The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

ok, I bought a phonograph in the Yankee trader section and it was damaged during shipping. I made new motor board screws then I took the motor apart to dig out one of the old board screws which had snapped in the casting.
so my problem now is the lack of power... I tryed every adjustment possible but nothing helps. I know the governor springs are mis-match but that shouldn't affect the power issue. the only thing I haven't checked are the springs which were worked on by the previous owner. maybe they're not in the right way?

any suggestions?

By lack of power do you mean it is slowing down when playing a record- or just running slow in general?

I am guessing it is probably the spring- unless there is something wrong with the governor.

Just a guess based on the picture- but I wonder if that metal extension (pointed to with the red arrow) may be rubbing on the governor disk before it expands and contacts the leather friction pad (pointed to with the green arrow).

I doubt that is what's happening- but if it is then the motor may appear underpowered since the governor isn't expanding properly. Maybe that's just how it looks in the picture.

Player-Tone wrote:By lack of power do you mean it is slowing down when playing a record- or just running slow in general?

I'm currently testing it's capacity and fully wound I got 4 sides... maybe I just didn't crank it enough or it feared the hammer.

only the pads touch the governor, I've checked that... (and it would make a scratch sound if it was metal-metal)


someone with a Victor V could tell me how many sides they can get on a full wind?

Leo, sometimes if the motor mounting bolts are tightened too much, it twists the casting enough to put everything in a bind. Try backing-off the mounting bolts a turn more-or-less and see if that helps.

Leo,
All the mainsprings are new from Ron Sitko. I have noticed that they sometimes need more winds to get the power. The one thing I didn't verify when going through the motor is the single ball bearing condition at the bottom of the spindle gear. I have had some of them wear and drag too much on the spindle gear. You might want to take it out and make sure it doesn't have a wear spot on it.
Ken

Phono-Phan wrote:Leo,
All the mainsprings are new from Ron Sitko. I have noticed that they sometimes need more winds to get the power. The one thing I didn't verify when going through the motor is the single ball bearing condition at the bottom of the spindle gear. I have had some of them wear and drag too much on the spindle gear. You might want to take it out and make sure it doesn't have a wear spot on it.
Ken

Oops...
I forgot to put it back... I just tought "what the *** is this bearing from" and assumed it was a bicycle front hub bearing.
it looks fine but I'll put a brand new 3/16 stainless ball.

thanks a lot Ken.