What’s the biggest accident you’ve had with a machine?

[Menophanes]

I made the mistake of removing the governor from a Triumph model A motor without realizing that the spring was not fully wound down.
As soon as I removed the governor the spring unwound at an incredible pace and the gears were whizzing. Without thinking I tried to use my
thumb to stop the large gear. My thumb was cut pretty deep. That was almost 50 years ago and I still have the scar. lesson learned!!

Pete

Here is a variant of this: – I had an Edison Home B which somebody had fitted into a nondescript mahogany box after replacing the original motor with a small electric unit. This last was unfit for purpose (its speed could not be regulated) and so I scrapped it and installed an original Home motor, only to find that the case was now too small so that the spring-barrel scraped against the base-board and the motor could not run. I therefore bought a Home cabinet with the correct decal and set about transplanting the motor/upper-works assembly. Now I made my mistake by supposing that I could safely dismount the motor without running it down. As I was doing so, there was a hideous crash; a small brass gear had fractured and come off its shaft, leaving the spring and some of the gears with no connection to the governor and the brake, so that the spring ran down in an instant. In doing so it gathered up a piece of cloth that the assembly was resting on; this then jammed itself between the bull-gear and the next wheel in the train, leaving the motor immobilised but still not fully run down.

This story ended more happily than some others. With much trepidation, I removed the sub-frame which carried the governor and its associated gears and substituted a new one with the brass cog intact, so that the governor was once again connected to the spring; I was then able to wind the governor backwards until the shred of cloth could be cleared away and the motor could be allowed to run down at a safe speed. Fortunately the spring itself was unharmed. I now have a complete and functional Home, only requiring some restoration to the paintwork and gold-lining, and with nothing to show that it has been put together from parts originating in at least six separate machines.

Oliver Mundy.

[AmberolaAndy]

I just remembered the accident that happened with my VV 8-4’s original motor last year. I had it less than an hour and when I was setting the speed and CRASH! Something had failed (probably a previous owner’s redneck fix) the handle flew backwards, even the cabinet even bounced a bit and he turntable spun the fastest I’ve ever seen a turntable spin. I was surprised and a little embarrassed too because I had overspent on it, and now had to put money in it not just because it had an incorrect tonearm, but for a refurbished 4 spring motor too.

[alang]

When I got my first outside horn machine, a Columbia client, it was a rusted mess with no finish left whatsoever. It probably sat in a shed for 50+ years. I carefully cleaned and fixed the mechanics, then I moved to the case. When it was finally all stripped and cleaned down to the plain oak, the missing corner pieces added, and just about ready to start the finishing process, it slipped out of my hand and onto a tool box. one of the sides was broken and a few dings as well. Fortunately I did not have to worry about any finish, so I glued it all back and filled the scratches. After the shellac finish was applied, nobody would notice, but I always know that the repair is there.

When I brought my Edison DD A-80 home from an auction I noticed that someone had cranked it up fully and left it that way. I was hoping that this was done recently, but had no way to know for sure. I let it adjust to the temperature in my home, then let it run down completely. I let it sit for a few hours, then cranked it up again - no problem. While winding down that second time it suddenly did that dreaded BANG that told me that the spring was broken. Fortunately nothing else was impacted and all hail Ron Sitko for having the correct spring available. I know, many collectors hat the A-80, because you have to wind it like 50 times to play one side, but for whatever reason it is my go-to DD machine.

All my other disasters were with records or shipments I received. Knock on wood.

Andreas

[AmberolaAndy]

I’m bumping my thread to ask: Is anyone paranoid of this happening to one of their machines? It only happened once to me when I first got my VV 8-4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoawi9n_JCU

[52089]

Some years ago I bought a beat up Amberola 50 that was totally gunked up, top and bottom, with way too much grease and lube that had hardened up over the years. The mandrel would barely turn even when fully cranked.

You already know where this is going don't you...

