Odd Exhibition Reproducer - No Screws
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 4:06 pm
My first post, hello everybody !
I initially was going to ask for help on how to get this apart, but it took so long to get approved to post here, I was on my own to figure it out, so here are some photos and what I did to install new gaskets.
There are no screws, the diaphragm is held in there with a brass snap ring, I was worried it was pot metal, but it turned out to be brass.
The cracks you see in the ring are just cracks in the nickel.
I made this brass piece to get the ring started _ this was possible just to catch the edge as the ring was not totally centred to the reproducer body.
I used a small drill press vice to gently squeeze the snap ring with the brass block so I could start working it out with some jewelers screw drivers.
This worked quite well, and then I later realized it wasn't in there that tight, and I could have simply started it with a small screw driver, being very carful of course, prying along its circumference until free _ it was actually quite easy.
There is a shoulder on the reproducer to keep the ring from traveling into far so even tension is kept on the gaskets _ it just used the standard white round rubber gasket, although I did use the new silicone material that's out there now.
Take note too that, when it was put together at the factory wrong, the snap ring that was not centred interfered with the needle bar, it was making contact with it _ it would have sounded terrible.
All adjusted and back together, it sounds great now, it always astonished me how such a crude device that uses no electricity and simple acoustical application can sound so good, it's best outside.
Here are some photo's, it's from my Victor IV, it was used early on for a few months on the Victrola IV machines, but not on my outside Victor IV.
The cabinet needs some serious work, it's been butchered quite a bit and I'll make a new thread on that with photos.
The third last photo shows a piece of nylon that I turned in the lathe so I could put it in the vice with out worry of damaging the reproducer.
http://www.victor-victrola.com/Soundboxes.htm
I initially was going to ask for help on how to get this apart, but it took so long to get approved to post here, I was on my own to figure it out, so here are some photos and what I did to install new gaskets.
There are no screws, the diaphragm is held in there with a brass snap ring, I was worried it was pot metal, but it turned out to be brass.
The cracks you see in the ring are just cracks in the nickel.
I made this brass piece to get the ring started _ this was possible just to catch the edge as the ring was not totally centred to the reproducer body.
I used a small drill press vice to gently squeeze the snap ring with the brass block so I could start working it out with some jewelers screw drivers.
This worked quite well, and then I later realized it wasn't in there that tight, and I could have simply started it with a small screw driver, being very carful of course, prying along its circumference until free _ it was actually quite easy.
There is a shoulder on the reproducer to keep the ring from traveling into far so even tension is kept on the gaskets _ it just used the standard white round rubber gasket, although I did use the new silicone material that's out there now.
Take note too that, when it was put together at the factory wrong, the snap ring that was not centred interfered with the needle bar, it was making contact with it _ it would have sounded terrible.
All adjusted and back together, it sounds great now, it always astonished me how such a crude device that uses no electricity and simple acoustical application can sound so good, it's best outside.
Here are some photo's, it's from my Victor IV, it was used early on for a few months on the Victrola IV machines, but not on my outside Victor IV.
The cabinet needs some serious work, it's been butchered quite a bit and I'll make a new thread on that with photos.
The third last photo shows a piece of nylon that I turned in the lathe so I could put it in the vice with out worry of damaging the reproducer.
http://www.victor-victrola.com/Soundboxes.htm
