The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

You're lucky!

Yes, simply use pliers to tighten the innermost coil so that the pin MUST pop into the hole when the mainspring slides around the arbor.

First, definitely remove the mainspring, clean it thoroughly, and relubricate with good grease. I've used lithium, plain old bearing grease, and a white lube. No trouble with any of them. Do both mainsprings.

George P.

Well. I was confused for a second. I opened one of my "good" springs to see how it compared and and noticed it connects completely different from the "broken" one. It's bent in a u shape. Opened the 3rd spring and it looks like the 1st, but wound a bit tighter around the center spindle(?). I assume this negates the need to wind the spring in the opposite direction.

I have a victrola with the same motor. All the springs turn the same way, or at least I think they do.

The center mainspring in your image needs to have its innermost end slightly reshaped to conform to the arbor. The other two look okay.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:The center mainspring in your image needs to have its innermost end slightly reshaped to conform to the arbor. The other two look okay.

George P.

With the 2 springs in one barrel type, the springs are wound in opposite directions, so I thought the middle one was supposed to be like that. Are they all supposed to look/wind identically?

All three of your mainsprings appear to wind counterclockwise on the arbor. Just replace them as you found them and you should be okay.

George P.