RCA Victor Junior Automatic Record Changer Help Needed

[Zkeener323]

It's probably a long shot... but does anyone have experience adjusting the changing mechanism on these unique record changers from the mid to late 30s?
Mine is out of sorts and I'm struggling to get it operating correctly. I have a diagram but sometimes a photo of how it should look is more helpful. I'll attach a photo of mine later (I'm at work currently) But for now, here is an image from an old RCA Service Bulletin

[Governor Flyball]

What seems to be the problem?

[broso252]

I have the rca service notes book that may have information on that changer. I May be able to scan the diagrams at a higher resolution than you would be able to find online.
Is it out of an R-97?

[edisonclassm]

I Have an R-97. I was curious to know if there were any more out there. BTW What is the problem with the one you have? I completely went through mine, and it wasn't easy.

[Zkeener323]

Yes it is out of a R-97. This weekend I'm going to try a total strip down and sort out what I believe to be two problems.
#1 It needs a more thorough cleaning as I believe some of the parts might need to have less friction
#2 Possible jamming due to slightly bent pieces. But this could also be attributed to issue #1

I have the amp rebuilt and the pickup as well, I found that to be pretty easy. But the changer is my next step.
I took the motor out to unseize it and placed it back in the machine. I erroneously started the motor with it in mid cycle (that was the petrified state in which I received it) and the main lever jammed at the revolving cam. I un jam, cycle completes and now I have things out of sorts.

I'm hoping taking some uninterrupted time to examine how each part interacts as well as having it completely cleaned and inspected for bent parts will allow me to fix it. I typically have a very mechanical mind and have figured out a couple other changers- but this is a different bird for sure. I truly enjoy the machine. It's actually my favorite of all my electric machines (I have limited 1st hand experience though). I think it is due in part to the "improved magnetic pickup" as RCA puts it, meaning its armature is centered with a metal wire that acts as a spring, as opposed to the earlier ones with a block of rubber. I have an RE-40p that uses a spring dampened pickup, but it has a very small speaker. My GE H-71 (essentially a RE-57) doesn't have the fidelity of this R-97, and my R-93 attached to a RCA 5T lacks the tone the R-97 produces.

I doubt to use the changer often, but it will be nice to have it work. I appreciate the offer for the schematics scan. I have them already, and the resolution seems good enough. below is a link for a video of mine playing (in manual mode). It's a cruddy video which I will one a replace with a better one- but I wanted to get it out there because as edisonclassm noted, these machines aren't common. Most likely due to their price and being manufactured in I'm guessing about 1936 because service notes were first published in 1937.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByUimZ-Q-m4