How many records per full wind?

[JerryVan]

I removed, cleaned, and greased the springs a few months ago. Putting them back in the barrel there was always one tricky moment just before the centre dropped in: resistance and me wondering if I was stuck holding the spring down forever. Then the final section always slid in.

Happy to see this. I was hoping you didn't go to this trouble just for a "look see".

[Inigo]

Ha! It's always the same... That perilous moment!

[Marc Hildebrant]

After a machine cleaning, I am able to get four playing's of 4-minute records on my Amberola 30. One Spring.

Marc

[JohnM]

It is my understanding that springs eventually conform to their confinement in their drums. If you look on Youtube for videos of people putting new springs into drums, you will see that the new springs energetically uncoil into long flat steel ribbons and that these do not go willingly or easily into their drums--it can all be a bit volatile and exciting. The cleaning, re-installation, and re-lubrication of old springs is somewhat less exciting, or so I am told.

I was discussing one of my machines, one mostly in good working order, with a highly experienced fellow CAPS member. The machine, all original, serviced in the distant past, struggles to play 12" records, especially badly worn ones or electrically recorded ones. It will play only one 10" record per wind up. I asked my CAPS friend about replacing the spring. He advised leaving the machine alone--just don't play 12" records on it--problem solved. It is a hundred-year-old-plus machine. it is all original. It has been well-loved, used and used and used. It works quite well (although not perfectly). Why introduce the stress of a new spring to its worn mechanics? He said that the original spring if it were now taken out now would probably uncoil slightly to a size not a whole lot larger than the drum.

The “drums” are typically called ‘barrels’, as in ‘mainspring barrels’.

One of the problems with underwindinc a mainspring, is that when a spring is wound, it forces the grease between the coils of the mainspring to the outside of the spring, and when it is fully unwound, the grease is forced back to the center of the mainspring. This ensures that the mainspring is fully lubricated. While any spring old or new may break at any time due to the crystalline nature of the metal, a common cause of spring breakage is when the coils of the spring aren’t lubricated well against one another and they stick or bind to one another and then suddenly release, sending shock into the mainspring while under tension and causing it to break. It’s actually beneficial to crank them up almost fully and allow them to run down until they stop.

[JohnM]

It is my understanding that springs eventually conform to their confinement in their drums. If you look on Youtube for videos of people putting new springs into drums, you will see that the new springs energetically uncoil into long flat steel ribbons and that these do not go willingly or easily into their drums--it can all be a bit volatile and exciting. The cleaning, re-installation, and re-lubrication of old springs is somewhat less exciting, or so I am told.

I was discussing one of my machines, one mostly in good working order, with a highly experienced fellow CAPS member. The machine, all original, serviced in the distant past, struggles to play 12" records, especially badly worn ones or electrically recorded ones. It will play only one 10" record per wind up. I asked my CAPS friend about replacing the spring. He advised leaving the machine alone--just don't play 12" records on it--problem solved. It is a hundred-year-old-plus machine. it is all original. It has been well-loved, used and used and used. It works quite well (although not perfectly). Why introduce the stress of a new spring to its worn mechanics? He said that the original spring if it were now taken out now would probably uncoil slightly to a size not a whole lot larger than the drum.

The “drums” are typically called ‘barrels’, as in ‘mainspring barrels’.

One of the problems with underwinding a mainspring, is that when a mainspring is wound, it forces the grease between the coils of the mainspring to the outside of the mainspring, and when it is fully unwound, the grease is forced back to the center of the mainspring. This ensures that the mainspring is fully lubricated. While any mainspring old or new may break at any time due to the crystalline nature of the metal, a common cause of mainspring breakage is when the coils of the mainspring aren’t lubricated well against one another and they stick or bind to one another and then suddenly release, sending shock into the mainspring while under tension and causing it to break. It’s actually beneficial to crank them up almost fully and allow them to run down until they stop to keep them fully lubricated..