The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello All,

Spent the day at a local museum trying help get a brunswick they had donated operating well and cleaned up. I greased and oiled the motor.. The motor board was wood which was different from my metal models.. Its the kind with the square horn and the two position head. It sounded awful and I had intended to try and change the diaphragm gasket. But try as I might I couldn't get the ring that holds the gasket in place to want to come up out of the face of the reproducer. I have had others apart and I think I recall one did break in the process so I was leery.. One thing I noticed was that a small piece of pot metal was in the reproducer rattling around. Naturally I shook that out the rear opening. I had used quite a bit of WD 40 to try and get the ring to turn loose. After I took the pot metal piece out I decided to see what I could hear with it gone and readjusted the stylus bar. It seemed to me that perhaps the rubber rings had become somewhat more flexible perhaps from the WD 40 but not sure. At any rate I put it back on the machine to see where it was and to my surprise it actually sounded pretty fair. Not 100% but everyone around was impressed at the sound compared to what they had been hearing. Eventually I still want to change the gaskets but I also don't want to break it. I know professionals rebuild them, anyone know a fool proof way to coax that metal loose without breaking it?

After I got it together I discovered that the speed indicator was not effecting the speed. Luckily the thing was fairly close to being right. They are using it in an exhibition that starts monday so I didn't have time to get back into it. Will fix that later. I am guessing there is a set screw of some kind that allows for more adjustment to that arm that works the governor break.

Larry

Larry,

I have not successfully coaxed one out yet, however, I have had a couple of thoughts on how to do this as I intent to restore a Brunsy this winter.

One is, I believe what is needed is to break the bond between the ring and the head by turning it insitu. To do so you would need some sort of pin spanner that would engage in at least 2 of the screw holes in the ring.

The other thought, I have wondered if you trash the mica and gasket by digging them out with the ring in place if that would allow you to get underneath it at multiple points and work your way around with minute prying movements.

Just my thoughts.

Brad,

I actually did that going in just above the top gasket ring with a small screw driver that could be pried against the opposite side for leverage but it refused to budge. I did that all around it several times till I gave up. Maybe that pressure on the old rings was part of the reason it sounded better after trying to remove it? They had seemed rather hard before I started, but they actually returned to their basic shape after the screw driver was removed a bit. I sort of figured they would fall apart as some I have had were that brittle and with the lousy sound this had I would have guessed these would do that as well. I still wonder about the WD 40. I know years ago a friend of mine that redid player pianos used dip rubber tubing in gasoline to cause it to swell and grab the nipples on the tracker bar and other parts when replacing them. I guess next time I have some rather hard gasket ring I could try putting some WD40 on it and see if it does anything?

As far as the retaining ring on my Ultona, I was lucky and was able to
remove it in one piece. I soaked it with liquid wrench thoroughly and let it sit
for 24 hours. After that I (gently!) used a small screwdriver to pop out the ring.