Brunswick Motor Help

[travisgreyfox]

So my Dad owns this beautiful Brunswick model 160 radio/phono combo. The radio components are pretty much all stripped. The windup motor would wind up, but then kept winding up (forever). So I thought a spring had broke in the 3-spring motor. After taking everything apart all of the springs are intact.

So the question i'm posing is what the heck is wrong with the motor?

[oldphonographsteve]

Is it possible that one or more of the springs are slipping on the shaft, or perhaps there is a gear missing which connects the crank to the motor?

Stephen

[travisgreyfox]

The first scenario may be possible. The crank will create some power, just very little. If you notice one of the spring barrels look different than the other two. It looks as if maybe a ring is missing or something? This is my first brunswick disassembly so i'm clueless.

[GregVTLA]

I have a Victrola X with 2 spring motor that I picked up for free. It would wind forever and ever and make a thumping sound. Upon removing the springs, I found the pear shaped hole at the end had ripped itself free from the rivot and the whole spring spun in the barrel. I'd check if it's that. If not, at least you regreased the springs and got a good look at it.

Greg

(I am in no way an expert, just sharing expirence )

[Benjamin_L]

I have a three spring Brunswick motor as well. And To be honest It takes forever to fully wind.

I have two of the original springs and they may be stretched to a point where it will take a 20 winds just to feel any tension. So it's the same for me.

Shouldn't this be in "Tips, Tricks, & Tutorials"?

[JerryVan]

If it winds forever, it's got a broken spring. Honestly, there's no way to tell whether or not the springs are broken based on what can be seen in the images posted here. You have to remove them to really know. A break, hidden under all that grease, is totally possible. Also, a torn out hole in the outer end of the spring is a definite possibility as well, (as has been suggested above). That's an easy fix. Bottom line, they should be removed, cleaned & re-greased anyway.

[phonojim]

+1 with JerryVan. That is the only correct way to solve spring problems. If you find that one of the outer ends has broken, get ahold of a copy of The Compleat Talking Machine by Eric Reiss. He covers this type of repair in great detail.

Jim

[travisgreyfox]

Thanks for all of the advice. I took the spring out of the bottom one (in the pic) and cleaned and re-greased already. I guess I will do the same for the other two.

Is there a possibility that the spring on the left (in the pic) is stretched out and not winding because of it? If you look closely it looks different than the rest, it looks as if the inner end is bigger and may need to be pinched in like the rest? I'm just speculating as I have never done any motor that has more than 2 springs before.

Thanks,

Travis

[GregVTLA]

My spring was worse off than yours on the left, and yet the pair of springs still get through about 4 records without winding. I’d take a look at the other two. The broken one in my case was the spring that drove the spindle. Perhaps same for you?

[CDBPDX]

The center coil of the upper left spring appears to be slightly enlarged. The center coil should be ⅝" diameter so the winding mandrel can catch on it. You can check this by seeing if the winding mandrel will engage the center coil of the spring. If the center coil is too large, the little tit in the winding shaft won't engage the spring, it will just spin. Try making the center coil smaller, ⅝" diameter. You can do this with 2 pairs of needle nose pliers, grab the center coil from both sides and bend until you get the ⅝" coil.

Good luck!