The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well, here’s my last machine of 2018. And my first rare-ish machine. An Edison Standard model E! S/N 806330. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
-I glued the top of the cabinet together because it was loose and the top works was the only thing holding it together.
-Cleaned the upper and bottom works with WD-40
- The Model N reproducer was stuck to the carriage so I put the carriage and reproducer in the freezer overnight and managed to separate them damage free!
- Cleaned the cabinet with Goop cleaner.

Now the only things I still need to do is find a gear cover, Find that chrysanthemum horn (sadly no screw holes for a Cygnet) and most importantly: Get that pot metal bearing outta here!!

Pics

Looks great and good luck on the horn.
I never heard of the freezer trick, I'm going to try it.

Congratulations, that is a great looking machine.

Wes K wrote:Congratulations, that is a great looking machine.

Thanks. Now I need to make it a great WORKING machine!

Andy, Wish you lived near me. We'd get that nasty pot metal bearing out promptly. The blue flowered horn you need shows up at some of the regional sales. If you plan on attending any, I would advertise in the Trader Section prior to attending. If possible you'd be wise to avoid the high cost of shipping a morning glory horn.

Jerry Blais

Jerry B. wrote:Andy, Wish you lived near me. We'd get that nasty pot metal bearing out promptly.

The only way I could get mine out was to soak it in wd-40 for 4 or 5 days and attach the mandrel shaft to a drill

Remove the set screw holding the pot metal bushing an place and put a few drops of Muriatic Acid down the hole some evening. By the next morning enough of the old bushing should have been dissolved so that the mandrel shaft may be easily withdrawn.

Uncle Vanya wrote:Remove the set screw holding the pot metal bushing an place and put a few drops of Muriatic Acid down the hole some evening. By the next morning enough of the old bushing should have been dissolved so that the mandrel shaft may be easily withdrawn.

This is what I’ll probably do. Idk.
With a firm grip I can somewhat turn the mandrel. So it’s not absolutely frozen. I’ll probably won’t do the procedure until I order the new bearing, and I don’t really know when that will be at the moment...

Ok. Show of hands: How many of you bought a machine on eBay Edison or Columbia and when you unpacked it the lid looked like this?

It looks like the seller left it attached when it was shipped and was probably damaged from turning the package upside down.

It is always a good idea to send shipping instructions to a seller and get them to agree to your packing preferences BEFORE sending any payment. Packing per my instructions will obviously increase your shipping costs, but prevent possible damage and the headaches associated with trying to settle a shipping claim.

Granted, if you pay by PayPal you can get reimbursed for damaged goods or from the shipping company, BUT you may never be able to salvage the historic machine. So, it's better to be pro-active, since most sellers have no clue how to ship fragile items, especially phonographs. I wrote up a set of shipping instructions for sellers that I send whenever I win anything valuable or fragile. Feel free to copy and save this for future use...

SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS TO SELLERS:
(1) Remove crank from machine and wrap it separately.
(2) Remove reproducer from machine and wrap it separately in bubble wrap.
(3) Remove motor and upper works from cabinet. Wrap the entire mechanism in plastic wrap to keep anything from moving or shifting... Then wrap the entire mechanism in bubble wrap and place it in an oversize box with plenty of room around it for packing - peanuts, newspaper etc., several inches of packing below the motor, sides and top. Make sure it's packed tight and then seal the box - DO NOT PACK ANYTHING ELSE IN WITH IT!!! Label it FRAGILE - BOX 1 of 3 - THIS END UP
(4) Take the crank and reproducer which are already wrapped and place them in the case BOTTOM, then fill the case inside with packing material and place it in a SEPARATE oversize box with packing below, on the sides and on top... Make sure enough packing is in place to keep the case from moving in the box. Then seal the box and label it FRAGILE - BOX 2 of 3 - THIS END UP
(5) Fill the case LID with packing material and place it in a SEPARATE oversize box with packing below, on the sides and on top... Make sure enough packing is in place to keep the case lid from moving in the box. Then seal the box and label it FRAGILE - BOX 3 of 3 - THIS END UP