The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi all,
I have a Columbia Grafanola motor that's driving me crazy as I try to repair it. It's a three-spring Grafonola motor mounted on the rectangular-shaped metal plate, as opposed to the round or squarish plate. My problem is in trying to set up the rather complicated start lever and speed control contraptions. I think I have them set up properly. But there is a problem with the little two-headed part that presses against the governor wheel with varying amounts of pressure as you move the speed control knob. It's like the single-headed part on a Victor motor, except it's got two rubber heads instead if one. At various times, when I slide the control knob to fast, the two-headed piece moves too far away from the wheel and butts up against the governonr weights as they spin.
I can't seem to adjust the speed controller properly so that this piece moves away from the governor wheel enough to allow the motor to run at a good speed but not so far that it hits the governor weights.
Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? Or might there be a repair manual out there on line somewhere that will help?
Much thanks in advance,
dave in New York

Dave,

While I think you’ve given a very good description of what you have and the problems you’re having, I wonder if you could take photos of it so that we could see exactly what you have; it may help in assisting you, especially since it would be possible to diagram your images.

Regrettably, I’m not particularly familiar with the Columbia Grafonola machines, but if you have any questions about posting images (or any other technical issues with the forum), please do not hesitate to ask me for assistance. You’re welcome to join and send me a private message, or to e-mail me at [email protected].

I’ll see if I can find a manual for you, although I’m sure that other members will be able to assist you more than I can.

— MordEth

Dave,

As you move the governor arm away from the plate to allow the motor to spin faster, the governor balls should move outward pulling the plate back into rubber pads and self limit. By your description, it sounds like the plate assembly that slides (or is pulled) along the governor shaft is not moving out far enough and rubber pads are not engaged with the govonor plate. Since they are not engaged, there should not be the self limiting force this is intended to provide.

This suggests to me that there is something binding in the drive train that is preventing sufficient speed. I had a similarish speed problem with a 3 spring columbia that turned out to be the gear mesh between the spindle shaft and the gear it meshed with. It was too tight. Be careful if you go to loosen the mesh, if there is any tension at all in the springs and you separate these gears just enough, the spring side will unwind at lightning speed and grind the gears to bits. (I speak from experience here )

I would check all the gears, mesh points, and slippage points to make sure nothing is out of alingment or binding. Also check to make sure that as the motor runs and the gears spin around, they spin smoothly through their entire rotations. Sometime munged gear teeth will bind when meshing with other munged teeth and you will only see it when the munged teeth sync up.