Help with VV 10-50

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
User avatar
phonogal
Victor IV
Posts: 1239
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:29 pm
Personal Text: Life's Short. Be Happy!
Location: Beautiful Piney Woods, SE TX.

Help with VV 10-50

Post by phonogal »

Just purchased a VV 10-50 and will need to move it. How is the mechanism removed? I want to remove it to make it lighter to move. Thanks, Jan

User avatar
PeterF
Victor IV
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by PeterF »

Don’t bother. It’s still going to weigh way way way too much more than you have ever thought.The mechanism is heavy, but you run the risk of breaking or bending something and messing up alignment. The main bulk of the weight is on the big wood and iron Orthophonic horn, so the mechanism isn’t really going to make as much difference as you might think.

When I acquired my first one of these, it was located on the second story of a house. Three of us wrestled it down a very narrow staircase. I will never do that again!

I would strongly suggest you use at least four people, and you can also consider bolting a dolly or 4” castors to its bottom. If it slips off and falls, you’re in big trouble.

I’ve bolted 4” diameter castors to the bottom of my 9-40, and will do the same to my 10-50 when I get to it. Safe and smart and almost undetectable cosmetically.
Attachments
94D86A8E-111A-445C-B1A9-6C481C8E8DA5.jpeg
E47B86D0-2297-4C88-AF5E-CFF76AA16B4F.jpeg
B211092D-A1F1-4547-84D0-82D5A1E89699.jpeg
6E958147-0595-4684-B6F3-97652747454C.jpeg

User avatar
Inigo
Victor VI
Posts: 3753
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:51 am
Personal Text: Keep'em well oiled
Location: Madrid, Spain
Contact:

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by Inigo »

Of course not the same weight... But I've also screwed castors under the legs of my hmv194, cause i have to move it from time to time, and the woman who cleans at home also treats it better since i added wheels. Before that, the lower beams between the legs suffered from many hard kicks from the vacuum cleaner, and the wooden balls at the bottom of the legs were always suffering from wet-mop... Since I added castors, the machine doesn't suffer anymore!
Screenshot_2019-06-11-00-40-00.png
Inigo

User avatar
startgroove
Victor III
Posts: 887
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:01 pm
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by startgroove »

This reminds me of a time that I bought a 1940 Wurlitzer 780 that was in the basement of a home in Wisconsin. The older couple explained that they got it in the 50's when their kids were young, and they installed it in the basement which they then made into a play room. Now, with kids gone, they wanted a smaller home, so stuff had to go. We made a deal, and I brought my furniture dolly down the stairs and loaded up the Wurlitzer. At the base of the stairs, we found that the combined height of the dolly (about 8") and the jukebox were too much to fit through the stair well without hitting the ceiling. He then remembered that they had modified the exposed wood ceiling after the jukebox was installed, by adding cross braces and drywall. It was too heavy to hand carry, so the decision was made to take that machine completely apart. Everything came off; mechanism, amplifier, speaker, doors and anything else that had significant weight. Then, we carried the empty cabinet up the stairs and to my truck, where it was reassembled!

Now, I'm not proposing that you do the same thing. As has been pointed out, it is not an easy task to remove the parts and most of the mass is in the cabinet anyway. If you've got stairs to go up or down, four good backs will be needed. If you wish to move it from a flat location, try these three wheel dolly's. They will slip under the bun feet of the 10-50, and make it easy to move around, even on carpet. The cheapest ones are rated at 160 lbs each (640 lbs total), so they carry the load of any console, and the three wheels divide the load better than a single wheel castor, or even the bare foot of a console. They can be left under the machine, or removed to use elsewhere. They don’t work well on uneven surfaces, but inside the house they make it easy to move big things around, and they save the floors.
Attachments
IMG_4982.JPG
IMG_4982.JPG (128.71 KiB) Viewed 1573 times
Last edited by startgroove on Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
phonogal
Victor IV
Posts: 1239
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:29 pm
Personal Text: Life's Short. Be Happy!
Location: Beautiful Piney Woods, SE TX.

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by phonogal »

As of right now it is in the back of a pickup. I will need to probably remove the mechanism to clean oil, repair and adjust it. I wouldn't even consider removing it it it was working completely. It mostly works but it has not been restored. When turned on it will pick up the record, play it then pick it up to drop it in the drawer but the pot metal felt cover on the base of the arm is broken so the record is not able to slide into the drawer. So it is a project. After getting it out of the truck, we have four stairs to go up to get it in the house so probably will need to get it as light as possible. We have move a couple of Credenzas in the past but this thing is HEAVY! Thanks for the suggestions.

EarlH
Victor III
Posts: 816
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:25 pm
Location: North Central Iowa

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by EarlH »

Piano moving dollies will strap right on to it. That would make it a lot easier to handle since you'll have something to get hold of. Pulling out that motor mechanism really isn't going to make a whole lot of difference there. If you can't get a pair of moving dollies, I'd be more apt to remove the front doors and rear panels so you have something to get a grip on. I have moved those with the straps that go over your shoulders, but you still need to have some way to hold on to the cabinet and having the doors out of the way and the back panels off will help a lot with those things. Good luck with it now. The piano dollies would really make it quite an easy job. Earl.

User avatar
PeterF
Victor IV
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by PeterF »

Those crummy little three-wheel things are not safe, and they tear up your carpet. Avoid!

I tried them on the 9-40 and when I gently tried moving it, the damn thing fell half off them, and almost crushed me (again). The little depressions in the center of the three wheels are not deep enough to securely cradle the buns. The tiny wheels won't roll on carpet, so you end up just pushing it off the wheel assemblies. Then when you rush to keep it from falling over you put yourself at risk of harm.

You need two things:

- wheels of large diameter (4" minimum) so it can roll.

- wheels that are securely fastened - that is, bolted - to the machine.

You could bolt the 3-wheelers to the buns, probably, but it would only be by only a single bolt, and thus subject to easy failure if the wood splits. And the tiny wheels are still going to tear up your carpet.

User avatar
Henry
Victor V
Posts: 2624
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:01 am
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by Henry »

You need the heavy-duty type that's made for moving pianos. Good ones ain't cheap. Google "piano dollies."

User avatar
phonogal
Victor IV
Posts: 1239
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:29 pm
Personal Text: Life's Short. Be Happy!
Location: Beautiful Piney Woods, SE TX.

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by phonogal »

SUCCESS! :D It is out of the truck, up the stairs and on the front porch. I'm going to give the cabinet a cleaning and then in the front door. Thanks for all the suggestions. We took off the doors and back panels but left the mechanism in place. We added rubber wheels to the bottom so it will be easier to move(thank you PeterF} and won't scratch the wood floors. Where there is a will, there is a way. I'm sure I'll have plenty more question while working on this. Thanks again, Jan

User avatar
PeterF
Victor IV
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Re: Help with VV 10-50

Post by PeterF »

Congrats! Now comes the really fun part...

Post Reply