Columbia Grafonola 15 mainspring repair

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Int3rstell
Victor Jr
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:44 am
Personal Text: "Her Master's Voice"

Columbia Grafonola 15 mainspring repair

Post by Int3rstell »

I've got a broken mainspring inside of my Grafonola 15 (single-barrel), the pear-shaped hole broke off (I had known that the mainspring was cracked on one side of the pear, I noticed when I first tore the machine down when I first got it to grease it).
I have removed the spring from the barrel and I got the broken end of the spring.
Mainspring is in a pear-pear configuration btw
Not my image, I got this one off an auction side from one in bad shape since my motor is disassembled, same motor nonetheless; You can't lay out the parts piece by piece, resistor by capacitor and expect to get an answer such as "Ah yes, that is a 1948 RCA Victor 65u"
Not my image, I got this one off an auction side from one in bad shape since my motor is disassembled, same motor nonetheless; You can't lay out the parts piece by piece, resistor by capacitor and expect to get an answer such as "Ah yes, that is a 1948 RCA Victor 65u"
Inside the 15 (not my image, but same motor).png (158.97 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Could I fix the spring with solder?
Where can I buy a reproduction spring and where could I buy one? (I was thinking of buying one from here but I'm too much of an amature to figure out which one I need: https://thephonographshop.com/collections/mainspring)
What tools would I need to make a new hole?

Sorry for the potato cam photos, at the time, I didn't have another camera that I could use and not wait 2 weeks for the photo.
Attachments
The label, it says 1918 on the bottom corner written in pencil
The label, it says 1918 on the bottom corner written in pencil
Label.png (166.01 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Blind-style horn door
Blind-style horn door
Front (open).png (161.13 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Direct photo of the left side
Direct photo of the left side
Left side.png (174.9 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Left side at an angle
Left side at an angle
Left side electric boogaloo.png (250.87 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Blind-style horn door
Blind-style horn door
Front (closed).png (151.88 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Grafonola up close.png
Grafonola up close.png (253.36 KiB) Viewed 748 times
Sounds and looks great
Sounds and looks great
Reproducer (blurry).png (337.83 KiB) Viewed 748 times

JerryVan
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 6380
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:08 pm
Location: Southeast MI

Re: Columbia Grafonola 15 mainspring repair

Post by JerryVan »

Int3rstell wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:17 am
Could I fix the spring with solder?
Where can I buy a reproduction spring and where could I buy one? (I was thinking of buying one from here but I'm too much of an amature to figure out which one I need: https://thephonographshop.com/collections/mainspring)
What tools would I need to make a new hole?
Solder? NO.

Contact the phono shop and tell them what machine you have. They'll likely know what you need.

As to repairing the old one, yes, you can. You'll need to heat about 2" of the spring end with a propane torch. Get it red hot, then let it cool slowly. This will soften the hard spring steel*. With a tin snip, (or a grinder), trim the broken end of the spring. (Notice the rounded end of the original.) You'll need 2 drill bits, a large one, and a smaller one, to match the end diameters of the original pear shaped hole. Drill two holes in the spring end, spaced apart to match the original pear hole**, and located exactly along the centerline of the spring. With a small file, file away the material between the two holes, to connect them and to form the pear shape.

*It will soften the steel, but the steel will still be fairly tough. Use sharp, high quality drill bits.

**The original pear shape may be so short the holes will overlap. If that's true, then space the holes far enough apart so that doesn't happen. It makes drilling the second hole near impossible.

Int3rstell
Victor Jr
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:44 am
Personal Text: "Her Master's Voice"

Re: Columbia Grafonola 15 mainspring repair

Post by Int3rstell »

Update: It isn't a 15 at all and it instead is a Grafonola Meteor, the mainspring measurements are ¾ x 0.025 x 10

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