Amberola V Adjustments

[VintageTechnologies]

For my spring replacement I used an appropriate length of guitar string in the thickest gauge I could find-solid, not wound.
It's worked well for me in two different machines

What thickness is the guitar wire that you used?

[barnettrp21122]

For my spring replacement I used an appropriate length of guitar string in the thickest gauge I could find-solid, not wound.
It's worked well for me in two different machines

What thickness is the guitar wire that you used?

I used the "18P" guitar string. Sorry, I don't know how this relates to actual thickness. I just asked for the thickest non-wound string at the music store (Guitar Center) and this is what we ended up with. I'd say it is slightly thinner than the original piece, but is easily installed and has worked very well. It certainly takes care of any residual flutter!
B.

[FloridaClay]

Having trouble picturing in my head what this wire is, how it fits, and where it is located. Does anybody have a picture? Just curious.

Clay

[barnettrp21122]

Here are a couple pictures and descriptions. Hope this helps!
B.

[OrthoSean]

Thanks for those photos, Bob! Having never done any real fooling with my V, I think I'm going to pop the gear cover off later and check mine to see if it needs a wire.

Thanks again!
Sean

[barnettrp21122]

You can easily tell if your wire might be broken-just rotate the stopped mandrel a bit one way or the other. Upon release if it doesn't quickly return to the neutral central position then the wire's probably broken.
Glad to help!
Bob

[Chuck]

When I was in high school, my beer hiding place
was inside of an old radio. Plenty of room
back inside there, but one time something
sharp poked through one of those thin 16 oz cans
that Miller used to put their malt liquor in.

That poked a tiny hole in the can and Miller malt
sprayed around inside the radio. It did not ruin
anything, and eventually got cleaned up, but my
closet smelled like beer for a long time after that.

As far as something to quiet up noisy gears
try this: Get some STP automotive oil additive.
Put a little bit of it on the end of a screwdriver and drazzle a few drops on the offending gears. It stays on there pretty good
too.

Chuck

[gregbogantz]

That wire, by the way, is the flutter filter spring that I mentioned in another posting where we were talking about flutter in Edison cylinder players. That spring wire, combined with the mass of the flywheel it connects to establishes a pretty effective flutter filter in the Amberola V. The machine will work without this wire, but the flutter will be worse if the wire is not properly installed and working.

[OrthoSean]

Well, I came home from work earlier and went right into the V. Spring present and perfect, so no problems there. I decided since I had the cover off to put a bit of heavier oil on the gears which were just slightly "whirry". That helped nicely. I used clock oil that a friend of mine who restores antique clocks gave me a supply of, I have no idea what it's called, but it's just heavy enough to stay in place, it works well on feedscrews as well. I also gave the governor shafts some regular (light) oil and turned it on for a few to watch. I noticed just a slight bit of unbalance in the governor and rebalanced the springs. Five minutes worth of work and now it's playing better than I thought possible. Honestly, it didn't really have much flutter, but there was a little. It's now apparently gone, I played a few Blue Amberols that I'd assumed were just out of round, they weren't, it was just that little governor adjustment.

Sean

[Edisone]

New question: Between the rightmost stanchion & the mandrel is a collar with a set-screw, about the same as what you'll find at the right end of a Fireside's mandrel. I cannot see its purpose, beyond keeping the mandrel assembly from being pushed farther to the left, but the leftmost bearing takes care of that. It appears to do nothing but add needless friction. Does this belong ?