The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Finally completed the motor rebuild, all back together and shiny! Still plenty to do though to restore her back to her former beauty!
Let's see I started by taking everything completely apart, every little screw and gear was bagged and tagged.
I then took everything to school Auto Tech and instead on working on vehicles, I convinced my shop teacher into letting me work on my parts.
Spent about a week shining,polishing, and taking off old grease.
Once I got everything back and ready to go, I put it back together and presto! One beautiful Columbia Model BY motor done by yours truly.
Not bad for my first restoration, No?

I just attached it to the cabinet again, and it's acting funny. I'll give it a good wind and place the turntable on. Well, it acts like it doesn't have enough "umf" power to spin the turntable, acting like it's trying to spin an elephant? Could there be something else wrong? I'm pretty sure I'm cranking it enough.....help?

I just finished working on a victor 3 spring motor and had the same exact problem.
The problem was that the bearing pins on either side of the governor were pressing too tightly on the governor. Once I adjusted the governor with a little more play, the motor took right off and works fine now.

Just a guess, Bob S.

Try backing the mounting bolts off a bit. Over-tightening them can twist the motor frame and put the gear train into a bind.

ok zwebie, I did what you mentioned and it worked great! But, now the governor is making a click sound after every 180, s when it goes fast it sounds very loud....

Thanks for posting the progress photos. You made good use of your auto shop time too!

ok zwebie, I did what you mentioned and it worked great! But, now the governor is making a click sound after every 180, s when it goes fast it sounds very loud....

You may have damage to one of the teeth on one of the gears?

Also check to make sure that no part of the governor is comming near the speed control horseshoe.

Motors can be tricky things, in the past I have used a long screwdriver and set the tip on various points on the motor frame and held the end against the side of my head to narrow down the location of the problem. (I wonder if Tom did it that way?).

Good luck, keep the updates comming, Bob S.