Page 1 of 1

Cleaning the springs on my Victor VV-IX, This looks broken? Hoping for some advice

Posted: Thu May 30, 2024 10:05 pm
by HybridShark
My Victor VV-IX phonograph has never been able to get through a whole record before slowing down, and recently it finally stopped spinning all together when i put the needle down, So i decided to take on my first cleaning project. After cleaning and greasing all the easily accessible parts just to be sure, then reading up on the topic, I determined it was likely a spring issue. Its a two spring motor, and the top one looks completely fine, but the bottom one seems to have been cut where it attaches to the rivet. I put some pictures below, This is my first time taking apart and cleaning a phonograph so I wanted to ask people smarter than I if this is a problem before I go bending and whatnot. Logically i feel like it would be fine as the bottom spring should be pushing against the rivet? but what do I know.

https://imgur.com/a/MQcfMUM

Also the grease in there was completely caked up and gummy, so i'm 99.9% sure that was the issue, I wanted to clear this issue up before re-greasing and putting her back together.
Thanks in advance for any help!!

Re: Cleaning the springs on my Victor VV-IX, This looks broken? Hoping for some advice

Posted: Fri May 31, 2024 12:38 am
by JerryVan
It's not "cut", it's broken. The other spring is about to do the same thing. See the small cracks at the small end of the pear shaped hole? If you're a bit handy, you can soften, (i.e. anneal), the end of the spring, snip it off, and form a new pear shaped hole in the spring end. Or, buy 2 new springs.

Re: Cleaning the springs on my Victor VV-IX, This looks broken? Hoping for some advice

Posted: Fri May 31, 2024 1:11 am
by Inigo
Yes, this would be the easiest repair. And of course to clean all this gunk, black and brown, until you see and feel the touch of clean steel along the entire spring. The inner coils are the most difficult to clean. Also here try to clean the gunk without actually scratching the steel which is below. You can press the gunk out patiently using the sharp end of a plastic knife, old credit card, wooden knife, etc. Soften the gunk with gasoil, gasoline or similar. Someone also said that vegetable oil helps dissolving old grease. That cake is mostly dry graphite powder caked by the old grease. Volatile spirits have evaporated and there is only left the graphite and heaviest components. Be patient and careful.
Or get a new pair of springs and start anew...