HMV Oil Bath Motors - Do they ever break?

[JerryVan]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

[Garret]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

[Garret]

Also, my photos are gone already??

[poodling around]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

Can you please explain what you mean when you say 'sorry, but this is all conjecture' ?

I am just puzzled. Thanks.

[poodling around]

Also, my photos are gone already??

I can see your photo's on this thread still .......

[Garret]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

Can you please explain what you mean when you say 'sorry, but this is all conjecture' ?

I am just puzzled. Thanks.

All my respect to JerryVan.

"Tells you essentially...it would seem reasonable...Reading about...they seem..."

The photos didn’t show on my computer this morning, but now they’re visible on another device.

[JerryVan]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

Yes, of course it is. Until the unit can be disassembled, everything is simply conjecture.

[Garret]

The fact that it runs at all, tells you that essentially, it's not "broken". It would seem reasonable, to me at least, that the issue is a matter of either adjustment, or a component gummed up with dried oil. Reading about these motors in the past, they seem tremendously over engineered and nearly indestructible.

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

Yes, of course it is. Until the unit can be disassembled, everything is simply conjecture.

Thanks for the understanding.

[JerryVan]

Sorry, but this is all conjecture.

Yes, of course it is. Until the unit can be disassembled, everything is simply conjecture.

Thanks for the understanding.

Yup. No problem.

[anchorman]

Springs are a wear part. I’d tend to agree that the leather gasket in the pump might go bad too. Graham Rankin had some new cup washers made from Buna-N rubber for the garrard super oil pumps. If I owned an HMV, I would probably consult with him about designing and making new oil pump washers for the HMV.

I’ve not seen an HMV oil bath motor in person, but my garrard Super motor was just as easy to service as any other motor I’ve ever taken apart. Perhaps easier? I can’t imagine HMV would have designed their motor to be any more difficult to service than the others, which in my experience (limited to the portables) are very easy to work on.

I cant imagine having any phonograph motor in my possession and not taking it apart to clean and make sure it is happy. Too many difficult to replace parts that could needlessly wear if they are not getting oil. At the least Make sure your pump washer is good, drain the oil, maybe use the lightest synthetic motor oil available, in order to help remove oxidation and deposits from old oil in the motor. If there are any small oil passages anywhere, you will want to confirm they’re not blocked, and that oil is flowing freely everywhere that it should. If the pump washer is drying out and failing, the bits from it could clog up the oil passages. If the design is anything like the garrard super, the pump simply pushes oil to a small reservoir at the top, and gravity takes care of the rest, so again, make sure that all holes/passages from the reservoir are open and allowing oil to get where it needs to.