The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone,

I have a late model HMV 101 which I bought about 8 years ago from a reputable gramophone seller in the UK. I live in Singapore where the gramophone community is non-existent thus finding an engineer to help with the overhauling is quite a challenge to say the least.

There's no major problems with it. It gradually stops midway through some of my records and for some of them even at the very beginning. I did a thorough cleaning of those records but it didn't really help much. I'm guessing the machine is long overdue a good cleaning.

I removed the turntable to take a look inside and as fascinating as it looks, I'm equally as excited to get this little personal project underway as I'm afraid that I would mess something up. Would you guys kindly assist me in how I should go about doing it (which parts to clean, what kind of oil to use, how to clean the motor/mainspring etc.).

Much Appreciated,
Shawn

Hi Shawn,

Your problem is that the mainspring is suffering from old hardened grease, which is preventing the coils from unwinding properly, a very common problem with HMV motors. The graphite grease used in them originally gradually turns very hard, and in most cases has to be removed with a sharp chisel! You will have to take the motor to pieces, making sure that it's fully unwound before doing so, and remove, clean and re-grease the spring. But before proceeding further, have you ever taken a spring out before? It's easy enough if you have, but definitely not something to be tackled lightly by a first-timer. There are about 19 feet of tightly coiled steel in that spring drum, one slip of the hand and the whole thing could fly out, causing serious damage not only to the spring, but more importantly, to you! However, we all have to learn, so if you do feel like tackling the job, send me a PM, and I'll give more explicit details on how to do it.

Barry

Hi Shawn

This link: http://www.restore-a-gram.co.uk/hmv-59- ... 4589562019 has some excellent videos on how to service the No 59 motor on many 101's. Even if yours doesn't have a 59, the principles are the same, especially with regard to safety...

Good luck!

Simon
--