Columbia 612 floor gramophone, a real beauty !

[Inigo]

Madness. Heresy.
As you cannot enjoy your machine by now... why not try another tonearm? One that is long enough and has good alignment? You could take measurements and try to get any long orthophonic hmv tonearm, or Thorens.... these pop-up in eBay frequently and are not expensive... at least you'd have a substitute to try the machine.... or try to make one out of pvc piping. This could be funny, and easy to make. You can go to your nearest plumber/briko store and see what they have... It would be cheap. Pvc is easy to cut, and you can glue parts with a special glue, etc using parts of pipes and elbows to make a suitable tonearm....

[nostalgia]

I have many tone arms, but if I wanted to use a HMV tonearm etc..it means I would need to drill new holes, something I don't want to do. It is not that I can't play my records, but I like to finish works, and to make this Columbia complete, I want a Plano Reflex arm installed, to make it original. I guess I am picky this way, I like to see it original. I will do some "work" on the Plano Reflex that I have, if I am not able to use it, it will anyway still end up on the landfill, and that's bad. I have a small plan in my head, and will return with the result...some time, maybe later this summer.

[alang]

Of course, until you decide how to rectify the situation with the tonearm, you could try to add a few more gaskets to the base in order to lift up the whole tonearm a bit. Will maybe require longer screws, but at least you should be able to use it and it is totally reversible. Just an idea...

Maybe that plano-reflex corner on the tonearm is a weak point that works well with shorter tonearms, but bends over time on longer arms with the reproducer in the up position? Much like the horn elbows on many Victor outside horn machines if large horns were used? Also, just a thought...

Andreas

[nostalgia]

Adding some gaskets to the base, is actually a very good idea Andreas, since it will not destroy anything. I have something I could use for this, to finally try the gramophone, while waiting for a better solution.
Thank you

[Phono48]

Just for information. I have eleven portable Columbia machines, British, American and Japanese, and only one of them has a pot-metal arm, and that is the 100 (the small one in the metal case). Every one of the others are brass. In my experience, pot metal arms that have been plated always have a rougher surface, and are easily recognisable.

Barry

[epigramophone]

The largest Columbia portables seem to be the odd ones out.
I have always assumed that the complex tonearms of the 113 and 113a are castings, but whether brass or pot metal I am not sure. In the 1929 catalogue the 113a is described as having "all fittings brass plated". Would Columbia have brass plated a tonearm made of brass?
The tonearm of my 220 (since sold) was made of steel and had the rust to prove it. It may have been unique to the 220, as despite years of searching I never managed to source a better replacement.

[nostalgia]

I have some news in this department. I bought a Columbia 112a some days ago, to use several hinges from that portable on my 111a bought some months ago that has destroyed hinges. Out of curiosity, I now compared the size of the Plano Reflex tone arm with the tone arm on the 156a, and they have the same length! I have earlier compared the tone arm with smaller Columbias, but they have always been different, also when comparing with tone arms from floor models.

Now it is just about the base, I have never torn apart a 112a, but remember that removing the tone arm from some of the smaller Columbia was a nightmare because of the ball bearings. I don't know what meets me in the base of the tone arm of this 112a, but whatever meets me, it will hopefully be far easier to solder a base from the destroyed tone arm on the 156a onto the tone arm taken from the 112a if that's needed, than trying to remake the destroyed angle on the tone arm from the 156a.
I will keep you posted about this process.

[Phono48]

Would Columbia have brass plated a tonearm made of brass?

They didn't need to. The arm of the 113A is solid brass.

Barry

[Inigo]

In muy 113A the brass tonearm is lacquereded in a kind of antique brass style, the inner colour is pure brass, but the outer surface of all brass fittings is lacquered this way.