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Hi all,

I've been asked to restore the carriage of this beautiful EWC phonograph.

The carriage is made out of pot metal and has swollen, cracked and falling in pieces making this machine otherwise in pristine state unusable.




It's also missing the swivelling connector for the reproducer and the sliding tube is an heroic restoration attempt done with several pieces of a telescopic antenna.

I dismantled it to see what could be saved and start taking some measurements.

Then I took all the necessary dimensions from the phonograph and drawed the necessary pieces that I need to fabricate. I will use the Bengali reproducer I restored some weeks ago.
As you can see, The red piece is the pattern of the reproducer, the pink one is the swivelling arm with the tongue for raising the reproducer and the green outlined one is the carriage.


It's going to be a very nice project!

I have materials to do more that one so if anybody else needs one please pm me as it will be always cheaper to do a small run than doing a one off.

Best regards,

Pedro Martínez

Hello Pedro , PM sent!

Finally some progress on the carriage!

So after taking all the measurements and figuring out the procedure to build the carriage, I transferred the measurements to a piece of brass.

Then I started the long process of chain drilling it to make a very rough piece. I could have asked to make it with a CNC mill but it was expensive and It somewhat makes no sense to me to use CNC repairing a +100 years old machine.


Then a 12mm hole was drilled and reamed to hold the sliding tube.

Some files and much elbow grease turned the perimeter smooth and nice.

It's still thicker that needed but I will take care of that.
A first test to check all the dimensions turned out very well.

That's all for today. Next steps is to thin the main body and fabricate the lower "ear" that holds the roller and the upper tube for the reproducer and horn.

Stay tuned!

Regards,

Pedro Martínez

Looking good !

Pedro, PM sent need one also.

Herman

Finally some more progress!

This weekend I focused on the tube of the carriage. I didn't found a brass tube of the correct diameter and thickness so I opted to turn it from a solid bar.

It was roughly turned to the desired outer diameter and then bored. The inside is quite tricky because it has a tappered portion a small paralel section in the middle and the a much wider section on the side that the swivelling tube for the reproducer goes.

Then the outside was finished

And it is starting to look like the real thing!


Stay tuned for more updates soon!

Regards,

Pedro Martínez Díaz

4th chapter of this restoration.

The main body of the carriage needed to be thinned to 8,2 mm so I milled it and sand it till I reached the desired thickness:


Then I set up the compound carriage of the lathe to be able to cut the conical internal part of the tube:

After milling a slight curve on the body to make a perfect fit for the tube I soldered it:

I'm really happy how it turned out!

Next step will be reproducing this small "ear"

Stay tuned for new updates!!

Best regards,

Pedro Martínez

Pedro,
It's looking really good ! I am enjoying seeing you re-create this complex part. Can't wait for the next episode !!

Always great to watch a wizard at work. Thanks for letting us be part of this.

Andreas

Finally an update!

Sorry for this delay. I broke my right big toe in a home accident and badly sliced my left thumb (and its the second time this year!) so I couldn't walk in 2 weeks and and the thumb didn't helped to improve the situation.

Anyway, I have make a lot of progress and I have lots of pictures to share!

I reached the point of the restoration in which every step must be very well planned to not reaching a non returning point situation. The big problem is that I have no valid references on the old piece. Its so swollen and messed that nothing fits.

This is the best example of the situation. If I put the guiding tube and the lever on the old piece mothing is at right angles!

So I opted to install my piece on the phonograph and measure and take the references. It's an exercise similar to taking the measures of an octopus...

The first piece that I installed is the lower shaft. It must be accurately positioned to allow the half nut to reach the feedscrew and centered to allow the lateral sliding piece to rest flat against the body of the carriage.



And voila! First piece installed.

(More to follow in a couple of hours)