The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi there, I just picked up a Victrola VV-300 from a neighbor; he was putting out for trash, said he had it in his shed for years and was trying to clean out the house, so he was happy for me to take it off his hands. Everything thing seems to be there, but it doesn't work. I'm pretty handy, so I opened it up and based on my initial browsing of the internet I think I have very basic understanding of what typically needs repair/replacing/cleaning. From the little I've read, I have no aspirations of trying to clean the springs myself . That said, here's my question: This model has two cylinders; when I rotate the the cylinder on the left by hand, I can feel the resistance from the spring and when I release the cylinder, it turns all the gears smoothly and the turntable spindle spins. That leads me to believe that this spring is OK; I'm sure it could use a professional cleaning, but it works.

When I rotate the OTHER cylinder on the right (i.e. the one the crank screws into) the same thing happens: I can feel the resistance and it turns. BUT the two cylinders don't seem to "interact" i.e. if I turn the crank the cylinder on the right rotates, but it doesn't seem to engage the other cylinder at all. It's like they aren't "connected" some how.

On the left side of each cylinder, there are two small rings that go around the axl and each ring has a small screw. I thought that maybe I needed to tighten these screws to the axl to get the cylinders to interact with one another, but the screws won't budge - can't get them to loosen or tighten.

Then I looked at the sticker on the motor board and it shows where to lubricate "bearings". It looks like it's pointing to the aforementioned rings so I added some 3 in 1 oil to these points and then the rings seem to be able to turn around freely on the axl, with a detent. Are these rings supposed to move freely on the axl? How freely?

How can I get the two different cylinders to engage one another? Seems like I'm missing something really simple, but I can't seem to figure it out. Hoping the experienced minds here can help me out.

Lastly, if I really can't do this myself, I'd like to bring the motor to someone for repair. Anyone know where I can get this done in the NY/NJ area? I've seen the website for Victrola Repair Service in VT, but I was hoping I could bring it someplace more local to get this done sooner. I'd love to get this thing running for Thanksgiving!

Many thanks in advance!

I used to have a VV 300. That is a four spring motor, two springs in each barrel. There is a sleeve that connects the inner springs of each so that they operate as one long spring. I would not advise messing with this, but instead to put it in the hands of an expert. I would recommend either George Volema [Victrola Doctor] or Dennis Valente [Antique Phonograph Supply Co.] for this work. Both do excellent work.

I'm fond of this model, because I believe it to have the largest horn Victor used on this series of Victrolas.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I understand where the sleeve would attach the springs? I could be wrong, but it doesn't look like I'm missing any parts.

Many thanks,

dilver wrote:Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I understand where the sleeve would attach the springs? I could be wrong, but it doesn't look like I'm missing any parts.

Perhaps you could post a picture of what you have? If you are missing a part, I would think that someone here would most likely be able to tell you not only what you are missing, but also where to get it.

The ‘Upload attachment’ feature (found below the ‘Post a reply’ composition box) should make it easy for you to attach an image to this thread.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Your friendly internet daemon,

MordEth

The sleeve I mentioned runs along the spring barrel shaft, concentric to that
shaft. It connects to the inside of both inner springs, and the barrels connect the outer ends. This makes the springs [running in opposing spirals] operate as a single one of four times the length. You cannot actually see the sleeve when the motor is assembled. It looks like the barrel shaft. Bob Ault