C19 oil tubes, governor guard, and spring lube

[gramophone78]

George,
I guess I've just had bad luck with mainsprings in my six years of collecting, I've already had a couple of mainsprings break from dried grease, and trust me the noise it makes when that happens is not very pleasant at all. I do not get scared very easily, but when I had a mainspring break from dried grease it left me shaking for several minutes after it happened.
Guess I'm a little paranoid from a bad experience. And like gramophone78 said "if it ain't broke don't fix it" he obviously knows what he's talking about and same thing with everyone else here. You have been collecting 41 years longer than me (I know this because you once mentioned that you have been collecting for 47 years) and that's great that you have not had any mainspring trouble. So my suggestion was just what I always do no matter what (because I'm paranoid something might happen again). I Hope nothing I said sounded like I was being a smart a**.
-Nick

You've said nothing smart-a**ed at all, Nick! As I wrote before, your advice is good, but those who lack your experience might be scared off. As long as there's no thumping or power surges, let's get him hooked but good before laying the really mess stuff on him!

Also, don't for a moment believe that I have "...not had any mainspring trouble." As I wrote before, I've replaced many, many of them. I've had a number of them break. I know that sound well, and it's indeed unpleasant. I can't remember what it was, but something let loose once during the night in my boyhood room while I was asleep. I can tell you I hit the floor immediately!

Keep up the good work!

George P.

I agree too Nick.....as George wrote..."keep up the good work"... .

[Victrolaboy]

George,
I guess I've just had bad luck with mainsprings in my six years of collecting, I've already had a couple of mainsprings break from dried grease, and trust me the noise it makes when that happens is not very pleasant at all. I do not get scared very easily, but when I had a mainspring break from dried grease it left me shaking for several minutes after it happened.
Guess I'm a little paranoid from a bad experience. And like gramophone78 said "if it ain't broke don't fix it" he obviously knows what he's talking about and same thing with everyone else here. You have been collecting 41 years longer than me (I know this because you once mentioned that you have been collecting for 47 years) and that's great that you have not had any mainspring trouble. So my suggestion was just what I always do no matter what (because I'm paranoid something might happen again). I Hope nothing I said sounded like I was being a smart a**.
-Nick

You've said nothing smart-a**ed at all, Nick! As I wrote before, your advice is good, but those who lack your experience might be scared off. As long as there's no thumping or power surges, let's get him hooked but good before laying the really mess stuff on him!

Also, don't for a moment believe that I have "...not had any mainspring trouble." As I wrote before, I've replaced many, many of them. I've had a number of them break. I know that sound well, and it's indeed unpleasant. I can't remember what it was, but something let loose once during the night in my boyhood room while I was asleep. I can tell you I hit the floor immediately!

Keep up the good work!

George P.

One time in the night at around 1:00am when I was 9 or 10 one of my machines started playing because the leather brake needed replacing. The machine was almost completely wound down and it was running very slowly. I screamed, jumped out of bed and woke up everyone because I remember thinking there was "a freakin' demon in the house!" Of course back then my voice was high pitched and now that I've gone through the voice change my voice is very low for my age. At the flea market selling my phonographs I've had people think I'm around 17 because of my voice and also my looks. Some say I look much older than I really am. For example, When I was talking to Ron Sitko on the telephone he was confused because he couldn't find my address. (Because it would be under my parents names. When I buy stuff I give my parents cash and then they buy it for me). He thought I was an adult not a 13 year old phonograph collector! Anyway, I'm getting off topic.
Best,
-Nick

[phonogfp]

Okay...now we've completely trashed this thread, I'll share a true story that happened to me in college. I lived at home through my undergrad years, but a buddy who collected had gone away to school about 3 hours away. He gave me a few of his machines to safeguard while he was away. Directly over my headboard - about 4 feet off the bed was a shelf. My friend's Eagle Graphophone was sitting in the middle, with about 20 cylinder records in boxes on each side of it. It was a very tight fit - - barely room for my fingers to fit between the sides of the Eagle and the cylinder boxes.

One morning, I awoke, stretched luxuriously and swung my feet out of bed to begin another amazing day in my fascinating life. My foot touched something on the floor by the bed. It was my friend's Eagle. I stared at it stupidly for a moment, because nothing quite this amazing had happened yet that day. It suddenly occurred to me that the machine might have somehow FALLEN OFF THE SHELF. Oh God, no... But the Eagle was fine. What the heck? Then I gradually remembered a dream I had that night. I was carefully taking an Eagle off a shelf in an antique shop... I jumped up on my bed and looked at the shelf. The record boxes looked well aligned - - like always. Yet, there could be no other explanation. In my sleep, I had stood on my bed in the dark, carefully removed my friend's Eagle, and put it beside the bed!

