My New Edison Amberola 50

[CDBPDX]

Just brought home an Edison Amberola 50 and a box of Edison cylinders. They've been sitting in a basement for the last 60 years or so and are quite grungy. I cranked it up and it seems to work, so I put a cylinder on it and it sounds awful. Need a new stylus. This is a double spring motor and it spins for a long time, a lot longer than I thought it would. It seems it was put away with the springs wound up almost all the way an it makes a loud clunking noise as the motor runs, I suspect the springs are stuck together and sprining apart as it unwinds.

Needs a little TLC, but it seems to be all there and working. My first cylinder player. I'm pretty excitied!

Any ideas where I might find a diagram of the motor? A stylus?

Thanks!

Cliff

[NEFaurora]

You will love it. I promise.. I have two Amberol 30's and a 75, I'm missing the 50! I also have a few Diamond Disc machines, C-19, C-150 and some Edison 2 Minute cyliner Homes (2), and a 2 Minute Edison standard.

All I collect is Edison.. That is all..

The cylinder machines are highly addictive! Also, The cylinders seem to take up less space than records for some reason, Don't ask me why... I'm still trying to figure that one out..

Edison Cylinder machines are highly addictive!

Tony K.

[flashpanblue]

Hi Cliff,
Congratulations on your new machine!! They are great machines. I have two of them in oak. Before you spend money on a new stylus take some time to clean up the reproducer. The stylus may be O.K. you may just need a new set of gaskets(cost about $2.00). Sometimes when a machiine is left in a basement all manner of critters can crawl up from the horn into the reproducer(moths for instance) muffling the sound. This reproducer like all Edison reproducers needs to have both vertical and horizontal travel. Sometimes the large pivot screw at the front of the reproducer seizes up, causing the record to skip. If everything else is properly adjusted on the reproducer and you are getting poor sound or an echo, then it is time for a new stylus.
cheers
Pete

[CDBPDX]

Pretty sure the stylus is bad.

[flashpanblue]

Wow!!! Your not kidding, it looks like the end of the stylus is snapped right off!

[CDBPDX]

I checked the reproducer inside and it looks pretty good. Actually has good amplification, even if it is horribly garbled. The speed is slow and inconsistant. Gonna have to work on that.

[Jerry B.]

The sound you hear from the motor as it winds down is commonly called "chugging" and is caused by hard dried grease in the spring barrels. The spring should wind down continuously and the chugging is caused when the old grease binds the spring momentarily creating the rumble sound. I would suggest that you clean and re-grease the springs before you replace them. Be ABSOLUTELY sure the motor is run down COMPLETELY before you take things apart.

Congratulations on the Amberola 50. They are a wonderful little Edison and they play like a million bucks! Remember to play only four minute celluloid cylinders such as Edison Blue Amberols and never a wax record.

Jerry Blais

[Andersun]

Be ABSOLUTELY sure the motor is run down COMPLETELY before you take things apart. Jerry Blais

Jerry is right! To add comment to this:
The speed governor is on the top deck and if you take it apart without the spring being all the way wound down, it will allow the angled cut brass worm wheel to turn into a little saw which can easily cut into flesh and destroy itself by hitting the worm gear on the governor. I learned the hard way when I was 16 years old.

Steve

[CDBPDX]

I already did that. I was taking the motor apart on the dining table with several layers of paper underneath to keep the tablecloth clean. I took off the cylinder and the gear slipped over enough to disengage the governor shaft and WHING! a big hole in my wifes favorite table cloth!

[Andersun]

Look at the positive side, table cloths can be replaced, fingers can't! A good learning lesson!