I removed the mechanism, manually took off whatever crud I could and let it slowly - and I do mean slowly - unwind. One it got to a point where it wasn't budging anymore, I started taking the motor apart. Of course the springs hadn't fully unwound and they pretty much exploded, taking a good chunk of the bottom works with them, as well as the glass bowl I was using to hold the nuts, bolts, and screws. Fortunately I had that part of the motor facing away from me so I wasn't injured. To this day, I have never attempted to replace a spring.

[Curt A]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I always hated Edison H-19 DD machines... BUT, I found one in an antique shop for $60 and I didn't have a DD machine at that time. The price was cheap because some kid tried to remove the notoriously made grill (it looks carved, but it is made from molded sawdust), when he lifted it he dropped it on the cement floor and it shattered into various sized pieces. Since the grill is the H-19s only saving grace keeping it from getting the nomination for Edison's homeliest cabinet, the price was reduced accordingly. I found all of the broken pieces laying inside the cabinet and decided to try to restore it.

I cut a file folder to the size of the grill opening and used it for a backing to re-assemble the grill. I proceeded to place the broken parts on the folder, like assembling a puzzle. Each time I fit a piece in, I glued it in place on the folder... After hours of fitting and gluing, I had it all assembled and filled in the missing areas with some epoxy filler which I carved to match. I gave it a coat of brown shellac toner to uniformly re-color it, then cut out the appropriate openings with an X-Acto knife. It finally looked great...

I touched up the cabinet and was proud of myself for getting it all back together and looking untouched. I picked it up and put it on one of those small rectangular 4 wheel furniture dollies to move it around the garage. Without thinking, I moved it close to the garage door and just over the raised edge of the floor, leading down our driveway. I positioned it so the wheels were cocked and not supposed to move.

I turned around and went back into the garage to get something and heard a noise that made me look back just in time to see my newly restored machine rolling down the inclined driveway... The dolly hit a crack in the driveway and came to a sudden stop causing the machine to take a face plant, grill side down onto the cement with a loud crash. The "good news" was that the grill I just finished restoring was extremely sturdy and survived with no problem. The "bad news" was that the molding on the front of the cabinet was broken and the motor mounts tore loose from the cabinet along with the motor and horn assembly.

I spent the next several weeks re-making the molding and re-attaching the motor and horn along with fixing the lid. When I finished, you couldn't tell what had happened to it, but I immediately took it to an antique dealer and sold it for $400, just to get it out of my sight. I really felt guilty when I drove by that antique shop and saw it in the window, unsold, for the next 4 years...

[Dave D]

Wow, Laurel and Hardy were kind to Victrolas and Model Ts compared to some of these stories!
Thanks for sharing!
Dave D

[travisgreyfox]

I think I've told this story before, but I was putting together a cheap Ikea cabinet a while back and things came apart when I tried to stand everything up and a big pice of the cabinet landed on my Credenza, denting the wood I still cringe when I think about it.

[phonospud]

Not me but someone I used to know. Years ago, a Toronto area major collector was coming to bring me some repairs, including a mint Edison banner front Triumph. He loaded everything into his van but accidentally left the Triumph on the running boards. Travelling down the 401 west out of Toronto @ 110km an hour (70 mph) at night, he saw what appeared to be a huge spark show in his rear view mirror. When he arrived, he noticed the Triumph was missing. It was never seen again....

[Henry]

My biggest accident pales by comparison with others who posted, but I'm still annoyed that it happened because it was so unnecessary. Shortly after acquiring my XI, I went to remove the turnable for the first time. Once I had it off of the spindle, as I lifted it out of the cabinet it slipped out of my hands and put a nice little gouge in the mahogany rim of the turntable compartment. My next words will not be repeated here, but they were mostly of the four-letter Anglo-Saxon variety. My other little slip-up occurred when I loosened the governor before the motor had completely wound down; in that case, the result (as I'm sure many of you in similar circumstances have experienced), was quite a messy surprise as the springs suddenly released, spraying gear grease liberally around the immediate area. No harm done, but I learned an important lesson that day!