Cheney Catalog?

[gramophoneshane]

The Cheney should have a Paillard motor (Marque Deposee), so parts should be very easy to come by. If the fibre gear is shot, it might be worth your while to get a new one made up. They're not expensive to have made, and it will last another life time.

[estott]

I'm not so certain that Cheney's used Palliard motors- the one in mine has no sign of a Palliard marking. BTW- mine is the Sheraton style on the left- there are two horns in the center chamber. The Modern Georgian on the right has a horn at each end, both are quite hefty machines- I've seen a pictured example with special hand painted ornamentation over the veneer- check this link http://tinyoldhouse.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... chine.html.

[OrthoSean]

Thanks Eric, although I swear the dataplate doesn't designate style "5". Now I have to check when I get home.

Shane, so they're Paillard motors? Interesting. Pardon my ignorance, I've just never had to work on a Cheney motor before. Just where would you get a fiber gear made, anyway? And how the heck can I take this thing apart with the springs wound up all the way without the risk of losing an eye? Seriously, it's wound TIGHT and won't budge no matter what I've tried so far.

Sean

[Valecnik]

I'd surely be interested in seeing the whole catalogue.

[gramophoneshane]

Well, put it this way- all the Cheney's I've seen have had Paillard motors, but whether they used something else in the early days I dont know. The Paillards are sometimes marked "Paillard" or have the "Marque Deposee" trademark, & I've seen one that was simply marked "Q.R.", but the casting should be painted grey or charcoal, and the barrel & gears will be nickel plated.
Your machine appears to have a Paillard speed control too.

Im not sure what the "proper" proceedure is to unwind a frozen motor. I've had success by either turning the turntable or governor by hand, but I have had one or two let go on me too. As long as your fingers are out of the way, it shouldn't be too bad
At worst, the worm gear on the governor will strip out the fibre gear completely, but I've never had any other damage to a motor as a result of it. The worst part is the noise it makes. You might have to change your undies

I've got no idea where you'd get a fibre gear over there, but I use a place called Otto Industries. They specialise in repairing vintage dash-board instruments, barometers etc. Apparently a lot of old car speedos also contained fibre gears.

[estott]

I've just posted all the images from the Cheney catalog and on the motor page it says "We make the motor in our own factories". The motor in my console does not have a painted casting, it is made from what appears to be an aluminum alloy and it is polished- when you lift the turntable off the motor is visible beneath and Cheney wanted it to look good.

Perhaps Cheney used Palliard motors in models sold abroad? It would have saved considerable weight in shipping.

[brianu]

I ended up finding a much nicer one in oak, although that one now complements someone else's collection, or at the very least his garage.

Haha, no, that oak Cheney is in my office, which has been turned into a nice little "machine room"!

The garage has mostly projects in it and a few machines I have for resale, but with the market being the way it is, they're probably going to just stay there for awhile...

I know, Bruce, none of it's junk! Well, there are two refrigerators in there that might be, since they don't play music, but one of them does a great job keeping the keg cold!

By the way, Brian, how to you get a motor like this apart if it's seized up and wound all the way without the spring barrels and everything else "zinging"? I can see it now....

Sean

carefully? beyond that, that's not really a question I can answer because it's not something I can do... rather, it's not something I'll ever try doing again, as it nearly resulted in stripping the gears and more importantly ripping off one or two appendages.

[OrthoSean]

Yeah, now I'm going to take a closer look at this motor on the workbench tonight. I'll report back with a couple of pics.

Sean

[gramophoneshane]

I've just posted all the images from the Cheney catalog and on the motor page it says "We make the motor in our own factories". The motor in my console does not have a painted casting, it is made from what appears to be an aluminum alloy and it is polished- when you lift the turntable off the motor is visible beneath and Cheney wanted it to look good.

Perhaps Cheney used Palliard motors in models sold abroad? It would have saved considerable weight in shipping.

Come to think of it, I've got one that "looks" polished too, except it's actually painted silver, which makes it look like aluminium. It is also stamped "P.F.R." on the bottom plate, along with the Paillard logo & trademark, and a serial number.
I just noticed that Sean's machine appears to have a Paillard crank, so it should have a female thread..

BTW Sean, if you leave the turntable on the motor & it does start to let go, you can control the rate that the motor unwinds by slowing the turntable down with your hand.

[estott]

Here are a couple quick shots of the motor in my Cheney- sorry for the lack of quality my battery is dying. Notice the fine tuning control on the governor speed arm. The casting is definitely polished, not painted.