An Orthophonic Reproducer with No Cracks on Backside!

[ALVES]

Drilling as mentioned may be the only answer .It will be difficult to hold it in place to do this and you have to be careful that nothing else is damaged ,diaphragm being attached to the other end !
You need a drill bit to be as central as possible and smaller than the threads which if successful you should then pic the metal out of the grooves . But taking it to a watch repairers person would be sensible if you don't have the skills to risk trying it.
Trying to cut a new slot may just jar the diaphragm too much

[De Soto Frank]

Cliff,

You might also try taking a common wooden pencil, with a red / pink rubber eraser, and filing / sanding the eraser to a cone-point, then pressing the eraser tip into the screw stub, and trying to back it out... again, with firm pressure ( support the opposite side of the needle chuck ).

The rubber will conform to the surface of the screw shank, and may provide enough grip to back the stub out.

[Henry]

If there is visible screw thread inside the needle hole, you just might be able to get the points of a very small, fine-tipped pliers or tweezer in there to grip and turn that broken-off remnant out of the hole. I once salvaged a very expensive camera lens using this technique, but in that case I did have a bit more room to work in!

[52089]

The diaphragm looks to be in excellent condition. Unfortunately, I can't play it yet because the needle tightening screw was broken off. Haven't had much success with removing the remains of a broken needle screw. Any ideas?

Cliff

Bring it to your local big box home improvement store and try to find a small size "screw extractor" that might work.

[CDBPDX]

Lots of good advice here. Thanks! The main problem with removing these, as I have come across, is the screw was either rusted solid or cross threaded and wedged in very tightly, which is what caused the screw to break in the first place. My efforts with a tiny easy out were thwarted by the effort it took to try to turn the remains of the broken screw once the easy out was applied, causing the easy out to snap.

The one "success" I had was on a Victor No.2 where I simply ground down the needle bar around the screw far enough to grab the broken screw with pliers and unscrew it that way. Fortunately, that needle bar had a lot of metal at the screw hole and the little bit I ground off wasn't pretty but didn't affect functionality. I'm reluctant to try such ham fisted methods on this beautiful reproducer. I think a watch repair person would be the best idea.

Thanks!

Cliff

[EarlH]

Wouldn't it be easier to find a good needle bar? There are all kinds of junk sound boxes out there, and it's going to have to come apart to tap out that screw anyway, or risk messing up the diaphragm.

[52089]

APSCO offers a tap out service for about $10 on their website. I'd call them before proceeding, particularly since some board members have noted that their turnaround time has become excessive.

[mattrx]

APSCO offers a tap out service for about $10 on their website. I'd call them before proceeding, particularly since some board members have noted that their turnaround time has become excessive.

John Nagy at phonographs.org did one for me a few years ago and charged around $10 with a very fast turn around. Steve Medved told me that he could do it if I run across another one with this problem. Both are good choices.

As for the screw extractor, I could not find one small enough for a needle bar thumb screw and I spent a good bit of time looking.

FYI.

Matt