Speed adjustment on Columbia Grafonola E-2

[ejackett]

I recently purchased a Columbia Grafonola E-2 with a 3 spring motor.
The motor runs great, but when I put a 78 rpm record on the turntable
and set the speed indicator on the center position between slow and fast
it's plays to fast so I set it at the slow speed all thw way to the left
and it still sounds to fast (not as fast as the center position). I have
read that columbia records were made to be played at 80rpm, I was just
wondering if there machines were also set to play at 80 on the slowest
setting. I want to be able to play both 78 & 80 on this machine, Does
anyone have any suggestions??
Gene

[De Soto Frank]

Take a peek at the motor, specifically the governor weights: if they are a "lozenge" shape ( round disc that is thick in the center, and tapers towards the edge ), they are likely made if lead, and are probably flaking and shedding material.

If the weights look whitish and "flaky", and you see similar whitish stuff deposited on the innards of cabinet, in a line that runs under the spinning weights, then this is indeed the case.

I have three Grafonolas ( as of this writing ), and two of them have this issue. One is a "Jewel" table model, the other is a 3-spring "Mignonette" floor model. The third machine is a "Nonpareil", whose governor has cylindrical governor weights, of a material that does not decompose and flake-off.


It is possible to adjust the speed pointer on these machines, but I will have to take a look at one to refresh my memory before trying to describe it.

I think it was mostly pre-electric (Viva-Tonal) Columbia discs that ran at 80 rpm... in any case, even if the center mark on the speed control dial is 80 rpm, the setting for 78 rpm shouldn't be very far away, assuming that the smallest division on the scale represents 1 or 2 rpm....

My "Nonpareil" has a speed indicator plate that just has a center mark, and end-marks "S" (slow) and "F" (fast), with no individual divisions in between...

I reset the pointer on my Jewel, which had to be set way off the scale for 78 RPM when I first got it. Now I have it set to 78-80 RPM on center.

[ejackett]

Thanks Frank, I just looked and they are Lozenge shaped but flat all across
and there is no flaking, they look to be steel not lead.I also looked underneath
to see if there was any kind of adjustment I could make on the govenor and
couldn't see any. If you find anything please let me know and thanks it's
appreciated.
Gene

[De Soto Frank]

Okay, I found some pics... first of all, we need to determine if your machine is similar to what I have worked-on.

Take a look at the photos below, and see if the controls and governor set-up are similar to your E-2...

[ejackett]

Frank, mine is completely different, so I'm posting 2 pics
1. the bedplate showing speed and start/stop
2. the govenor set up
Gene

[FloridaClay]

Columbias are a bit of a pain to figure out when it comes to speed adjustment when your first do it. Generally speaking what you adjust in my limited experience with them is the position of the end of the speed adjustment lever itself on the rod running down to the governor where the lever attaches to that rod, not the governor itself. It took me awhile to figure that out and get it done on my Eclipse Columbia table model, which is a little different than yours in design, but I suspect the principle is probably the same. Pretty easy to do, but hard to describe, so I will leave doing a better job of "how to" instructions to somebody who has one set up like yours and with better skills at describing the process.

Clay

[De Soto Frank]

Gene,

Can you grab another picture of the underside of your machine, like the bottom picture, only showing more of the control levers where they come through from the top-plate ?

Thanks !

Frank

PS: Thanks for the pics of your set-up, saved me from writing a lot of proceedure that would not have been helpful to you, and probably just confused the issue !

[ejackett]

Ok Frank here goes, 3 more pics, hope they help
Gene

[De Soto Frank]

Okay...

I'm going to go-out on a limb here...

I wonder if the pivot-screw for the speed-regulating arm has an eccentric machined in it, such that if you turned the screw-head on the top-side, it would move the pivot-point/fulcrum of the lever laterally ?

If so, play around with that, and see if the brings the pointer more into register with the scale... once you've found a happy place, you would hold the top screw with a screw-driver, and lock-down the hex-nut from the bottom-side to keep the adjustment in place.

Aside from that possibility, it seems that the only means of adjustment would be by bending a lever somewhere, and I'm not sure which one to suggest...

Another "maybe" is that the felt pads on either side of the yoke are worn enough to cause fast running ?

Let me stare at your pictures some more...

[ejackett]

Ok Frank sounds good to me I will check that out and let ya know. I sure do appreciate
the help. Too bad they aren't as easy as Victor's
Gene