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Hello. Just purchased a Phoenix brand 5" reproduction cylinder record to play on my Edison Concert phonograph, but it's a bit too small to go on the mandrel. Has anyone else encountered this problem with their records? How to correct? Thanks.

Gatyam wrote:Hello. Just purchased a Phoenix brand 5" reproduction cylinder record to play on my Edison Concert phonograph, but it's a bit too small to go on the mandrel. Has anyone else encountered this problem with their records? How to correct? Thanks.

One of two ways to correct: (1) Find a machinist to turn down the diameter of the mandrel... (not recommended) or (2) Find or make a large reamer...
Are you sure it is a repro to fit an Edison Concert... or was it made for another large mandrel machine?

I bought a couple of these several years back at the Union phonograph show. One fits perfectly and the other is pretty tight but will go on far enough to play it. They are made of brown wax so I don't see how a reamer could be used. I have always figured it was not correctable.

Dan

I am not sure if it would work, you could tape some sand paper on the mandrel and slowly feed and ream out the cylinder. Maybe use sand paper and wipe around the inside to sand down the inner core.

I recently used sandpaper stripes taped to the mandrel to CAREFULLY ream out a shrunk Pathé Salon (wax) cylinder and it worked just fine. Do yourself a favor and go outside, it makes a bit of a mess. Don't rush it and don't take off too much. Not sure if it will work with the Phoenix cylinder, depends on the material I guess.

Andreas