The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Having trouble setting the automatic brake on my credenza, anybody have pictures??

I had trouble with an orthophonic brake staying in the on position. Shown in the picture below, I adjusted by bending slightly so the point "A" would catch and hold at point "B."
It was easier to see what needed to be done after I removed the brake from the motor board. Hope this helps.

The little spring in your picture needs work. The spring should just barely pull the ratchet tooth up and to the left as you observe the picture. The tooth is meant to go across the teeth of the lower arm and "click" over them; when the tone arm moves the double arms of the brake assembly in the opposite direction, the brake is tripped. The spring needs to be short and strong enough to let the single tooth engage the teeth of the lower arm but not so strong that it stops the tone arm's travel across the record. Try shortening the spring you have a little at a time and you should have success; it appears that it was stretched some time in the past and is now too long to let the tooth engage lightly the teeth in the lower arm of the brake assembly. Hope this helps although it is pretty wordy

The little spring in your picture needs work. The spring should just barely pull the ratchet tooth up and to the left as you observe the picture. The tooth is meant to go across the teeth of the lower arm and "click" over them; when the tone arm moves the double arms of the brake assembly in the opposite direction, the brake is tripped. The spring needs to be short and strong enough to let the single tooth engage the teeth of the lower arm but not so strong that it stops the tone arm's travel across the record. Try shortening the spring you have a little at a time and you should have success; it appears that it was stretched some time in the past and is now too long to let the tooth engage lightly the teeth in the lower arm of the brake assembly. Hope this helps although it is pretty wordy Also note that the other little spring is also stretched; it has to pull the arm into engagement with the lever used to set the brake when you start the machine. If too weak or stretched, the brake will not "latch."

Orthophonic wrote:The little spring in your picture needs work. The spring should just barely pull the ratchet tooth up and to the left as you observe the picture. The tooth is meant to go across the teeth of the lower arm and "click" over them; when the tone arm moves the double arms of the brake assembly in the opposite direction, the brake is tripped. The spring needs to be short and strong enough to let the single tooth engage the teeth of the lower arm but not so strong that it stops the tone arm's travel across the record. Try shortening the spring you have a little at a time and you should have success; it appears that it was stretched some time in the past and is now too long to let the tooth engage lightly the teeth in the lower arm of the brake assembly. Hope this helps although it is pretty wordy Also note that the other little spring is also stretched; it has to pull the arm into engagement with the lever used to set the brake when you start the machine. If too weak or stretched, the brake will not "latch."

The picture above is mine, not oltractor's. The circle around the spring was for an earlier reason; I should have supplied one without it.
I agree with your points about spring tension.
I hope oldtractor can clarify if the problems are with the brake not staying off (tripping prematurely) or not tripping when reaching the lead-out eccentric groove.
Bob

Oltractor,

There is no real "setting" needed on the automatic brake, at least not like the earlier versions of Victor brakes. The two lever arms that engage with the pin on the tone arm are split and spring loaded. The tone arm pin is supposed to sit between the two brake arms, with the spring keeping them both snug against the tone arm pin. Every movement of the tone arm then relates to some movement of the brake arms. As long as the tone arm advances with record play, the brake stays unapplied. But, as soon as the tone arm backs up, in the retrace grooves at he and of the record, it will trip the brake. That way there is no "setting" to determine just when the brake will trip relative to the end of the tune.

Just in case you haven't done it, the mechanism must be cleaned of all hardened lubricant so all the parts move freely. I had to soak mine in acetone.

thanks for all the responses! i suspected but wasn't sure the pin needed to be between the two arms, i couldn't quite figure how it was supposed to trip, didn't realize it went backward slightly i will play with it a little more with all your help, thanks again

In case you hadn't realized it, the brake will only trip when playing a record with an eccentric final groove, which makes the needle go towards and away from the spindle, back and forth. It's the movement away from the spindle that causes the brake to trip.

Apologies if you already knew this, but it was worth pointing out just in case.

To add to JerryVan's post, sometimes a badly off-center pressing will cause the brake to trip prematurely. There's nothing you can do about that either except to not use the brake with that particular record.

Jim