The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Ronnie, I'll buy your broken crank.

Rich Gordon

It was a e-Bay sale, but they weren't collectors. They had this one machine for over 20 years, or that what they said. They did refund me 125.00 on the crank.

Rich,
I hope I can fix it?

That is a problem with many of the flat cranks, I have seen several broken ones, especially the Victor Victrola VV-IV AND VI cranks. Always a good idea to have a spare on hand.

Ronnie, the best metal glue I have found is J B Weld. I used it on a broken Edison support and it worked great. It also is dark when hardens and can be sanded or filed so the you can hardly see the repair.

Rich Gordon

rgordon939 wrote:Ronnie, the best metal glue I have found is J B Weld. I used it on a broken Edison support and it worked great. It also is dark when hardens and can be sanded or filed so the you can hardly see the repair.

Rich Gordon

Thanks Rich. That's what I am going to try.

I do not know whether JBWeld, or any other adhesive, would succeed without internal reinforcement, as mentioned above.

A crank is subject to far more stress than any stationary part: that is why they redesigned them into a sturdier form with the model A...

Bill

I agree. But the problem with pinning it has to do with proper and accurate alignment of the two pieces. Unless they are in perfect registration, the "fix" will not only look bad but also be weak. If anybody has a good technique for addressing this issue, please share it!

If it was me, I'd buy another crank and pocket the difference from the $125 refund. A Home crank should not be all that hard to find. JB Weld may be good, but that crank will be subject to a lot of torque. If the crank suddenly breaks while winding, I would not necessarily trust the spring pawl to do its job to keep the spring from unwinding really fast. I have seen some pawls that barely catch under the best of circumstances.

I think the question of torque is a great question to think about. So here is what I found on J B Weld's website. "J-B Weld has a tensile strength of 3960 PSI". Do you think that's strong enough?

Rich Gordon

Hello,
JB Weld is good but without an internal pin I don't think it would hold. You could clamp both pieces back together in a vise. Then drill a hole from the opposite side of the break on the shaft through and into the handle piece. Then use something like a steel nail with the head cut off as a reinforcing rod. Apply JB weld to the hole and the break and clamp together with the rod inserted. If the rod sticks out from the shaft side when the epoxy is dry it can be ground off flush. A little black paint will blend in the repairs.
Pete