The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Has anyone figured out a way to repair cracks in the aluminum spring barrels used on Columbia Q machines? I would love to hear what you did.
Dave D

Dave,

I assume you mean cracks that don't interfere with the gear. That being said, I would consider a repair that entails placing a thin walled sleeve inside the barrel. You would need to make an extended spring anchor rivet to compensate for the thickness of the sleeve. This really wouldn't "repair" the barrel, but it would reinforce it by taking the stress off the damaged barrel and placing it within the sleeve. You could epoxy or JB Weld the sleeve in place.

Is the crack gaping and unsightly?

No, I've never done this to a Q barrel, but I have done similar repairs for a rare & early Columbia machine. I basically made the original barrel into a shell that slid over a new, slightly smaller barrel within. It looked 100% authentic.

Dave,

Below is a video on how to repair cracked CDs.
I've used a very similar procedure to repair cracked spring barrels, cabinets,
basically anything with a crack.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toQg19C6mjU[/youtube]

PS. When are you bringing Jerry to a CAPS meeting?

Yes, that's just about what I was referring to. You might also want to try a liberal application of modified bitumen roofing tar, a favorite curative of the "old timers".


LMAO!

Thank you Jerry and Vince for your helpful replies. I will try both methods and report back as I am sure everyone will want to know which method is the best.

Dave

No problem Dave, and sorry for hijacking your thread, we don't see each other often so I sometimes jump on the opportunity to reach out.

For those of you who don't know, Dave, Jerry, and I go a long way back.
I first met Jerry about 20 years ago at a wet T-shirt/Patrick Swayze look a-like contest.
He and I were the two finalists that day and although I was the first runner-up, I couldn't have been happier
that he took the crown. It couldn't have gone to a nicer guy.

The next year, a young upstart who went by the name 'Dazzling Dave D' stole the show, and the crown.
We had many good times and I especially enjoyed the European competitions where we would spend weeks at a time
touring small french towns, being mistaken for Patrick Swayze and his brothers of course.
It was interesting how sometimes people would recognize Jerry to be Patrick, or sometimes Dave or me.
We were really good back then.

Here's a picture we took at Stanton's last year.

Anyway, that was a long time ago and I've probably gone too far off topic.

Anyone know how to fix cracks in Columbia Q spring barrels?

What would we do without you? I might have to figure out a way to get to Toronto for the next meeting. I heard everything in Canada is on sale, 30% off.
Dave

...and you can now buy some types of alcohol in grocery stores! (not a joke)

I ran into the same problem with one of those plus one with the worn down teeth. You can check around with Mark Gaiser (croakinfrog) on ebay, George Vollema or Ron Sitko. You can probably find a good one from these guys made from the better metal...that is what I did, I think it was maybe 75.00 tops with the old sping inside.

Victrolacollector wrote:I ran into the same problem with one of those plus one with the worn down teeth. You can check around with Mark Gaiser (croakinfrog) on ebay, George Vollema or Ron Sitko. You can probably find a good one from these guys made from the better metal...that is what I did, I think it was maybe 75.00 tops with the old sping inside.

How is it that they would have one made of better metal?