Santa came late this year, with a HMV 163

[Inigo]

Glad the solution was so easy! enjoy it!

[Marco Gilardetti]

While we talk of 163s - a question to present and past owners of this or similar models. I have disassembled the lid support, which I will try to polish (not an easy task, it seems - it's heavily tarnished and I wonder why). Is there some special care that has to be taken with this part? What has to be lubricated? Only the axles of the rollers? Do you also put a bit of oil/grease on the "rails" of the support bar? Or by doing so would it then slip over the rollers, rather than spinning them?

Also, the cranking handle is in awful conditions, but shows traces of having been nickeled in some points (again, it is unclear to me how it is possible that its nickeling faded almost completely away by comparison with other nickeled parts that are nearly perfect). Does anyone have a handle in good conditions to show me how it should look like, or can comment on this point?

Thank you!

[nostalgia]

I upload some photos of the lid stay and winding handle on my 163, and also a photo of the winding handle of my 157.
I wish you luck with servicing the lid stay on your machine, Marco. Fortunately the lid stay on my machine needs no service.

We can see the winding handle is brown on both the 163 and 157, same color as the escutcheon and the cabinet. I believe the winding handle has been lacquered to match the cabinet? We can see traces of the underlying sttel ( I believe) on the area that touches the escutcheon area when the machine is winded.
The handle lying on top of the portable, is belonging to the 157. The one on the table is from my 163, they look the same to my eyes.

[Inigo]

The cranks and estucheons on both my 127 and 194 are lacquered in brown, i believe it was called antique bronze finish or something alike.
The lid stay must ride on the rollers, not slide on them. Do you should clean the lid stay and oil only the rollers bearings.
Mine in the 127 works so .. so .. and in fact the stay slides and gets dirty of metal powder from the rollers riding surfaces... But that's another story. It shouldn't slide. I'm trying to adjust it properly.
But imho this arrangement is not good. In my 194 the rollers are perfect and roll well, but I cannot avoid the metal powder and it gets dirty, so if you touch it, it stains your hands. This rolling of metal against metal doesn't work too well...

[Marco Gilardetti]

Thanks both for your comments! I would never have imagined that the crank was initially finished that way by looking at mine! Definitely not a lasting type of finish! I'll see what I can arrange - perhaps a light sandpaper and then a coat or two of shellac. I'll try to avoid if I can contemporary bronze-style paints, but it's an option I will also have to consider, I think.

[Inigo]

Usually the crank looses the finish in the estucheon area and also near the handle, where you put the fingers while cranking. There you can see the base metal. The original finish I don't know what it is indeed... It looks brown...

[JerryVan]

Nostalgia,

You may want to consider at some point, replacing the oval head wood screws with round head screws.

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[nostalgia]

Jerry, you have the eyes of a hawk
When I checked and cleaned the cabinet, I could hear something tumbling around inside the machine, and it was the metal plate, holding these screws. In the past the original screws had loosened, something that I have also seen on other HMV floor models, and as a result this plate falls inside the cabinet and the original screws has been replaced. I was able to get the plate out, and of course, these screws don't fit. I will take the original screws on one of my 157 models for now, and also install the plate. I have just been lazy some days (with other gramophone projects) postponing this small task.
It should not be postponed, since these screws are the only unoriginal parts on this gramophone jewel.

[the padre304]

Back to the autobrake, can the spider washer spring be to flattened or wore out that it needs to be replaced? Thanks, the padre

[Inigo]

Maybe you don't need to replace it, but carefully reshape it if you notice it's a bit tired, or clearly out of shape... Its three legs must lie flat on their feet on the lever they are supposed to press.
And these upper parts must be cleaned free of any oil! The spring washer and the lever must move at any slight movement of the tonearm to the right. Oil must be avoided in the parts working by friction!