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Re: Fullotone Cabinet Gramophone Restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 3:54 am
by Orchorsol
LaoChe85 wrote: Sat Aug 30, 2025 12:01 pm
Update:
I have sent the governor off to John Sleep to fix and received it back yesterday. I have put it back in and adjusted the speed regulator as well as replaced the pad. All seems to work fine on the motor now apart from the governor itself making a lot of noise - like a whirring noise. As far as I can tell, its not coming into contact with anything so I'm a little confused as to what it could be, if anyone could hazard a guess that would be great!
My next move is to fix the sound box but it turns out John didn't have a replacement rubber isolator so I've decided to make it myself. John Sleep recommended car tyre inner tubes and I will see how much this costs but I was also thinking just of making it out of the same material my washers were for the motor board (obviously in a thinner sheet though). If anyone has any suggestions on this, I would be grateful.
The governor weights/springs might still be out of balance in some way (relative weights, spring tension, fixings) although I would hope and trust that John used three identical components. More than once in the past I've had governor vibration that I solved by accurately weighing each weight and spring assembly, and filing tiny amounts off to make them equal.
The softer the better for rubber sheeting to cut the piece from for the back of the soundbox, I'd say.
Re: Fullotone Cabinet Gramophone Restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 2:07 pm
by LaoChe85
I am going to upload some videos of the governor working as well as the sound it makes.
I have realised that the sound is only noticeable when the motor board is in the gramophone but it is still quite loud. When you play a record, it is fairly unnoticeable but it's still there. I hope these videos can help diagnose what its wrong because I can't honestly tell.
Thank you
Re: Fullotone Cabinet Gramophone Restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 4:25 pm
by JerryVan
The sound is somewhat normal. It may be due to wear in the end bearings. Try using a thicker oil to see if helps to deaden the noise a bit.
Re: Fullotone Cabinet Gramophone Restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 6:11 pm
by Inigo
If you take the running motor in your hands, do you notice a vibration coming from the governor?
Re: Fullotone Cabinet Gramophone Restoration
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 6:17 pm
by Inigo
The sound is not so bad... although not perfect, that's true. If you take the running motor in your hands, do you notice a vibration coming from the governor?
You can also examine the rotating governor disc, in case you notice it is not true when running, so the vibration could be originated because of fast slight speed variation because of not uniform pressure of the disc against the felt pad of the governor brake. Also dirt on the disc can cause variable friction, variable speed and noise.
A bent governor axis end pin can also produce vibration, and in the end wear out the bearings. But it doesn't seem the problem.