The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Broken springs? Who can say for sure why one machine can be stored fully wound for decades, brought out of storage and work well for years and another will break the first time you wind it. Tinfoil: I agree about watches (and clocks, too). There just doesn't seem to be any reason sometimes.
That said, I leave my phonos unwound when they aren't used for more than a few days. It just seems right to me in that the springs are left as loose as possible, which eliminates stress on the center and outside attaching holes as well as causing as little "set" as possible. It also eliminates all pressure on gear teeth, pivot points and the governor. In fact, on any machine where the brake acts directly on the governor, I leave the brake in the "on" position to eliminate any pressure on the governor itself. This will include virtually all Edison and Columbia cylinder machines and some, if not all, Columbia disc machines.

Jim

Greetings Dutchman,
My friend says he uses gun Oil on his edison Amberola 30 works awesome as it preserves the metal
try this possibly>??
from will S

When I have spring replacement in the shop, I always replace all the springs, then I am pretty certain the machine should never need be returned for a broken spring, and the owner educated about the full operation and care of the motor and machine before it leaves my shop.

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I'll start making sure the spings wound down before covering the machines up for another decade....

It seems this thread feeds back into the debate I've seen before: should one leave a machine fully unwound after playing, or keep a tiny bit of tension on the mainspring? I would like to see a definitive answer on this question.....

Bill