The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello All:

I have an Edison Standard E which I need some advice and help from the forum members. The phonograph comes with the "N" reproducer. However, the reproducer comes with the TIZ IT attachment which is stuck to the neck of the reproducer. I tried to remove the TIZ IT by hand but it won't come off. I am not sure if it was glued on, or whether the top is made of pot metal which has expanded. I think the top is brass since there are no signs of cracks on the reproducer. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to use to remove the TIXIT w/o breaking the neck of the reproducer? I tried some lubricant but that has not helped.

Second, the mandrel shaft is frozen and will not budge. Again I believe this due to be a pot metal bushing problem. Does anyone have suggestions on how to remove the frozen mandrel and shaft so not to cause any harm to he machine? One concern is that the mandrel itself does spin loosely on the frozen shaft. It looks like someone in the past forced the mandrel loose which disconnected it from the frozen madnrel shaft. There is damage at the end of the mandrel shaft indicating some tool like pliers was used as an attempt to fix the problem. Any suggestions how to fix this once the shaft is remoived?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Rick

I have a Standard E as well that I restored. I'm not familiar with the TIZ IT device, but if it is a pot metal expansion issue, you can put the reproducer in the freezer overnight, which will shrink the pot metal and loosen things up. The reproducer is made of pot metal, so I hope the Tiz It might be another metal with a different expansion rate. The model N was stuck in the (steel) carriage of mine, and the freezer trick worked great.

As for that pot metal bearing, you can get a brass replacement for it. I ended up removing the mandrel and crushing each end of the pot metal bearing with pliers. Then I took a very large nail (actually a tent stake) and used it as a punch to tap out the rest of the bearing and remove it.

Thank you Shane! The bushing on the Standard E is the longer cylindrical bushing and not the shorter bushing used on the Edison Home, correct?

Here is a link to instructions for removing frozen mandrel bearings:
http://www.wyattsmusical.com/centBearing.html
Hope that helps.
Andreas

Phonofolks wrote:Thank you Shane! The bushing on the Standard E is the longer cylindrical bushing and not the shorter bushing used on the Edison Home, correct?

I *think* so. Any phono part supplier you'd order it from should know for sure.