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I have picked up an Amberola 30.when you turn the crank, nothing happens. It turns freely, but nothing seems to wind up. I took it apart, seems something is wrong with the main spring. how do i rewind it? here are some pics. cannot seem to get it to reconnect to the gears? HELP I have no idea where to read, what to do.
Thanks!!!
Dustin

Judging from your photos, I'd say that the center hole has come unhooked.

Your best bet is to pull the mainspring, clean it, adjust the center coil with pliers until it hooks properly, then reinstall and re-grease it.

If there are any cracks around the hole, then you will have to replace the mainspring. Check the list of dealers and repairers on this site for one near you.

Bill

The center of your spring is pretty screwed up. You need to create a circle at the center end of the spring just about the same diameter as the shaft it connects to. Otherwise, the little catch on the shaft will never 'hook' to wind. It's easier to do with the spring out of the spring barrel. Manually hook the center to the catch on the shaft. Hold it there while bending the spring tightly around the shaft. A couple 360 degree turns should be sufficient. Easier said than done... Good luck!

CDB

I had this same exact problem with one of my Amberolas not too long ago. The hook must of fallen off and cought on the side of the spring, bending it as it wound up. It fell off when the machine was wound up, yikes!

As was suggested I used pliers to fix the bent spring so it could properly catch on the shaft knob. I managed to do it without removing the spring from the barrel, It was hard but not impossible. I think the cause of this is letting the machine wind down 100% when not in use, which is what I did untill this happend. Now I leave some tension on the springs at all times.

Player-Tone wrote: I think the cause of this is letting the machine wind down 100% when not in use, which is what I did untill this happend. Now I leave some tension on the springs at all times.

It's highly unlikely that a cylinder machine's mainspring can become unhooked this way by letting it run all the way down. Disc machines are a different story, however. I don't let disc machines run down all the way, but in 45 years of collecting, I've never had a cylinder mainspring unhook by letting it run down.

On an Amberola 30, it's easy to get the mainspring to unhook. I don't recommend this, but the procedure has evidently brought joy to generations of home handymen. Simply keep some tension (the more tension, the more dramatic the results) on the mainspring and pick up a screwdriver. Loosen the screw that secures the little collar at the end of the mandrel and remove the collar. Now slide the mandrel off. Note that there's a sleeve with two gears remaining on the mandrel shaft. Just start to slide that sleeve down the mandrel shaft, or simply turn the motor on and let it run for a few moments. Either way, the two gears will disengage from those adjacent to them and suddenly the power of the wound mainspring is free to express itself in rapid and boisterous fashion. This usually results in the center of the mainspring being violently bent and separated from the arbor. The home handyman, glancing around self-consciously to see if anyone was watching while all hell broke loose inside his Amberola, now can relish the enjoyment of reattaching the mainspring to the arbor. This wouldn't have happened if his Amberola mainspring had been allowed to run down completely!

George P.

Ok, spring now reconnected. Put back together and still when I turn the crank, nothing. The crank turns freely. Looks like the spring on the end of the mandrel is sprung. Where do I pick up a replacement? Also how does the crank come off? I have it free of the motor plate and such but cannot get the entire mandrel out of the box to work on it?

If the crank still turns freely, then either a.) you have not actually engaged the center coil, or b.) the center coil has now broken off.

Also, I'm a little confused by your description. If you were not able to remove the crank (easily done by turning it backwards) and remove the motor from the case, how did you get to the spring barrel to open it?

By the way, the spring on the end of the mandrel would not affect the winding in any way: it is there to reduce flutter in playback.

As for replacement mainsprings, you can check out the suppliers in the Links section, as previously suggested.

I hope this information has been helpful.

Bill

I took the screws off the motor plate and carefully wedged it out at an angle. Sorry if I am confusing, this is all new to to me. The gear on the end of the crank is what the problem has to be. The crank turns freely but that gear doesn't turn with the crank. It turns by hand so I know it's not stuck, maybe the crank is broken?

The gear at the end of the crank turns independently of the crank, what holds the gear in place?