Columbia Motor

[kirtley2012]

NO!, dont abandon it!, get it working with the motor you have as a temporary solution then just look out for the original motor , im sure someone on this forum would have one spare you could purchase!

[dutchman]

Ok you convinced me - I shall pursue the hunt and see whats out there. Cheers

[kirtley2012]

your welcome!

[Uncle Vanya]

Duplicate post

[Uncle Vanya]

Ok you convinced me - I shall pursue the hunt and see whats out there. Cheers

The problem is that the correct motor for your machine will fit the cabinet of any number of much more valuable open horn machines. In addition, the correct tone arm may be made to fit some of these machines. The fiber gear which drives the governor fails frequently, and replacements are expensive.

Your cabinet was doubtless parted out to repair one or more outside horn machines back in the days when internal horn phonographs were nearly worthless.

Even outside horn Columbia client cabinets are of little value when they are this badly stripped down. At one phonograph auction a few years ago I purchased an entire room full of such cabinets, about a hundred in all, for $35.00. Despite having better access to parts than most fellows, I've only bothered to complete one machine, an Aretino, which happened to come with the motor.

WHen I was a Junior High SchooI student, I acquired quite a number of such projects, much to the amusement of a number of some of the more experienced collectors that I knew. I soon learned that it was better to acquire one or two more nearly complete specimens, rather than assay the fool's errand of completeing such "Bargains".

Young Master Kirtley has acquired quite a remarkable knowledge of the hobby in a very short time, but I'm afraid that his laudable enthusiasm sometimes overwhelms his necessarily limited experience.

[Orthophonic]

Something you may try that is not really hard to do... Get a piece of plexiglass the same thickness of the fiber part of the gear. Determine how much offset there is to the top and bottom parts and then disassemble the gear and replace the fiber part with the plexiglass part. Cut it into a wheel shape the sixe of the original gear, of course. Clamp them together with the brass gear ends in the same position as originally; only the plexiglass is there instead of the fiber part. Obtain a little file the same size as the space between the gear teeth and file the plexiglass to match. Take your time and do not enlarge the brass parts; only get the plexiglass to match. When done, it will work and act the same as the fiber gear. I did it on a Rishell many years ago and it is still doing fine. It takes longer and is more involved to tell about it than to actually do it. Incidentally circuit boards are made of the same fiber material as the governor drive gears and the timing gears on some Model "T" Fords were of the same material. Keep an eye out; you never know just what you can use to affect a repair on something that parts are no longer available for

[dutchman]

Well Uncle Vanya guess you summed it up, most of these parts can probably only be found in unobtainium land. So guess I'll just say amen and let it go at that. Besides I have 52 large machines, 9 Edison horned machines and about 12 others. My wife is on record as saying "one more of these things and its intervention time."

Really appreciate all the inputs and if anybody needs a cute table top case you know where one is hiding.... Cheers and have a good weekend.