The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I don't think that is the correct reproducer or soundbox. I believe it should look similar to the soundbox on a VV 2-55. Most of them will be marked on the back as RCA Victor.

It looks like a nice machine once you get it restored it will be a great machine. That machine was probably made back when Herbert Hoover was President, and Prohibition was in force.

Wow, I love it, and I hope you get it going, maybe with the proper orthophonic reproducer. I love how small it is, and all steel. Compare yours to my "2-19" which is an ordinary crude plywood box with a fabric horn and generic tone arm (plus "Walters-Conley" reproducer). The biggest similarity is the ID tag!

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91EWjuP2f4g[/youtubehd]

Hello everybody. Thanks to those for helping out and posting info for me and also just for checking out my restoration. I'm back with a pretty big update. Thanks to Curt A. I drilled out the rivets and got the spring and barrel all cleaned up nice. Once it was all regreased I closed it back up with small screws and some nuts. However when I cut off my stripped nut earlier on the restoration I cut some pretty important threads. The barrel axel ( for lack of a better term) that the winding gear and spring barrel set on had threads at the top to hold it's mech plate together and keep the springs tension from driving the mech plate apart. I ended up drilling out the rivet holding that on and buying a ⅜" bolt and drilled out the two mech plate holes for the bolt to go through. This replaced that Axel and also was able to hold the plates together. After that I was able to test out the motor but alas the spring has worn out a bit. It's not strong enough to spin against the speed governor and also not strong enough to keep spinning once the reproducer's weight is on it. But I kept at the restoration because I had all the other stuff save for a spring and a replacement leather handle. So I stripped the old paint sanded off as much of the rust as I could and put down a layer of nice satin brown rustoleum 2 in 1. I also removed as much rust as I could from the exterior hardware without ruining the patina on the pieces. I have it all back together for now and thought I'd show you guys what I'd done while I wait to order the (hopefully) final pieces.

Looks great! All you need is the correct Orthophonic reproducer, and this machine is complete! And they sound great too. I've heard one on Youtube, and it sounds pretty good considering its size! I'm curious though, about how it sounds with the current reproducer.

Great, i love the brown. Such a cool little box. Lots of great work so far, yes can't wait to hear it!

I'm back with videos! But not the videos I'd like to post. After replacing the spring I'm still not able to place the reproducer on the record without it slowing the whole motor to a halt. I'm definitely getting more power out of the motor because the speed governor can barely be turned up past the slowest setting before it's weights start clicking against the top motor plate. I'm unfortunately out of ideas on whats wrong with it. I did do some research and saw it could be the speed governor or the reproducer. However, with the knowledge I have at hand I have no clue where to start... I have pictures of the reproducer diaphragm as well as the two videos below showing the issue and then showing the motor running outside of the soundbox. Anything you guys could tell me will help!

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u96qrxKRnpQ[/youtubehd]

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOg8KSixzuc[/youtubehd]

There could be several problems with the governor: either the whole governor is positioned too far away from the pad, allowing it to run too fast at a low setting, or, conversely, the speed regulator may be improperly aligned with the pad, causing the same effect. Also, the governor springs may be weak, allowing the weights to move out too far at low speed. You might check what your turntable speed actually is when the pointer is moved midway (which is approximately where 78 rpm should be).

I also noticed that, at the 'borderline' setting, the weights seem to be hitting intermittently at a specific rate, every few seconds. This might indicate that one or more of the bearings is worn, which could also account for the loss of power.

I hope this observation is of some help.

Bill

Thanks for the information and ideas Lucius1958. Setting the speed in the middle gave me a little over 100 RPM. Definitely way too fast. The bearings going bad makse sense because when free from the rest of the gearing it does stop quicker than I would have thought. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way for me to move the pad itself closer to the governor but I should be able to at least move the governor. But about the bearings any suggestions how to either fix them or where I would look to find those? Thanks again!

*update*
I managed to get the bearings out of their little holes. I cleaned them up as best I could as well as their mounting space. I re-oiled and re-greased them and popped them back in. I feel like they move worse now...

I calibrated the governor as best I could but I feel like I need a new pad for the speed regulator. I would move the regulator but it's riveted on...

I had read somewhere that it could be the reproducer causing issues scraping up the record. But I don't see it causing any damage to the record I'm testing it with. I also tested the motor with my Brunswick reproducer and the same slowing occurred.