The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In the post-Christmas cleaning frenzy, my Columbia Disc Graphophone traveling arm managed to get broken. Any advice as to repairing or replacing would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Find someone who is proficient at welding aluminum. Do not use epoxy!

I would repair the arm. Original Columbia arms are tough to find loose. Reproduction ones are also hard to find because they are no longer being made. I use Gorilla super glue, gel. This is the same company that makes Gorilla glue. This stuff doesn't expand or turn yellow like the other stuff. I have used this stuff for a similar repair. Make sure the areas are very clean. Shake the bottle and apply two small drops on each end of the broken joint. Hold tightly for about 10-20 seconds and put away for 24 hrs. I have used this for busted pot metal like Columbia arms and Brunswick reproducers. You can get this at any good hardware store. Good luck with your repair.
Harvey kravitz

Or any other type of glue for that matter! Do it right and have it aluma welded! This type of repair will hold. Glue will not!

Thanks for the responses. On closer examination, it does look like it has been previously repaired. There are darker gray patches near the break.

It depends on the glue you use. The runny crazy glue will not. I haven't had much luck with epoxy or JB weld. That's why I used that Gorilla Super Gel. It's worked for me.
Harvey Kravitz

edisonclassm wrote:Or any other type of glue for that matter! Do it right and have it aluma welded! This type of repair will hold. Glue will not!

Any major repair is worth doing right and glue is not a repair but a temporary solution.

Please for the sake of the next owner and restorer 100 years from now have it repaired correctly and have it welded. No one wants to try remove old glue to fix things properly.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Kurt Morrison

I did basically the same repair a couple of years ago. I can assure you, it is not temporary. I did this because I don't have access to have this welded. Bottom line, a strong invisible repair when done right. If there is access to someone who welds aluminum, do that. If not, then the glue that I mentioned works great.
Harvey Kravitz

Phonofreak wrote:I did basically the same repair a couple of years ago. I can assure you, it is not temporary. I did this because I don't have access to have this welded. Bottom line, a strong invisible repair when done right. If there is access to someone who welds aluminum, do that. If not, then the glue that I mentioned works great.
Harvey Kravitz

And gluing it now doesn't mean it can't be welded later.

gramophone-georg wrote:

Phonofreak wrote:I did basically the same repair a couple of years ago. I can assure you, it is not temporary. I did this because I don't have access to have this welded. Bottom line, a strong invisible repair when done right. If there is access to someone who welds aluminum, do that. If not, then the glue that I mentioned works great.
Harvey Kravitz

And gluing it now doesn't mean it can't be welded later.

I don't know about that. I know a good welder that WILL NOT try to weld something after it's been epoxied, and I never really asked Rick what the trouble is. But I've heard him complain about it more than once and he's told me NOT to epoxy something and then bring it out later and expect him to make the weld stick.

I would email Crow Custom Cast Welding in Hudson, Wisconsin and see what he thinks about it. I've had him do repairs on stoves and a friend of mine had him weld something that was aluminum for an old radio, and the repairs on my stove is just fine. I honestly don't even know where they are anymore and it's been heating my house for the last 5 years now. http://www.castmetalwelding.com/antique-restoration Is a link to his website. They are very nice folks.