How do you leave your phonograph?

[gramophone-georg]

RE: Gramophone-Georg - How do you leave your phonograph?
Reluctantly... and with a few kind words like: "It's not you... it's me..." or "It doesn't matter if you are getting old... you still look as good as the day I bought you... don't run yourself down, you're not cranky, just a little wound up... if you don't stop spinning out of control, you're going to break a mainspring... your reproducer works just fine..."

Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan

[Lucius1958]

RE: Gramophone-Georg - How do you leave your phonograph?
Reluctantly... and with a few kind words like: "It's not you... it's me..." or "It doesn't matter if you are getting old... you still look as good as the day I bought you... don't run yourself down, you're not cranky, just a little wound up... if you don't stop spinning out of control, you're going to break a mainspring... your reproducer works just fine..."

Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan

"Just release the brake, Jake,
And let 'er run down, Brown,
She's gonna lose speed, Reid,
Now listen to me;
Just slack off the spring, Bing;
It's not such a big thing;
Wait 'til she goes slow, Bro,
And then you're home free..."

- Bill

[gramophone-georg]

RE: Gramophone-Georg - How do you leave your phonograph?
Reluctantly... and with a few kind words like: "It's not you... it's me..." or "It doesn't matter if you are getting old... you still look as good as the day I bought you... don't run yourself down, you're not cranky, just a little wound up... if you don't stop spinning out of control, you're going to break a mainspring... your reproducer works just fine..."

Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan

"Just release the brake, Jake,
And let 'er run down, Brown,
She's gonna lose speed, Reid,
Now listen to me;
Just slack off the spring, Bing;
It's not such a big thing;
Wait 'til she goes slow, Bro,
And then you're home free..."

- Bill

Game over!

[Curt A]

From the "Golden Vault of Misunderstood Lyrics"...
"Make a new plant stand..."

[startgroove]

I don't worry about it, never have. Collecting since 1974, never had a spring problem after getting a machine running. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[fran604g]

"Just release the brake, Jake,
And let 'er run down, Brown,
She's gonna lose speed, Reid,
Now listen to me;
Just slack off the spring, Bing;
It's not such a big thing;
Wait 'til she goes slow, Bro,
And then you're home free..."

- Bill

Okay, this needs to nominated for the best post reply of 2020. Do I hear a second?

Fran

[AZ*]

I don't worry about it, never have. Collecting since 1974, never had a spring problem after getting a machine running. Maybe I'm just lucky.

At one time when I had far fewer machines, I would do as some posters suggest and run my machines down at least once a week. I no longer bother.

However, I never leave my machines fully wound, nor do I wind them fully. I wind them enough to play one side of a record or a single cylinder. And then I wind them between records. When I am done listening, I just walk away. At that point, the machine is probably less than ⅓ wound, and would probably slow down if I tried to play another record.

What I do think is important is to occasionally run the machines and keep them properly lubricated. If a machine sits for months or years without being played or serviced, the oil and grease may dry out, so it may not work as well when you finally do try to use it.

In 50 years of collecting, I have replaced many mainsprings -- but ONLY on newly acquired machines that already had damaged or weak springs. I have never replaced a spring on a machine I've owned for decades because it got weak. I've never had one break from over winding.

Running the machine down at the end of every playing session may make you feel good that you are "preserving" the springs, but what about the gears and bearings? You are definitely not working to preserve those since you are adding additional unneeded wear to those components.

[gramophone-georg]

I don't worry about it, never have. Collecting since 1974, never had a spring problem after getting a machine running. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I've been at it a little longer than you, and I have had two machines- both Victors- that had a habit of very randomly unhooking when wound down all the way. Slowly cranking while pushing the TT backwards would eventually get it hooked again. Eventually I pulled them apart and tightened the center loop on the offending spring.

[gramophone-georg]

I don't worry about it, never have. Collecting since 1974, never had a spring problem after getting a machine running. Maybe I'm just lucky.

At one time when I had far fewer machines, I would do as some posters suggest and run my machines down at least once a week. I no longer bother.

However, I never leave my machines fully wound, nor do I wind them fully. I wind them enough to play one side of a record or a single cylinder. And then I wind them between records. When I am done listening, I just walk away. At that point, the machine is probably less than ⅓ wound, and would probably slow down if I tried to play another record.

What I do think is important is to occasionally run the machines and keep them properly lubricated. If a machine sits for months or years without being played or serviced, the oil and grease may dry out, so it may not work as well when you finally do try to use it.

In 50 years of collecting, I have replaced many mainsprings -- but ONLY on newly acquired machines that already had damaged or weak springs. I have never replaced a spring on a machine I've owned for decades because it got weak. I've never had one break from over winding.

Running the machine down at the end of every playing session may make you feel good that you are "preserving" the springs, but what about the gears and bearings? You are definitely not working to preserve those since you are adding additional unneeded wear to those components.

On the flip side- letting them wind down is likely far better for all those parts than leaving them all "loaded". I've seen old gears suddenly lose their "teeth" in spots and let 'er rip. I suspect this is the cause.

If you don't want to just let it wind down- play another record till it does!

[alang]

With machines that I use more frequently I don't bother letting them wind down completely, but I wouldn't leave them fully wound either. On machines that I only play once in a blue moon - mostly for visitors - I let them wind down completely when done. I don't want them sit for longer periods with a lot of tension in the springs.

I only experienced one spring breaking, a DD A-80 that was fully wound when I bought it at auction. It broke while winding down.

I also only know of one spring disengaging at the center arbor, an early VV-IX at the Johnson Victrola Museum. They were in the habit of letting all their demo machines wind down every evening and only one time did they have this issue. I got it to re-engage after some fiddling. Now they only let their machines wind down until they slow down to prevent this from happening again.

Thanks
Andreas