Started on the Roberts Bestone

[Lah Ca]

Well ... I finally got the aluminium frame/motor-board out of the case. BTW, did I mention how much I hate bifrucated rivets?

Now I can work on getting the warps out of the case and do some other repairs to it.

I have a lot of serious reservations about the functional design of this machine--let's just say that soncally a contemporary HMV portable would blow it away, I think, despite Roberts' claim that it is the Best One.

But, WOW, the machine would have been an absolute stunner visually when new. The camera does not capture the gorgeous richness of colour in the velvet where it has been hidden away from light and air--stunning purple. And all the visible aluminium all would have had a mirror polish as is evident from the areas under the speed control and brake mechanisms. And then there would have been the new leather. Classy.

Here is the frame/motor-board. I will need to find replacements for the rubber washers that once insulated the motor from the frame. The originals here are squashed and hard as stone.

There is a support for the tone arm which is screwed on to the frame. The front of the tone arm would have been fed down through this support, and then the back of the tone arm would have rested in the support in a sort of ball and cup joint. Then there is a fitting that holds the tone arm in place. It also holds the o-ring gasket for the seal between the horn and tone arm assembly. There as so many places here where this all will leak air/sound. I need to figure out how to get this fitting out. I hope it is threaded. At the moment it doesn't want to budge.

[Lah Ca]

I finally have the arm assembly off the frame/motor board—penetrating oil and patience is a good combination.

The assembly is in three basic aluminium parts: 1) the arm which has sort of ball shaped end with pins at its back; 2) a supporting pillar, in which the arm rests, and which has a sort of cup with a rim above it for arm’s ball and pins; and 3) a cap that goes on top of the pillar and holds the o-ring gasket for the seal with the horn.

The arm’s two pins (probably cast with the arm) protrude from the ball at its back. The pins rest on the rim inside the cup of the pillar. They are the pivot points for the arm’s vertical travel. They and the rim (mostly) and the ball and cup (less so) are are the points for the arms horizontal travel. It is all rather rough and clunky. Vertical travel is probably OK, but the arm cannot possibly travel smoothly horizontally. And there is space for air/sound to leak everywhere. And I think it might be a bit rattly.

I had initially thought that the assembly was put together with the arm being fed down into the pillar from the top, but now I see that there are slots cut in the cup and rim to allow the arm with its pins to be inserted from the bottom. And there are two small holes through which steel pins have been driven after the arm was in place to insure that the arm can never be positioned again so that it can be taken out or fall out of the pillar.

I cannot yet tell how the cap on the pillar is retained. Threaded? Some sort of turn and lock? I don’t know, but I do suspect that the steel pins also prevent its removal.

I had hoped to be able to take the assembly apart entirely for cleaning and polishing and for smoothing some rather rough machining and then lubricating the rim, the pins, and the ball and cup. But I am starting to suspect that the only way to dismatle the assembly is with a hammer. It was not made to come apart. I may be wrong, though. I will put a little effort into trying to get the cap off the pillar. If I don’t succeed I will just have to do my best with the assembly as a whole.

[Lah Ca]

I went back to the leather shop, yesterday, and took the case with me to show the people there and to ask for more advice.

They said I did not need another leather treatment product (hey, they could have sold me something). All leather restoration products essentially do the same thing, and I have already bought the neetsfoot oil. They said just keep treating the case with the neetsfoot oil but with increasing caution and lighter and lighter coats. There is a point of too much oil. The leather will become tacky to the touch, and the oil cannot be removed. They said as long as the oil is disappearing into the leather immediately I should keep going with the treatment.

I also took in the fragments of the bifrucated rivets I removed. They looked them over and brought out their selection of Chicago Screws. Unfortunately they only had a choice of three colours, brass, copper, and black. I bought two ten packs, one of brass and one of black. I only need three screws but they are sold in units of ten. Now I need to decide whether to take lacquer thinner/nail polish remover and vinegar (or weak ammonia) to the brass ones to antique them or to just use the black. No fears about inappropriate Phillips screw heads.

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[Lah Ca]

Well ... my assumptions were wrong again. My apologies to Roberts. No hammer is necessary to take apart the arm assembly.

After puzzling over how to get the arm assembly apart and getting nowhere, I decided to risk taking the o-ring gasket off the arm cap. I was scared that it would turn to dust, but with slow and careful effort it came off intact (well not intact but in largely the same condition it was in before I took it off).

And there are two tiny and probably very long screws that hold the cap on. I will have have to go very carefully here ... no force at all.

The gasket is in pretty rough condition.

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I also tackled the platter mat again today. I managed to reheat the hide glue enough that I have what had been the loose and folded over flap of the velvet securely glued down now. There are a couple of small places I missed. I will mark them on the edge of the platter for location and heat up the iron again tomorrow.

[Lah Ca]

Three drops of penetrating oil, top, side, and bottom, for each screw, and they came out effortlessly.

The parts of the tone arm assembly:

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Now I can easily clean, polish, and lubricate this all.

I think I will give the little screws a rust-remover bath and a re-bluing along with a variety of other screws from the machine.

[Inigo]

Looks fantastic, thanks for this interesting tour across your restoration. This is the way to learn...

[Lah Ca]

Looks fantastic, thanks for this interesting tour across your restoration. This is the way to learn...

Thanks.

I am floundering around a bit in the dark here, in part because I am hoping that people with more experience might offer suggestions.

I am also leaving a slightly confusing and circuitous trail of bread crumbs, a trail with a number of wrong turns and missteps, in case anyone else should want to work on their Bestone machine. May their path be straighter!

[Lah Ca]

Today, I worked a little on the aluminium, in addition to the ongoing leather treatment.

I bought a little tub of Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish. It is far more than I will ever need. A very little goes a long way. I recommend it.

The label says it is for all (unfinished, ie, not plated, not painted) metals; the Mothers website said, I think, that the product is especially formulated for alloys. I wonder if it would work on bare pot metal.

My goal with polishing/cleaning here is not to make it look new but to make it look old, well used, and reasonably well cared for.

I cleaned up the visible areas of the drip tray/record holder a bit. It's not all that interesting, so no pic.

I worked much harder on the visible areas of the frame/motor board. The aluminium at the front, the legs and the front edge, had been tarnished a bit from water and contact with the wet lid. To get it and the top back to a like new mirror finish, I would have to do sanding, which I am not going to do. I am quite happy with the results as they are.

The tone arm assembly is more of a focal point so I worked even harder here. The back of pillar was quite grubby. It has only a rough finish because I guess Roberts thought nobody would ever see it. The cap seems to be made of a much poorer grade of aluminium: it does not polish well; and it smells bad while being polished.

[Inigo]

A beautiful result... looks clean and bright, very nice. I've also used these polish creams, and they're good. 'Magic cotton' or Brasso do also marvels removing tarnish, stains, and restoring the bright.

[JerryVan]

People who do not do restorations, many times do not realize the work that goes into every last nut, bolt & screw. Great job!