The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

phonogfp wrote:Victor II No.41998 also has a cast iron turntable. You seem to be missing the spacer below the brake, as seen in the photos below...

George P.

Mine had the 2-piece brake which was later replaced by the one-piece brake that you have. I'm starting to wonder if I have the shaft/turntable for the later-type brake. Your pics (thanks for those, by the way!) show pretty much the same shaft and height as mine. I suppose the easiest fix is to get the wrong-style one piece brake.

YOu only need the spacer. the bullet brake is still the same but the flat steel case protector behind the throw switch comes off and is replaced with the spacer. YOu will need longer screws to complete the job.

blizz

I checked a few Victors and the distance from the case to the lower edge of the turntable ranged from 5/16" to 7/16". Do you have any rubber washers between the motor and the underside of the motor board? Washers will lower the turntable a bit. And, as was previously mentioned, the brake should have a base. To the best of my knowledge, all humpback Vic II's should have a 10" cast turntable and yours looks correct to me. I did notice that your crank is not a Victor and yours looks very thick where it passes through the cabinet. Adding washers lowers the motor and it may make if difficult to use your current crank.
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The Data book lumps together information about the Vic E and Vic II. (Also the M and III, MS and IV, and D and V) When information is combined, it makes it difficult to discuss an issue like the one in this thread. I have personally never seen a Vic II with an 8" turntable but it may be possible they do exist. If you own a Vic E do you actually have a Vic II or a machine that was advertised as a "Victor the Second"? Jerry

[quote="Jerry B." I have personally never seen a Vic II with an 8" turntable but it may be possible they do exist. [/quote]

I've never seen one either.

George P.

It looks to me like the spindle may be wrong. The cross pin looks to be sitting rather high above the motorboard. It seems to me like the pin is usually even with or slightly below the top of the motorboard. Perhaps other people who have humpback IIs could examine their machines and share their observations. I had the next model of Vic II after the humpback, but I don't remember the details as it was sold nearly 10 years ago. I do know that it was very similar including the cast turntable but that's as much as I can say.
As for gleaning absolute information from the Victor Data Book, I don't think that is possible. I have seen too many things on original machines that don't correlate with the info in the book. Victor like other manufacturers had (so far) undocumented variations because of model overlaps or to use up parts. This comment is not meant to show any disrespect for the writer or his research, so please don't misunderstand and flame me about it. I have the book, I use it often, I have learned much from it and I respect the time, effort and hard work that went into it. I thank him for taking the time to produce it.

Jim

I too have a Vic 2 that the turn table sat to high, not as high as yours. Mine is from the original family so it was never messed with. I found if you take the spindle out and remove the ball on the bottom it fits a lot better. Also it still plays fine. Hope this helps

WickedMessenger wrote:This humpback Victor II has a puzzling problem and I'm hoping someone on the Forum can help me diagnose what's wrong. First of all, it is very clear that the phonograph was in the hands of an enterprising Mr. Fixit who never let not having the right parts stop him from getting the thing to operate. Thus far I've had to replace the governor assembly from the butchered, Frankenstein governor that was apparently home made, and rebuild the reproducer, which was assembled with random o-rings, a home-made rear flange and phillips-head screws. Anyway, the turntable sits about a half inch above the brake and I'd like to get it down to the right height so I can use the brake. I either have the wrong platter, the wrong spindle shaft, or both. Here are photos of the relevant parts and we'll go from there. Any help is greatly appreciated.

phonojim wrote:It looks to me like the spindle may be wrong. The cross pin looks to be sitting rather high above the motorboard. It seems to me like the pin is usually even with or slightly below the top of the motorboard. Perhaps other people who have humpback IIs could examine their machines and share their observations.

I included a photo of mine to show how high the cross pin rides above the motorboard. I bought it in 1974 out of an attic in Lakeville, NY. It was never messed with.

George P.

I have a European Victor II so I am not sure if this will help.

It has a cast iron turntable very much like yours, there is a spacer under the brake and I replaced small felt pads between the motor and motor (wood) board. These felt spacers do not account for much more than 1/16th of an inch but the end result is that the T bar in the spindle is about ⅛ inch above the wood. The crank shaft is the narrow style but it still is centered.

If you choose to replace the spindle I would pay very close attention to the gearing as having the gears line up is more important than a turntable which is a little too high.

Best of Luck
Bruce

I also have a Vic II humpback. The spacer for the buller brake consist of two pieces not one like in the later bullet brakes. The spacers do not look as thick as in George's picture, but they do work. The brake pad/leather only hits the lower corner of the turntable, so this may have been a design flaw that has later been fixed with the thicker spacer.

Does the problem machine have the small spacer under the bullet brake?

I agree with others that suggested to replace or double up the felt washers between motor frame and motor board. This should lower the spindle enough to fix the problem. I simply use the heavy duty felt pads that are sold as chair sliders.

Good luck
Andreas

alang wrote:I also have a Vic II humpback. The spacer for the buller brake consist of two pieces not one like in the later bullet brakes. The spacers do not look as thick as in George's picture, but they do work. The brake pad/leather only hits the lower corner of the turntable, so this may have been a design flaw that has later been fixed with the thicker spacer.

Does the problem machine have the small spacer under the bullet brake?

I agree with others that suggested to replace or double up the felt washers between motor frame and motor board. This should lower the spindle enough to fix the problem. I simply use the heavy duty felt pads that are sold as chair sliders.

Good luck
Andreas

I thought at first that the felt spacers between the motor & motor board must be missing or wrong thickness, but since the crank appears to line up with the hole in the case (missing the escutcheon) those spacers may not be the problem. Hmmm... maybe the spindle was swapped out at some point? (scratching my head)

For whatever it's worth, I have a humpback Vic II (serial 23xxx).
1) Its 10 inch cast iron turntable sits 5/16 inch above the top of the motor board.
2) Brake has no spacer or any evidence of a spacer and touches on the lower half of the turn table edge (brake is similar to the picture posted by fmblizz).
3) The spindle height above the motor board is ¾ inch and the little crossbar is only 1/32 inch above the motor board.

(disclaimer: I'm assuming mine is original.)