Columbia Grafonola No.112 rebuild problems

[toups]

I acquired a Columbia Grafonola No. 112 suitcase portable in fairly good shape from freecycle.

The initial problem was that the mainspring was disconnected. Since the end was bent backwards, I assume someone spun the platter by hand when the spring was fully unwound. I managed to reattach the spring, but it broke on the first winding due to damage at the bend. To make a long story short, I cut off the end and drilled/ground a new hole/slot and reattached the spring after repacking with fresh grease. The good news is that was successful. At least it is currently working.

Now for the bad news, since the mica diaphragm was separating, I decided to rebuild it while I was at it. Made a homemade spanner wrench and removed the retaining ring, but the ring broke in several spots after/during removal. I believe that I may have succeeded in gluing the ring to repair it enough to be functional. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement retaining ring? (Although I believe that my current repair will be functional if not pretty.)

The second bad news is that when attempting to remove the nut from the needle bar that attaches the diaphragm, the screw shaft snapped off where it enters the needle bar. (The screw shaft was highly corroded) Is the shaft machined on the needle bar or is it inserted? Do you think I can drill and tap for a new screw shaft or is there not enough metal there? Any other suggestions? Does anyone know the thread size? It appears a replacement needle bar might be available from a few sources so I may end up trying to order a replacement.

FWIW, removing the reproducer from the tone arm was, ah, fun. Initially it wouldn't rotate, but penetrating oil and time fixed that. Note to remove the reproducer rotate the needle so that it points back down the tone arm. (I initially misinterpreted the instructions to make the needle parallel to the tonearm to mean that it pointed along the tone arm. Luckily, I figured it out before breaking anything.)

P.S. I have found this site to be quite helpful in getting me pointed in the right direction!

[toups]

Managed to pick up a rebuilt reproducer on an auction site for a reasonable price, so my reproducer rebuild is on hold.

Now to make sure the arm moves freely, a little polishing and oil is probably needed.