VV-50 (Portable Victor) mainspring question

[jboger]

My recently bought portable VV-50 has a broken mainspring. I so far have disassembled the motor for cleaning. As I look inside the mainspring barrel I can see that the mainspring is broken, possibly in more than one place. My question is, how do I remove the lid to the barrel? It looks like a friction fit on one side (the side with the little circles) and that I need to somehow pry that lid off. I would like to do so with minimal marks left on the machine and certainly no damage to any part. so my question is, how do I get that mainspring out? All help greatly appreciated. Two photos are included. John

[52089]

There's a retaining ring on the dimpled side. Look for the opening in the ring, carefully put a thin screwdriver under it, and start lifting it up. Be careful because the ring is under tension and will fly away if uncontrolled.

Once the ring is off, insert a screwdriver into the center hole and lift slightly, rotating the barrel and lifting slightly until the cover comes off completely. Try very hard not to distort the spring barrel because it will make it very hard to re-insert the retaining ring.

[jboger]

VV-XI: Thanks for the response. Not sure about the retaining ring. The barrel is about 4 inches in diameter. Does the retaining ring run around the inside perimeter of the barrel and thus is itself about 4 inches in diameter? Is it a split ring? What I think you are describing I took to be part of the outer rim of the lid, not a separate piece. am I on the right track here? John

[jboger]

VV-IX: Well, just cleaned off more of the grease and sure enough I now see clearly the split in the retaining ring. Thought that was part of the lid to reinforce its rim. I will now carefully remove that retaining ring as per your instructions. this will be interesting to see if the mainspring is broken in more than one place. I will post a photo once I get it opened.

[jboger]

And me again. Here is a photo of the barrel with the lid removed. You can see the retaining ring and the broken piece of mainspring. The ring came out fairly easily. What I did was place a small screwdriver blade into the split and gave a twist. That lifted one end of the ring, and the rest came out easily. The lid was then easy to take off. A wise man once told me, everything is easy--once you know how to do it. Thanks!

[Victrolacollector]

I have repaired these are some of the easiest to repair. Make sure you do not bend the retaining clip, they are easy to bend and can be hard to get back on if bent. The center coil will need to be annealed and drilled and coiled to hook on the arbor. You may be well to get a new replacement mainspring. Be careful when working with mainsprings they can be dangerous.

All the best

[alang]

I am not sure if it needs to be drilled. I recently did a VV-50 motor and the center of the mainspring was bent to hook into a cut-out/groove in the main arbor. I think this would be difficult to do in the center. Also a lot of the center is missing, so even if it worked you would have a hard time to even get through a single side of a record. I would also call Ron Sitko or one of the other suppliers and get a new mainspring. Not expensive and definitely money well spent.

Andreas

[Victrolacollector]

Oops that's right those go through the arbor. I agree best to get a new mainspring. You will be glad you did.

[jboger]

Yes, the end of the mainspring goes into the arbor. If need be, I will buy a new mainspring. However, I do have a Victrola barrel with a mainspring(s) in it. It goes to a VV-VI, although seems to be common to many models. I intend to open it to see what's inside. My guess is that Victor used the same mainspring for all or nearly all its models. Well, that's a guess; hope I'm right.

[phonojim]

The mainspring for the Victrola IV is ½" narrower than the one for the VI. The VI spring can't fit in the IV barrel. The only thing to do is to replace the spring. I too recommend Ron Sitko as the source for a new spring.

Jim