The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi all! I own a nice Victrola VV-111 and recently bought some missing parts, i.e. speed regulator and semi-automatic brake lever. Now I want to install them but I can’t remove the platter just by lifting it up. I’ll try to describe what I see if I remove the gramophone wooden plate, and being Italian I beg your pardon for my poor technical English. In the center spindle I can see a pivot which appears to be connected with one of the two half-round slots on the bottom of the platter cylinder (I post a photo of a similar platter, taken by Ebay). I didn’t unmount the whole mechanism, because I can reach this pivot with a small screwdriver and I want to unfasten this pivot in order to loosen the platter up. My answer is: how can I move this pivot, which comes out from the center spindle? If I just try to lift it up I can't move it away. I put some WD-40 oil, but there is no rust and the connection is apparently free. Have I to push it laterally into the hole? It seem not to stuck, but to fit correctly… I fear to break something, because I’m not skilled. Can anyone help me? Thanks a lot!

Get someone to help you. While you lift the turntable get someone to tap on the spindle with a block of wood. It is probably stuck with old dried oil.

Seconding estott's answer…

Plus, a penetrating oil, such as Liquid Wrench or Kroil, would be more effective than WD-40.

BIll

Thanks a lot, Estott and Bill, for your prompt answers! Very kind of you! I'll buy these oils as soon as possible and I'll try, with the help of my wife... I'll let you know the result! Hope to return your favor in the future!

Carlo, you are wise to be cautious! I had the same problem with a Pathé. I set the Pathé on top of a sofa cushion. Then my wife slipped her fingers under the edges of the platter and lifted the whole machine one inch above the cushion. I held a small piece of hard wood on top of the spindle and hit the wood one blow with a hammer. The sudden shock released the frozen platter and the machine fell harmlessly to the cushion.

Thank you, Pathè...! I too own a marvellous Pathé gramophone for my "hill-and dale", which sound very well with the sapphire needle that I purchased, and I'm really sad for what happened to your Pathè... You see, I'm following the kind and wise suggestions of our friends but yet nothing happened. I found a very interesting PDF concerning Victrola parts, where I read that on the top of the spindle shaft there should be a "spindle shaft pin", but I can't understand if it should unscrew. In any case, I tried to extract it by pulling it gently with pincers (protecting the pin with rubber!), but it seems to stuck. Perhaps it's rusted in the inner part. I attach this PDF, which perhaps can be useful or interesting for someone, and submit it to you or to everybody will be so kind to give me suggestions: I didn't find anything on the Victrola 1924 owner's manual.

Thanks a lot!

Carlo

The spindle shaft pin does not have to come out at all. It only makes sure that the turntable rotates with the shaft. As you can see in the picture of the turntable you posted, it only has a groove at the bottom that sits on top of the spindle shaft pin. The turntable normally just lifts off. It is probably stuck with rust or dried oil. Try again with the penetrating oil around the spindle shaft, let it sit for a while (maybe over night) and then try tapping with the block of wood again. Even if you were able to pull out the pin, it would not help you, because the turntable is stuck on the spindle shaft.

Good luck
Andreas