To this day, I am unaware of ever having done any other sleepwalking (unless I was at work!).

I waited a few years before telling my friend about this.

George P.

[BwanaJoe]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll hold off on the springs for now. I still need to get the reproducer rebuilt so that is where I will concentrate funds next.

On another note, how hard is it to bend a) the oil tubes, and b) the oil cup itself. The oil cup is tilted as compared to the base plate. I know these things are robust but how bendable are they?

[phonogfp]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll hold off on the springs for now. I still need to get the reproducer rebuilt so that is where I will concentrate funds next.

On another note, how hard is it to bend a) the oil tubes, and b) the oil cup itself. The oil cup is tilted as compared to the base plate. I know these things are robust but how bendable are they?

They should bend easily. In the unlikely event you break one, post a photo of it mounted and I'll send you another.

George P.

[BwanaJoe]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll hold off on the springs for now. I still need to get the reproducer rebuilt so that is where I will concentrate funds next.

On another note, how hard is it to bend a) the oil tubes, and b) the oil cup itself. The oil cup is tilted as compared to the base plate. I know these things are robust but how bendable are they?

They should bend easily. In the unlikely event you break one, post a photo of it mounted and I'll send you another.

George P.

I hope I won't have to take you up on that!

[Victrolaboy]

Okay...now we've completely trashed this thread, I'll share a true story that happened to me in college. I lived at home through my undergrad years, but a buddy who collected had gone away to school about 3 hours away. He gave me a few of his machines to safeguard while he was away. Directly over my headboard - about 4 feet off the bed was a shelf. My friend's Eagle Graphophone was sitting in the middle, with about 20 cylinder records in boxes on each side of it. It was a very tight fit - - barely room for my fingers to fit between the sides of the Eagle and the cylinder boxes.

One morning, I awoke, stretched luxuriously and swung my feet out of bed to begin another amazing day in my fascinating life. My foot touched something on the floor by the bed. It was my friend's Eagle. I stared at it stupidly for a moment, because nothing quite this amazing had happened yet that day. It suddenly occurred to me that the machine might have somehow FALLEN OFF THE SHELF. Oh God, no... But the Eagle was fine. What the heck? Then I gradually remembered a dream I had that night. I was carefully taking an Eagle off a shelf in an antique shop... I jumped up on my bed and looked at the shelf. The record boxes looked well aligned - - like always. Yet, there could be no other explanation. In my sleep, I had stood on my bed in the dark, carefully removed my friend's Eagle, and put it beside the bed!

To this day, I am unaware of ever having done any other sleepwalking (unless I was at work!).

I waited a few years before telling my friend about this.

George P.

Oh my gosh George! How in the world did you move the Graphophone off the shelf in the dark while you were asleep and not knock over any of those cylinders? that beats anything I've ever heard of in my life!!

[Valecnik]

Nick,

I think you give great advice, surely the best longer term solution. If you lived about 5,000 miles closer I'd coerce you into doing some spring work for me! I am not terribly mechanically inclined and the thought of re-greasing DD springs myself is a bit terrifying. I've only had two first hand experiences. When I first started collecting, my grandfather helped me free-up a stuck, dried out DD spring in an H-19. It got loose and nearly cost him his thumb! More recently, with the help of Phonocookie, we replaced a broken spring in an A-250. All went well but the process reminded me of one of those movies where the heroes are disarming a bomb!

That being said, in many years of collecting and having had several DD machines over that time, I've almost never run into one that needed a spring replacement or absolutely required a cleaning and re-greasing to work properly. I, like some of the other less mechanically confident here have opted for adding a little graphite and oil and gotten by okay.

The nice thing about some of the more industrial strength Edison machines, especially seemingly Diamond Discs and Triumphs, is they can set unattended to for 70 plus years and given a few squirts of oil and a little cleaning seem good for another 100.

[Valecnik]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll hold off on the springs for now. I still need to get the reproducer rebuilt so that is where I will concentrate funds next.

On another note, how hard is it to bend a) the oil tubes, and b) the oil cup itself. The oil cup is tilted as compared to the base plate. I know these things are robust but how bendable are they?

Joe, the reproducer rebuild is an absolute must for optimal listening quality and minimizing record wear. Definitely get that done!

[BwanaJoe]

In regards to oil tubes, is this (and the one on the other spring) the oil tube to spring sleeve as stated in the manual? And how much oil would you pit in there?