FINALLY My first machine of 2020!!!

[gramophone-georg]

Better to have those governor springs break now than later. This is why, any more, before I even take anything apart I order governor springs and mainsprings. "Cry once". These machines are 96 -115 years old now.

You didn't break anything- those governor springs were fatigued already or they would not have broken... trust me. And if the gov. springs are in that kind of condition- that and the broken crank tells me that there's a 99.9999% chance the mains are futzed as well.

[AmberolaAndy]

Better to have those governor springs break now than later. This is why, any more, before I even take anything apart I order governor springs and mainsprings. "Cry once". These machines are 96 -115 years old now.

You didn't break anything- those governor springs were fatigued already or they would not have broken... trust me. And if the gov. springs are in that kind of condition- that and the broken crank tells me that there's a 99.9999% chance the mains are futzed as well.

Really? Well I have no idea how to get the barrels off this style of motor. I don’t see any screws to undo this one. I can see this is going to probably take multiple weeks before this machine is properly going to play any records. I might as well send it to someone who has the proper tools to take care of that part. So I’ll just basically get what I can done with it, and send the motor to a professional since this motor probably doesn’t show up on eBay often so I can’t swap it out with an identical refurbished motor, like I did with my VV 8-4.

In the meantime, let’s see if I can rebuild an Exhibition soundbox without goofing that up...

[VanEpsFan1914]

Governor springs were breaking even back then. I got my 1914 Victrola and they gave me a baggie full of pieces with it which were fragments of the governor. New springs, and it's never tossed weights off of it, ever.

Rubber washers should be easy to change. You're talking about rubber here. Of course they will break and disappear; they're 117 years old on that phonograph. Rubber never was meant to last so long.

I'm not sure you actually broke the speed control? You should be able to get that guy massaged back into shape. I mean, you bought it in one piece and those parts can go back in. Here is a picture of a Victor I have. It's not a VV-VIII but it does have a fairly simple & primitive motor (Vic III in this case but same motor was used in 1912 on the early VV-IX. I took one of those apart for the museum. What a piece of work. Always liked early Vics but they have some funky motors.)

Surprised no one has mentioned it yet but I'm pretty sure your new Victrola is the first year that the VIII had a "real" horn. The older tabletop ones had two boards in the bottom of the case making a figure V to the front. They work surprisingly well but if the motor goes out of order you can hear every noise it makes.

One other thing. Take the motor OUT of the machine and you can undo screws from the top iron plate that will let you take it apart. They just aren't that complicated but they can be tricky.

Of course it will take some weeks to fix. Sometimes mine take months. They all play in the end. Sending it off may work; fixing it at home may work. Either way you have a nice Victrola.

[AmberolaAndy]

Governor springs were breaking even back then. I got my 1914 Victrola and they gave me a baggie full of pieces with it which were fragments of the governor. New springs, and it's never tossed weights off of it, ever.

Rubber washers should be easy to change. You're talking about rubber here. Of course they will break and disappear; they're 117 years old on that phonograph. Rubber never was meant to last so long.

I'm not sure you actually broke the speed control? You should be able to get that guy massaged back into shape. I mean, you bought it in one piece and those parts can go back in. Here is a picture of a Victor I have. It's not a VV-VIII but it does have a fairly simple & primitive motor (Vic III in this case but same motor was used in 1912 on the early VV-IX. I took one of those apart for the museum. What a piece of work. Always liked early Vics but they have some funky motors.)

Surprised no one has mentioned it yet but I'm pretty sure your new Victrola is the first year that the VIII had a "real" horn. The older tabletop ones had two boards in the bottom of the case making a figure V to the front. They work surprisingly well but if the motor goes out of order you can hear every noise it makes.

One other thing. Take the motor OUT of the machine and you can undo screws from the top iron plate that will let you take it apart. They just aren't that complicated but they can be tricky.

Of course it will take some weeks to fix. Sometimes mine take months. They all play in the end. Sending it off may work; fixing it at home may work. Either way you have a nice Victrola.

I think I’m probably just going to sent this motor off and let someone else correct my mistakes. Washers are no big deal, I’ll put felt washers in my parts bin in their place. If this was the later “Burton” style motor I’d be able to do everything on my own. I’m more familiar with those than these early motors. Oh well. I got 4 more machines coming this month that I don’t have to fool with that I’m really excited for! I can put it off until after I get those. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

[VanEpsFan1914]

You're right about the Burton motor being simple.

Good luck & I hope you have it playing soon; while you've sent it off, you can get the case looking sharp.

[AmberolaAndy]

You're right about the Burton motor being simple.

Good luck & I hope you have it playing soon; while you've sent it off, you can get the case looking sharp.

Well, Since this is not a very common motor I think the send it to get fixed route will get it working faster than waiting for an identical refurbished motor from eBay. Does anybody know what other machines used this style of two spring motor?

Until then, I guess it’s back to posting about old articles.

[VanEpsFan1914]

I'd say, Andy, in the interests of actual historical accuracy, service the original motor. Personally I would not buy a replacement motor unless I had a lot of damage to deal with (and by that I mean the stuff that a repairman couldn't fix.) Hopefully you can get it patched back up and going soon. With as much of a fanbase as the earliest Victors seem to have, your repairman will have no problem at all working on it.

Now those articles are fun for sure. Thanks for posting them, by the way. I have been laughing a little at the way all the older collectors of the 1960s and '70s thought their Edison machines were from the 1880s and '90s.

[AmberolaAndy]

I'd say, Andy, in the interests of actual historical accuracy, service the original motor. Personally I would not buy a replacement motor unless I had a lot of damage to deal with (and by that I mean the stuff that a repairman couldn't fix.) Hopefully you can get it patched back up and going soon. With as much of a fanbase as the earliest Victors seem to have, your repairman will have no problem at all working on it.

Now those articles are fun for sure. Thanks for posting them, by the way. I have been laughing a little at the way all the older collectors of the 1960s and '70s thought their Edison machines were from the 1880s and '90s.

Yeah, I’ll just send out my motor to someone who knows what they are doing and have their own tricks on getting things all together. It will probably be a short while because my family is talking about moving into a different house. I don’t really know how serious they are about that. But if it’s true, I’ll probably have to put a lot of my records and other collections into storage. So I don’t know how long it’s gonna be until I get back to this project if I got to pay for a storage unit the next few months.

[AZ*]

Does anybody know what other machines used this style of two spring motor?

I suggest looking through the Baumbach's Victor Data Book, or looking at Harold Braker's Victor Motor ID guide located here:

http://www.antiquephono.org/victorvictr ... ld-braker/

[AmberolaAndy]

Does anybody know what other machines used this style of two spring motor?

I suggest looking through the Baumbach's Victor Data Book, or looking at Harold Braker's Victor Motor ID guide located here:

http://www.antiquephono.org/victorvictr ... ld-braker/

Apparently, the early VI used the same motor. Makes sense since the VIII is essentially a VI with a lid.