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I ordered gaskets to rebuild both my k-2 and favorite phonographs. The K-2 reproducer turned like it should and I was able to take it off the tone arm. My columbia favorite is an early machine (with front doors and curved horn)

does the reproducer turn on these? or is it fixed?
will I have to leave it on the tone arm while I rebuild it? it seems like it should come off

thanks,
David

You got lucky with the old K-2 (the curbside find, is that right?) Most of that stuff is locked up with old age and metal fatigue.

Please post a picture of the tonearm of the Favorite. I'm assuming there are no screws on the back? The only Columbia reproducers I ever was able to remove from the machines were a Lyric (on a cylinder BK) and an old lever type Analyzing (on a BN Disc Graphophone, horn type). The No 6 on my Oxford BZH Hornless Talking Machine was a pain in the tush and had to be rebuilt through the front, with sealant to make up for expanding pot metal. But hey, a BZH sold for like $9.95 brand new from the Sears, Roebuck catalog.

A trick I like to use to burst loose pot-metal is to take a can of air duster (the kind that high schoolers use to get really high) and turn it upside down, then shoot it onto the offending pot-metal with the straw on the can to direct the stream. Wear gloves. It will freeze the metal and can cause frostbite if it gets on you; I have even frozen off hand warts with it which is pretty gross but just goes to show it works. It only hurts for about two weeks.

Penetrating oils such as Aero-Kroil, plain Kroil, or PB B'laster are wonderful stuff for pot-metal. I've used them too. My brother and I used a combination of Aero-Kroil and the inverted spray can (Aka freeze ray) to break a 1911 Edison Model N reproducer out of its carriage. It's a huge and fragile reproducer that is hard to buy used, as it only appeared in 1911 on the Model E machines. The N56 is for other stuff. Anyway we used a little brute force laid on with an oaken mallet and a piece of "fat" pine (has lots of hard flammable resin in it, very tough, almost like Delrin but from a tree) and were able to knock it out of a carriage where it had sat for over a century. I later destroyed the reproducer with a machinist's hammer when it proved impossible to dissasemble--the diaphragm, needle bar, and tailweight were all salvaged and, with a fresh replica top & gaskets, went on to sing again. (Martin AKA Mormon S has got the machine now, and fixed the tiny hole in the diaphragm that I had missed. It now works & sounds great.)

I wish I had room for a tall-case Grafonola; they are very pretty and Columbias always sound nice fixed up