The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello everyone,

I am restoring the 2nd phonograph that a friend of mine found on the side of the road. I had made a post about it awhile back.

I am going to have to refinish the cabinet, but that can wait until I get the motor fixed up.
I took apart the whole motor and cleaned it up and re-greased the gears, and then realized that the spring is broken. I could tell by looking at it that only one spring is broken, so at least both of them are not broken!

I spent tonight trying to get the springs out, and after a little tinkering I figured out how to take it apart. Getting the first spring out was pretty easy. The second one however was quite frankly terrifying. I took both of them out in the yard cause I didn't want it flying apart in my shop. There are two rods that go through the two springs. When I pulled the smaller rod out of the left barrel, I could see that the spring was not only broken but also jammed up against the bigger rod! After much thought I pulled the bigger rod out (outside of course), and the spring remained jammed inside the barrel. Maybe because I am 20 years old and do not always have the best ideas, I just took the barrel and tossed it out into the grass. And I am not exaggerating, as soon as it hit the ground the spring flew out and the barrel flew about 60 feet across the yard. I am BEYOND thankful that it did not fly back towards me, haha it would not have been good.

anyways I am just wondering. Can I drill a new hole on the spring? Or is the break too big to do so? Is this broken spring fixable?

Also if anyone has a Brunswick Model 210, please send me a picture of your motor. I think someone had messed with this motor in the past and left some parts out. The whole motor seems to be sitting too high in the cabinet. Ill attach a picture so you can see what I mean.

also does anyone have tips for spring removal? there has to be a safer way that how I did it tonight.

Thanks everyone!

David

https://www.youtube.com/user/1974hurt?f ... ucU5Rn9cYQ this guy knows what he is doing watch his vidos.

Considering the crank didn't mate up to the motor shaft, I'd say someone had this 210 apart in the past and took the motor off the bed-plate. You will have to take the cast motor frame off the black metal bed-plate and see if there are still insulators on there. Sometimes people forget to make new ones (the old ones are rarely any good after years of sitting) but if yours are missing you can make new ones easily out of fiber wads.

Fiber wads are sold for muzzle-loading or blackpowder cartridge shotguns, and the 10- or 12-gauge ones work nicely as phonograph parts if you drill a hole in them. For motor insulators you don't want the fluffy felt ones, you want the heavy felt, wood fiber, or fiberboard ones...simply drive a tenpenny nail through them and you've got parts. We definitely have a bunch of those wads here around the house, and if you need I should be able to mail you some.

Thats what I was thinking. I could make something to go between the plate and the motor to make up for that odd distance haha. Fiber wads a great idea!

any thoughts on putting the springs back in? I am going to soak everything in gasoline and then start putting it back together. I remember how you did it last time.. so I think I can do it. The only thing is that broken spring .

Just get more springs. Replacing one spring and leaving another old one is a recipe for a poor-running motor, possibly prone to mechanical failure. I have a Victrola with a triple-spring motor that has two originals and one antique recycled spring...knowing what I know now, I'd probably have just swapped all three for new ones.

New governor springs are a nice upgrade. New mainsprings are good too. You could torch the last few inches of the old one, file the ends into a rounded tongue-shape and then drill the pear-shaped hole it needs, or you could just install two modern ones that would outlast the service life of the original springs.

Fiber wads are pretty close to the original padding and won't go bad like rubber will. Nothing like using 2010s tech to talk about repurposing 1830s ammo to fix a 1920s record player.

hmmm not a bad idea. I got the machine for free, and since I cant even afford to fix my edison ...I think I will try to put it back together as is. Ill file the end down and drill a new hole and get them thangs back into the casings! I mean the worst that could happen is it doesn't work! I will refinish the case as well, its seen better days.

we had talked about veneer, and the veneer on the bottom of the machine came off, so I may use that to fix the top of the lid

I just went through the process of replacing a broken spring in my Edison A250. Since the break is on the end, you can try to follow VanEpsFan's instructions. I couldn't do it, because the spring was broken at the inner core. Before you start though, look closely for cracks anywhere else on the spring. Mine had cracks so I had to spring for a replacement. The best way I found to remove springs from a barrel is to wear heavy gloves, hold the barrel open side down in a large metal can. Pull the spring out and let it release inside the can. I wouldn't take the second spring out at all. Soak everything in low odor mineral spirits and re-grease with synthetic grease and graphite powder. Check out this link for my videos on the topic. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=43080

Well the second spring was the one that broke! It is too late now though, I have already taken both of them out and all the parts are sitting on my work bench

It's okay. I always take out all the springs (though I like the idea of carefully removing them with heavy gloves better than my bare-handed phonograph spring bowling you got to see.)

As long as you remember which way they go back in, it has a good chance of running.

i cleaned them with gasoline today! it worked great.. although I fear my christmas break is drawing to a close and I will not be able to put them back in until my next break