The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Replacing a pot metal bearing may seem like a daunting job but it's quite easy. You can heat the bearing housing or put the machine in the freezer until you know what freezes over but some mandrel shafts are held tightly by the clutches of the swollen pot metal bearing. Here's what you do:
*
Remove the mechanism from the case.
*
Loosen the set screws on the 2&4 minute gear cluster and upper belt pulley that are attached to the mandrel shaft.
*
Using a wide wooden block and a mallet, gently tap off the mandrel from the shaft. If it's a bit stubborn use as much of the surface area as possible and tap gently. The mandrel will come off.
*
Once the mandrel is free of the shaft, use vice grips and grab the shaft where it is normally covered by the mandrel. You will leave marks in the shaft but they will be covered when the mandrel is reinstalled. While holding the vice grips, twist the shaft back and forth as it would normally turn while playing a record. If the vice grips slip, tighten them a bit and try again. Take care not to bend the shaft. (I've done this many times and have never bent a shaft.) When you get a good grip of the shaft, it will turn.
*
Have someone hold the mechanism and use a mallet or hammer to tap the shaft out of the bearing. I strike the vice grips with a hammer. If you strike the vice grips parallel to the shaft, it will not damage the shaft. If the vice grips slip, simply tighten, reattach and attack the vice grips. The shaft will come out of the nasty old pot metal bearing.
*
Broken pieces of the pot metal bearing will generally fall out when the shaft is removed. Now you must get the rest of the bearing out of the casting. I used an old screw driver and hammer to break it up and had it out with a few blows. If you are concerned about breaking the casting, you might use a thin saw blade to cut up the pot metal so it would break up easily. I figure the casting is much stronger than the pot metal so I hammer away. If your screw driver blade marks up the inside of the casting, it's no big deal. Your new brass bushing will go in easily.
*
The new brass bushing was purchased from Ron Sitko and it has a hole which lines up with the oiling hole in the casting. You might need the wood block to tap in the new bushing. The one in the photos went in by hand.
*
Reassemble the parts on the shaft and tap on the mandrel with the wood block.
*
The project in the photos took maybe one hour from start to finish.
*
This is a repair than YOU can do!
*
Jerry Blais

Good instruction, Jerry. I learned this trick a long time ago from a fellow collector. What I did was use either kroil, or PB Blaster to get into the crevices of the bearing. This method also works on Homes and Triumphs, too. One question about your Model D: I noticed the case is the same as a Model B. Was this a very early Model D, or a transitional Standard?
Harvey Kravitz

Phonofreak wrote: I noticed the case is the same as a Model B. Was this a very early Model D, or a transitional Standard?
Harvey Kravitz

I once had an early Model D Standard (No.676769) and it had the same cabinet as a Model B too... I bought the machine "in the wild" and there was no sign of anyone having messed around with it.

George P.

Both this machine, Standard D #641464, and the long green Model A Home that I posted with the Home D mandrel and ground off end gate are owned by a bicycle collector in Newton, Iowa. I was at his home on my way back from Union to pick up a bicycle sign I purchased on craigslist several months prior to Union. He asked if I'd take a quick look at each machine. I failed to notice the missing end gate on the Home A but both motors ran fine. Both machines needed belts, a cleaning and servicing, and the Standard D had the typical frozen mandrel. Both machines needed more than a few minutes each so I suggested taking them back to Oregon and returning next June with playable machines. In return I'll get some bike accessories. We visited for some time before he allowed me to take his machines back to Oregon. I'm not finished with both of them but today I called the owner and played the Standard D playing Sousa's Stars & Stripes Forever over the phone. I appreciate his leap of faith to allow me to take two fairly valuable items home with me for repair. I had only talked to him on the phone a few times. Hopefully hearing his machine will make him a little more comfortable with the arrangements. Jerry Blais

Jerry,
I can't believe the timing of this post. Your ears must have been burning. I was just about to email you asking about this same repair. My I.C.S Standard has a seized bearing and I have been soaking it with BP Blaster for a month with no luck. I chipped away the exposed bearing on both sides of the cast iron support. When I apply as much twisting force as I can to the mandrel the mandrel begins to slightly turn on the shaft ( the shaft is not turning). I will give your method a try in a few days. Question, how do you put the mandrel back on the shaft and is it soldered on??
thanks
Pete

Jerry

A slight variation to your method which I used recently is to tap the whole mandrel/shaft out of the bearing with a wooden dowel.

I inserted the dowel from the left side and tapped directly onto the end of the shaft until it slid out of the bearing. This way the mandrel did not have to be replaced onto the shaft later.

Bruce

Pete - I've just tapped the mandrel back on the shaft and never had a problem. I suppose you could always use a few drops of super glue.
*
Bruce - I like that idea. I'll try a wooden dowel next time.
*
I should have mentioned that you can resurface the pot metal bearing if its mostly complete. You just wrap some emery cloth or very fine sandpaper around a round shaft and sand the complete inside of the pot metal bushing. The results are fine but you must realize that you are passing the pot metal problem to the next generation owner. The new bushing are not expensive and it's a quality repair.

Jerry Blais

Hi All,
Well here is the up-date on the bearing removal on my Edison Standard model C. It was a very difficult task and that's putting it mildly. No luck with trying to tap out the mandrel and shaft with a wooden dowel. I had to take a wooden block and tap the mandrel off the shaft. I then tried the vise grips on the shaft. I could just turn it a little but could not get it to come out. I had to use a metal rod to finally tap the shaft out. In the process I broke the end off the pivot bearing. However it is a start.
Pete

This seems like an appropriate time to ask... When some collectors are queried on the reason they don't like Columbia Graphophones, why do they reply, "Columbias used that awful pot metal!"

George P.

phonogfp wrote:This seems like an appropriate time to ask... When some collectors are queried on the reason they don't like Columbia Graphophones, why do they reply, "Columbias used that awful pot metal!"

George P.

True: Columbia made more extensive use of pot metal than Edison (at least in the early days - early Edison product descriptions made a point of noting, 'No soft metal used'.

Of course, when economic concerns made it more expedient, Edison followed suit….

Bill