The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Is the flywheel on the far left of the machine, closer to the governor? There is a wire that is inside it, but there is no way to remove it. Am I looking at the correct area? I’m attaching a picture. Is the flywheel on the far left? Is that the wire inside?

Also, the holes above and below the wire don’t line up with the wire. It’s confusing and not clear how it come out, u less I’m not looking at the correct thing and the flywheel is something else. Thanks for your help everyone!!!!

That is indeed the flywheel shown in the foreground of your picture. You can see the balance spring inside it.

There is a circular spring that covers the holes in the flywheel where each end of the balance spring rests. That circular spring must be removed before the balance spring can be replaced. It's a straightforward operation, but a bit tricky because everything is so darned small.

Perhaps you'll be lucky and your balance won't be broken, but rather not properly resting in the two holes in the flywheel. I wouldn't bet on it, but hope "springs" eternal...

George P.

How do you take the flywheel apart? Does it unscrew? There is a small lip in the left side but it doesn’t seem to move freely. Confused. Thanks for any help!

KCW wrote:How do you take the flywheel apart? Does it unscrew? There is a small lip in the left side but it doesn’t seem to move freely. Confused. Thanks for any help!

You don't need to take the flywheel apart. Just remove the round, circular spring on the left side (it rests in a channel) and then you can access the balance spring.

George P.

Thank you George.
I had based my reply on an Amberola 30 I once had, but after checking my own Amberola A1, I now see this is not such an easy fix.
My apologies to the OP for any confusion I caused

Are my videos visible? Does anyone else hear the flutter/wobble? It’s very obvious to me. I’ll try to troubleshoot the flywheel more, all of the other mechanical parts seem to be working great.

Here's a clarification on where that circular spring (call it a "clip") is located on the flywheel. Removing it with tiny jeweler's screwdrivers or dental picks is a little tricky.

George P.

Thank you for this clarification! I’m going to try this today. Fingers crossed!

For additional clarification (at least an attempt at it!) here is a video I found on YouTube (yikes! The guy in the video drops the cat and calls the cylinders 'discs' but anyway it's all I could find quickly) that features a Columbia Graphophone playing with noticeable "flutter". Move the video timer button to about the 1:00 minute mark to listen to the Graphophone playing so the flutter can be heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQ5PUHnoTY

Now, the sound that I hear in the video that KCW provided (of the Edison Opera playing) is more of a wavy sound versus flutter. So replacing the flywheel spring wire may or may not help.

The Royal Purple cylinder being played in the video sure looks to me like it could be part of the problem as it is clearly (but not severely) out of round which is why the reproducer is bobbing up and down during play.

Is there any way that you can find and play a cylinder that rotates almost perfectly true on the mandrel? It may not help at all but if nothing else playing a cylinder that rotates almost perfectly true will eliminate the cylinder itself as a culprit (or an ingredient) for the cause of the wavy sound.

In addition to investigating the flywheel balance spring wire as a culprit I would also investigate the governor. Monitor the rotation of the governor weights as it plays. The governor may need some cleaning and lubrication. If the governor shaft is soiled with old lubricant the governor weight assembly may be sluggish during operation - thus creating a "wavy" effect due to rotational inconsistency from the friction disc during normal play.

Just some additional ideas and hopefully some help.

Doug