears should it slip really quickly as there seems to be some tension left although not enough to make the motor turn, so maybe this is no problem?

[snallast]

Well I went ahead and opened it and indeed the top spring was broken. I´ve never heard any thumping noises from the motor so I always thought the springs were recent. They were´nt - the grease was hard as dry clay and these were probably the original springs. It was great to have the video to follow step by step - no way I would have dared do it without it!

Now I´m looking to buy a new spring and probably reuse the one that is´nt broken, after a good cleaning and greasing

[Steve]

Now I´m looking to buy a new spring and probably reuse the one that is´nt broken, after a good cleaning and greasing

I wouldn't do that, if I was you! It's a slightly false economy to buy just the one spring and go through all that effort to refit the one unbroken old spring together with it. In my admittedly limited experience in these matters I've found that doing this causes the old spring to break very soon afterwards! I would therefore advise buying TWO new springs whenever you are tackling a double-spring motor and one spring is already broken. It appears the strength of the new spring overwhelms the existing one causing a similar breakage to the earlier replaced spring?

[snallast]

I thought that may have been the case! Since noone replied anything for awhile I ordered the one spring from Soundgen, but it is´nt too late to order another so I will! Thanks for the advice, this is my first spring-shift.

Any ideas on grease? In the video (american) he refers to american grease (which I can´t get) here in Spain they have an all-purpose grease in the hardware store, looks sort of yellowish-grayish. In the video he also recommends adding some oil in the springbarrel.

[OrthoSean]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but Steve is correct, replace both springs.

As far as grease goes, a good industrial grade heavy duty grease will do. What you've described is probably fine. I've never added oil to a spring barrel when replacing springs, I personally don't think it's necessary.

Sean

[emgcr]

The best grease to use is a Lithium-Moly combination such as Comma CV as recommended for constant velocity joints. The moly (molybdenum disulfide) element is extremely robust with very low friction qualities and forms strong films on metallic surfaces. In the event of catastrophic grease failure, a thin layer of molybdenum prevents contact of the lubricated parts.

This grease is widely available in most countries.

[snallast]

Well thanks for the input and wish me luck! I'm sure for the most part of this forum replacing a couple of springs in a 32 motor is a project that sounds almost boring, but when you do it for the first time...

Anyways here's a pic of the Lumiere after I finished fixing it *it was a total wreck* maybe some of you remember the thread where I was pretty unhappy about having bought it from a Dutch dealer who described it as in "over all good condition" (it had been stored in a damp cellar for 25 years, fungus and all the wood coming apart). Anyway NOW it is in "over all good condition" and what s more, it sounds great!

[emgcr]

Well done---it looks splendid. Any chance of a video to sample the sound ?