The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I got it running again. Hooked up the centre thing the other way around and it stuck and everything works.

My degreasing process was: fill the drum with brake cleaner several times while shaking and twisting the spring, then plenty of wd40.

Maybe it will be slow and powerless in a week but it works just fine at the moment.

Still running strong.

Talked to a veteran in the field who advised to use a hot air gun to melt the grease.

I'm going to try that method on a friend's grammophone.

The "broken" piece in the center may be an additional "collar" piece that is put on after the spring is hooked in the center. The purpose is to keep the spring hooked in the center...

I don't know if this is the case from your description, but I ran into this recently repairing a motor that I was unfamiliar with. Most springs, that I am familiar with, do not have this additional "locking" piece so I can't say for sure that is what you are dealing with. The end of the spring itself should have a tear drop shaped hole that connects it to the center drive shaft, so if your spring still has this hole on the end, the additional piece may be a locking collar that I mentioned. Without pictures of what you are actually dealing with, this is just speculation...