The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Every time I try to crank the motor it cranks a bit then loses it's tension and winds down uncontrollably. Any tips?
Pictures provided to see if anyone can see a problem

Thanks

V6

The spring is probably broken.

How do I tell?

It could be a little gear in the middle of the motor that is slipping. Wind it up a bit holding different gears and work your way out. That is if the spring holds tension. You may have a gear slipping which will not engage the governor. Try holding the big gear to wind it. If it lets loose and you can hear it slip inside the spring canister than you have a bad spring. Please wear gloves when getting into springs and gears.. Sometimes the spring inside the canister can slip off their pin when they unwind and slip but most of the time they are broken. You have to open it up to check. Tom

If you're winding it and you hear a rapid sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh sound, that's the broken spring rotating in the barrel.

You can disassemble the motor and open the spring barrel to be sure, or just send it out to one of the pros to check it for you. Springs can sometimes be repaired depending on where they break, but you might as well just buy a new spring.

tomb wrote:It could be a little gear in the middle of the motor that is slipping. Wind it up a bit holding different gears and work your way out. That is if the spring holds tension. You may have a gear slipping which will not engage the governor. Try holding the big gear to wind it. If it lets loose and you can hear it slip inside the spring canister than you have a bad spring. Please wear gloves when getting into springs and gears.. Sometimes the spring inside the canister can slip off their pin when they unwind and slip but most of the time they are broken. You have to open it up to check. Tom

Which little gear? Thanks

If you look straight down in the motor there is a little drive gear that goes with a larger gear in the middle towards the bottom. That gear is pressed on the shaft and sometimes comes loose. I do not have a good picture of it available Look straight down in your motor and it looks like the one attached to the large gear. Also I can not tell but it looks like the small gear that is attached to the main drive gear is worn. That may be slipping. It is hard to tell for your picture but the first thing to check is your spring which is the most common. Tom

Looks like a Standard B motor to me.

But the diagnosis is the same: if it's not a broken spring, it's a loose gear.

Bill

Hard to tell from your photos, but it looks like you've got some really bad gears. Can you do a close-up shot on the gears? Aside from that possibility, you have a broken spring. If you wind it, with the motor stopped, and hear the spring tension release, but see no parts spinning out of control, then the commotion is within the spring barrel and the spring is broken.

JerryVan wrote:Hard to tell from your photos, but it looks like you've got some really bad gears. Can you do a close-up shot on the gears? Aside from that possibility, you have a broken spring. If you wind it, with the motor stopped, and hear the spring tension release, but see no parts spinning out of control, then the commotion is within the spring barrel and the spring is broken.

Agreed: that intermediate gear looks pretty chewed up.

Bill