What is the direction of 1915 VV-X Victrola mainsprings?

[apruizii]

I took on the challenge of replacing a broken mainspring (the one with the gear attached) from one of the barrels of a 1915 VV-X Victrola. This is my first time and it's been a little trickier than I thought. I unraveled the broken spring in a plastic recycling bin and noticed it was wound counter clockwise just like the one in the other barrel. I put in the new one with new grease and noticed that the crank was hard to wind. So I figured the new spring needed to be wound clockwise. I unraveled the new spring and put it back clockwise and noticed it would disengage from the other barrel when turning the crank. After looking at the arbors of both barrels I noticed the location of the beveled edge to catch the spring are the same for winding the springs counterclockwise. Hmmmm, so why was it hard to turn the crank when I initially installed the new spring counter-clockwise?

Can someone please verify what is the proper direction for each of the mainsprings?

I've included a couple of photos for reference. The barrel on the left is the barrel with the new spring and the barrel on the right is the barrel with the original good spring.

Thanks!

AR

[JerryVan]

You have the barrel on the right wound correctly. The left side barrel is wound incorrectly I believe. Don't know if you had something binding making it hard to wind, but a new spring will have a fair amount more tension, which is why it's usually advisable to replace both springs. You'll likely find the the old spring will wind to the end and only then begin winding the new spring. That makes it really tough on the old spring.

BTW, having installed the new spring backwards, it's inner end is now bent out of shape. You'll have to reform it, to once again hug the winding arbor or it's going to be a real challenge to get it to stay hooked to the arbor.

One more thing, use waaay more grease!

[apruizii]

Jerry,

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it!

AR

[stetam]

When your looking at the spring barrels put them in the same direction. When you assemble them the direction will be reversed if that makes sense to you. Also, newly greased and assembled spring barrels will wind hard until the grease is distributed correctly, OR if you put in too much grease.

Steve

[apruizii]

Stetam,

Thanks for the feedback. Reversing the direction of the new spring will make it counter-clockwise which matches the direction of the other spring.

AR

[Curt A]

In this age where we all have cameras immediately at our disposal... Always take pictures FIRST, before you disassemble anything. It will save you a lot of trouble in the future...

Also, to get the end of the new spring to conform closely to the drive shaft/winding arbor to hook it, you might have to take the temper out of the first few inches of the spring by heating it with a torch to red hot and then letting it cool gradually... Once the temper is removed, it should bend easily. You might be able to bend it with some vice grips without taking the temper out, but springs can be very hard to bend, especially into a tight circle.

[apruizii]

Curt,

Thanks for the help. I was able to hook the end to the arbor tightly enough so the arbor would stay hooked without having to take any temper out. The VV-X motor is working fine now. This has really been a great learning experience.

AR

[JerryVan]

Happy to see this! Have fun!