The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently cleaned the motor on my Grand Busy Bee disk phonograph. I got it to run for about two minutes. How long should it play when it's wound up? Can it be over wound? I'm new at this and I don't know if I'm being too careful.

Thanks

If the spring is ok then you should be able to give it a full winding, this means winding until you get strong resistance. Do not force it, then you won't over wind it/break the spring. With these small single spring motors you will need a full winding in order to play through a record.

Andreas

Like Andreas, I do it by feel. When you wind a spring motor you will reach a point where the resistance to the winding will increase noticeably. You will recognize it when you feel it. That is where I stop. You don't want to keep winding past that until it will absolutely not wind further.

Clay

As long as you can wind the spring enough to play through the record, there is no useful reason to wind it much further. In my thinking, winding to the end puts unnecessary strain on 100+ year old springs and winding ratchets. You wouldn't drive a 100 year old car at wide open throttle, (well, I wouldn't anyway), so why push these machines needlessly. All that being said, if it takes a full winding to get through the record, then you gotta do it, (or wind it during the tune), if you want to play that machine.

Thank you for your replies. I think that I have been winding close to it's maximum. I'll continue to be careful.