Producing a Reproduction Clark Johnson Reproducer-Berliner

[edisonclassm]

Please try to keep track of the hours you spend on this project and report back on this when completed.Thanks

[JerryVan]

Jerry, thank you for your help. That makes the diameter of the front cover the same as the diameter of an early Victor Concert reproducer. I will adjust my models and drawings. I was a little off in my scaling of photos. I don't know if these reproducers were all the same, but it is nice to have dimensions taken from the real thing.

Thanks again

No problem. Glad to help.

[Django]

I had the day off, so I finished the reproducer. It sounds good. It is made from modern materials and has no stampings, but I am happy with it and it sounds good. The diaphragm is from a Columbia Eagle cylinder reproducer and the gaskets are from an Edison C. The thumb screw is Victrola #2. The diameters of the plate and body are both .0625 larger that standard. The screws are from a period correct typewriter.

Please forgive the "His Master's Voice" display.

[alang]

Looks great! Awesome job! I like the display

Andreas

[phonogfp]

Nice looking sound box - congratulations! It must be nice to be able to do such work yourself. My machinist is 20 miles away!

Your "His Master's Voice" display looks good, but as one of the authors of the books Nipper's sitting on, I hope he's been outside recently...

Your Berliner has a dark finish that I'm interested in learning more about. Would you mind sharing it's serial number? Mine (with similar finish) is in the 19700s. If you'd prefer to answer via PM, please do.

Congratulations again on a nice piece of work.

George P.

[Django]

Thank you Andreas and George for the kind words.

Those books have provided many hours of enjoyment and are a great research tool as well as being well written and full of great photos. Thank you for that too, George. So far Nipper has had good control, but he is getting a bit old, so no promises.

Unfortunately, my Berliner has no serial number because it is very good copy. Even the castings look correct and the threads on this one are not metric. It was made in Sydney Australia. I have collected many online photos of Berliners, including the motor, with the thought that I would build one from scratch, but this one came up and the price was right, so I settled for making a reproducer.

Of my 18 machines, this is the only copy and only 2 have internal horns, (A Queen Anne-Spider Leg Victrola X and a Victrola X table top with bullet brake). I have considered going for a real Berliner, but most of the machines that I have seen have many incorrect of reproduction parts or are very rough and expensive, and I wanted something to sit in front of nipper, so here we are. The machine had a reproduction horn with stress cracks, so I replaced that with an early Victor front mount. The reproducer was a generic model that looked too large and bothered me, so I made a long throated flange for an Exhibition and had that on there until I could get this one ready. It should dull a little with age and I may try to chemically age it a little, but it sounds surprisingly good and looks the part, so for now, I will leave well enough alone.

[phonogfp]

Thanks for the information on your Berliner. I never would have known from the pictures...!

Congratulations again on your fine workmanship.

George P.

[Django]

The wide angle lens makes the reproducer look large, but I wanted a closeup of the engraving that I said I would not do.

It didn't seem right to have a bare cover, so I drew out some unique characters and engraved them with a 1/32 ball end-mill and 2 axis Proto Trak . I tried to capture the lettering of the period and I think that the originals were engraved . I think that this project is complete for now. I have enjoyed it. The engraved number has no meaning.

[Phono-Phan]

Fantastic job!! Do you have more pictures of the process of making the needle bar?

[Django]

Thanks for the kind words, Phono-Phan. I did not photograph the process. I just worked off of my drawings. The research, solid models, scaling and drawings took longer than the machining. The engraving was also time consuming because I had to come up with something resembling the original font from scratch and then program that geometry, (my older Proto Trak requires every move to be an "event"). I did save the program, but it is specific to those numbers and in that order.

The needle bar is fabricated from 3 pieces of A2 tool steel. They are close fitting and bonded using Loctite 620 Retaining Compound. They will never move. The throat is secured to the body by the same method.

The body, cover and throat are 304 Stainless. I used materials that I had on hand. I do like the A2, but I would go with 303 Stainless for the other parts if I had it to do over. Are you considering your own build?