First Victor - starting out small - need help!

[ishkabibble]

Hello eveyone,

I received as a gift a VV2-55 portable! (I'm starting out small. ) The tonearm seems to be in good shape as is the orthophonic sound box. It moves freely without binding and no cracks anywhere that I can tell.

I'm having two problems with the turntable, however, and hope someone can help me. Something seems to be dragging on it. The brake lever only moves about an ⅛ of an inch, if that much. Same with the auto-shutoff thingy. If I wind it up and press down on the brake lever, the turntable turns but as soon as I let up the pressure, it stops. It seems something is jammed under the turntable. Guess my first question is, how do I get the turntable off?

The other problem is the speed control (maybe related to the above???). If I get the turntable spinning as described above and with my free hand move the speed control, I can see it slow down OK. However if I move it in the 'Fast' direction, when I get about ¼ of the way to the end (fastest position), it makes a racheting type of sound.

Any ideas?

[Brad]

I am not familiar with the model you have, however, some victors platters are held on by a spindle that is threaded and acts like a bolt holding the platter. If the spindle is slotted, you should be able to unscrew it with a screw driver. If not, there may be a lock ring around the spindle just under the felt. If the area around the spindle seems to be recessed, this may be the case.

[estott]

It's probably a spindle that unscrews. There might be a slot or a hole drilled sideways through the spindle so you can pass a thin nail through it. You might find the auto stop gummed up with old oil, or a spring out of place. If it's a later machine you might find that there's some powdery corrosion of the alloy- in that case you've got to oil the joints and carefully move them until they free up.

[Shane]

The "ratcheting" sound you are hearing is the governor weights expanding too far out and banging against another part of the motor. This is because the motor is running too fast when the knob is in the fast position. The linkage that connects the speed knob to the governor will have an adjustment of some sort on it. Either re-adjust the speed knob position so you can't make the motor run that fast, or just simply don't turn the knob that far in the fast position.

[Nat]

The VV2-55 is a great little machine, and will sound amazing when you've got it all worked over. I'm restoring my 3rd or 4th one right now.

To remove the turn table, put a nail or some such thing into the small hole in the spindle and unscrew. If it won't come off - and it may be hard to unstick it - use something like a locking pliers to get it open. All the stuff under the turntable is pretty self-explanatory and logical. To watch out for is the leather brake pad that touches the inside rim of the turntable: I've never seen a VV2-55 where this wasn't pretty sad. Soak it in oil.

You'll need to remove the deck to get at the motor. All those little screws around the edge need to come out, and are often stuck; soak them with WD40 and be sure to use a good screwdriver that fits the slots.

Once the deck is off, you'll be able to remove the motor; it needs to be removed, as the motor nests inside the wrap-around horn, but it removes with three screws that you access from the top of the deck.

Give the motor a good cleaning. The spring barrel is sealed and probably won't need work anywway.

If I can help, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

Unless the soundbox is a very rare one, a good tune-up will improve the sound a lot. Don't try to do it yourself - orthos are complex and for the initiated only (and I'm not one!). Send it to Walt.

Good luck - great machine!

Nat

[ishkabibble]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that the spindle has a hole in it. Using a finishing nail, I easily unscrewed the spindle and got the turntable off.

That's when I had my 'duh' moment. It wasn't broken or jammed. I had been trying to move the brake lever back and forth, but the auto-stop was engaged. The brake lever has to be pushed in to release the brake and cock the auto-stop mechanism.

The deck of the machine is very oily/greasy, extending beyond the edge of the turntable. Would a household cleaner like 409 work to clean that up? I'm not sure of what to use because the deck is painted and I don't want to remove the paint.

[Jerry B.]

You might try a product named "Simple Green" for grease removal. It's mild, environmentally friendly, and works great. Jerry Blais