The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thank you. Most helpful.

Nice gesture, Jim !

Iowa Dale

The platter and motor board surface after a superficial cleaning and an ironing of the platter mat.
Hide glue was often used for gluing down rexine, and heat can reset glue bonds that have come loose. On the 2-55 platter, the rexine was dry, brittle, loose, and curled up (sorry, no before pic), and a record would not sit flat on it. I tried my iron technique (old terry towel over the rexine and a clothes iron applied to the towel), but this was not working as the rexine was too brittle and I did not want to apply force. So I did what I normally do not do; I turned on the steam. The steam through the towel softened the rexine, thus allowing me to flatten and reattach it. There is still a tiny bit of curl at the outermost edge where the rexine extends over a groove that runs around the rim of the platter.


Motor board with the platter off.
Lots of grime.

Auto-brake/start mechanism reassembled and working mostly fine--needs cleaning and lubrication. Someone has stuck a shard of wood into the mechanism in place of the original brake pad.

The pivot pin for the base of the tone arm is almost out of its socket--cleaning and adjustment needed here.

Question

What was the original brake pad made of? Leather? Cork?

I probably won't get back to this project for a bit, at least not with dedicating any length of time to it. It is the gardening season. Lots of outdoor stuff to do. Major overhaul of the lawnmower yesterday. Etc etc.

All I am doing for the moment is testing screws to see if they will come loose easily, and if not, applying tiny drops of penetrating oil, so that things will go more quickly when I do start on the project for real.

What was the original brake pad made of? Leather? Cork?

Leather

I think your machine will clean up pretty good.

Well done on the platter.

Jim_Cannon wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:49 am

What was the original brake pad made of? Leather? Cork?

Leather

I think your machine will clean up pretty good.

Well done on the platter.

Thank you for the answer.

Thank you also for the encouragement.

It was raining heavily today, so I was tempted by the machine.

I took the arm off to have a look at it. It was way too loose in its mounting, the pivot point set screw barely holding it in place. As a result the arm was not seated properly in its mounting during play. This was easily adjusted as the penetrating oil I applied to the pivot screw the other day had done its job.

I cannot see, however, how to take the arm out of its mounting without drilling out the two rivets that hold the mounting together, and this I do not want to to. I assume that there is a ball race under the arm--it sort of looks and feels that way. Things here could definitely use a cleaning and re-lubrication--grimy and gummy.

Can the arm be taken out of its mounting?
When I went to put the arm back on, I did a rookie thing. I dropped a screw, and it went down into the case by the winding shaft. So I had to take the bottom of the case off to retrieve the screw. The machine has an interesting construction, something well suited to quick assembly line production.

Sadly, this is the only gramophone I have ever taken apart and not found something interesting inside. There were only a few rusty needles of very common types.

Lah Ca wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:31 pm
Can the arm be taken out of its mounting?

It seems that the answer might be: No, not easily and maybe not at all without a high risk of damage.

viewtopic.php?t=55907

Lah Ca wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:20 am

Lah Ca wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:31 pm
Can the arm be taken out of its mounting?

It seems that the answer might be: No, not easily and maybe not at all without a high risk of damage.

viewtopic.php?t=55907

I could never get mine apart. I cleaned it thoroughly in place and then lightly lubed it with oil, not grease. Seems to work OK. It appears there are a number of caged balls in there for the bearing.

Lah Ca wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:20 am

Lah Ca wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:31 pm
Can the arm be taken out of its mounting?

It seems that the answer might be: No, not easily and maybe not at all without a high risk of damage.

viewtopic.php?t=55907

Correct!

Your leather brake pad can be made out of treadle sewing machine belt, which is also round and leather. Need some? I can take a look and see what I have either stashed in my part pile or inside the old Singer.