The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Oedipus wrote:The clicking is caused by the detent (to give the brake arm a clockmaking term!) hitting the turntable boss slightly too hard before it needs to engage. The cure is to adjust the amount of friction in the friction joint (to the right of the finger in the picture). Remove the circlip, then take off the 'Isle of Man' washer and slightly flatten the three legs. If you overdo it, the brake won't work at all, so it's a matter of trial and error to get it just right.

Very Cool. I'll try that out. I used some heat shrink tubes to wrap around the "fork" of the auto break arm. I don't think that is actually what is making the noise, but I tried that. I'll try the tip you mentioned Oedipus.

One victory I've had on this HMV102 gramophone: The platter wobbled. It seemed that the hole in the platter was worn or something. I found a platter different platter on ebay and this one works perfectly and the platter is no longer wobbling. Plus the new one has the original felt in great shape, while the one that came with mine had new felt added. The old felt is more dense for what it's worth.

Best,

Jonas

Oedipus wrote:The clicking is caused by the detent (to give the brake arm a clockmaking term!) hitting the turntable boss slightly too hard before it needs to engage. The cure is to adjust the amount of friction in the friction joint (to the right of the finger in the picture). Remove the circlip, then take off the 'Isle of Man' washer and slightly flatten the three legs. If you overdo it, the brake won't work at all, so it's a matter of trial and error to get it just right.

This is brilliant advice - thanks Oedipus. When I first got my 102 the autobrake (typically) didn't work. I sorted it by drying out the fibre washer and then bending the legs of the Isle of Man washer (too far it now seems...) For five years that pesky click has been evident whenever the autobrake was used. Thanks to this advice and around five minutes of experimenting last night, I now have a 102 with a working autobrake and no 'click'. Brilliant!

Oedipus wrote:The clicking is caused by the detent (to give the brake arm a clockmaking term!) hitting the turntable boss slightly too hard before it needs to engage. The cure is to adjust the amount of friction in the friction joint (to the right of the finger in the picture). Remove the circlip, then take off the 'Isle of Man' washer and slightly flatten the three legs. If you overdo it, the brake won't work at all, so it's a matter of trial and error to get it just right.

Wow! -I have a Blue one that I've never been able to completely quieten no matter what, stuck in a spare and flatter 'Isle of Man' washer and yup totally fixed it. Thanks!

SteveM wrote:My one HMV that DOESN'T click has rubber wrapped around its left fork tine. I haven't been able to figure out where to source a similar rubber wrap. Covering the tip of the circular rod is a great idea, though, and I will try that. As it is currently, I know that when the clicking starts, I have exactly 18 seconds before the record ends. Semi-useful!

Maybe try the sort of heat shrink tubing used for making splices in electrical cables/wires? I’m sure there are plenty of soft rubber tubes out there to be had, either buna-n or epdm would probably work. Might be a chore to find the perfect wall thickness and diameter, though.