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I have in for repair an Edison Home model A serial number 66193.
It has a 2/4 upgrade on it and the mandrel was a real surprise. I don't know why it looks like this, but I wonder if it is another case of Edison using up old parts, etc.

On another note, is there a good way to replace those rubber bedplate cushions between the upper and lower portions of the bedplate? I usually use some round rubber washers, but I wonder if anyone has a better idea? I have no idea what originals looked like as everyone of these I have found has been in poor shape.

And George, can you give me a born on date for this machine? The owner says it has been in the family for three generations. She is not sure if it was purchased new or not.

Jahn Mader, do you recognize this? You have seen it before!
Thanks, Dave D

Looks like an Opera mandrel to me...

Home No.66193 left the factory about February 1903.

I wonder how the oxidized mandrel found its way onto that machine?

George P.

phonogfp wrote:Home No.66193 left the factory about February 1903.

I wonder how the oxidized mandrel found its way onto that machine?

George P.

Thanks, George! The owner will enjoy knowing this.
Why this mandrel is on here is a mystery. What could it have come from? I guess I do not know which mandrels are interchangable.
Dave

As HMV mentioned, the mandrel looks like that of an Opera, but I don't believe the mainshafts were the same size as on a Home (I could get off my butt and run upstairs to look, but we're out the door for dinner! ). The Ideal/Idelia, Amberola 1A/B, and some Amberola IIIs used these oxidized mandrels too.

George P.

Dave D wrote:I have in for repair an Edison Home model A serial number 66193.
It has a 2/4 upgrade on it and the mandrel was a real surprise. I don't know why it looks like this, but I wonder if it is another case of Edison using up old parts, etc.

On another note, is there a good way to replace those rubber bedplate cushions between the upper and lower portions of the bedplate? I usually use some round rubber washers, but I wonder if anyone has a better idea? I have no idea what originals looked like as everyone of these I have found has been in poor shape.

And George, can you give me a born on date for this machine? The owner says it has been in the family for three generations. She is not sure if it was purchased new or not.

Jahn Mader, do you recognize this? You have seen it before!
Thanks, Dave D

I certainly do recognize it. A nice older lady brought it into my old shop in Indiana about four years ago and I told her that it was an aberration and attempted to explain why. She insisted that no one had ever messed with it in it's history and I tried to politely explain that simply couldn't be true, but she wasn't having it. I hope you backed me up on my explanation! lol

She told me straight off that you told her the mandrel was "from a different machine, and quite rare."
I also let her know about the butchered lower belt pulley and how a nail was used to attach it to the shaft. Other than the mandrel and the pulley, I did not notice anything else that unusual about it. Unless you count the Busy Bee disc machine horn being used on it! She says it has been this way for three generations, but is interested in a proper horn.
Dave

I never saw the horn.

phonogfp wrote:As HMV mentioned, the mandrel looks like that of an Opera, but I don't believe the mainshafts were the same size as on a Home (I could get off my butt and run upstairs to look, but we're out the door for dinner! ). The Ideal/Idelia, Amberola 1A/B, and some Amberola IIIs used these oxidized mandrels too.

George P.

Did the Opera ever come with oxidised mandrel? I thought the only machine that came with that was most Amberola 1As. Even some of them were gun metal.

A few pics of the Idelia....