The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello all,

Have any of you ever replaced all the springs in your standard 4-spring Victor motor during a rebuild? If so, was your motor more powerful and stronger than before? I'm just curious as to how weak these springs get over the course of 100 years. . .

Hi Garret:

My guess would be "yes," based on my experience replacing both springs in a couple of two-spring motors over the years.

In one case, there was very little power even after I had cleaned and re-greased the springs of a VV-80. The turntable would slow down when playing records even on a full winding, and I found I could easily stop the turntable by pinching the spindle lightly with my thumb and index finger--my standard test to check the torque.

After the springs were replaced, it took quite an effort to stop the turntable that way, and the turntable no longer slowed down.

The same held true for my Consolette when I had the springs replaced.

HTH,
David

Just cleaning and regreasing the original springs made my 4 spring motor much more powerful than before.

I have yet to find a spring that was "worn out" after 20 or so overhauls to date. Re-greasing usually
increases power substantially in itself. Of course if I encountered a spring broken in two and I had
no spares, I would buy a new one or find a good used one. It depends on your personal preference though. If you really want a motor that runs like "factory new", then a new set of springs would be a way of making sure.

I haven't really seen this on "larger" springs like in Victor and edison machines, but it could just be fractions better that are not that noticeable. Like it plays now 4 sides instead of 3 and a half.
Where I have seen noticeable weakening is in small single spring machines, because there it may not even play through a full side after cleaning and re-greasing. I guess those machines would have never sold if they did not play a full side when new.
Andreas

I have a XIV with a four spring motor as well as a 111 and 8-4 that also have four spring motors. All of the machines now have or had 17ft springs. On the XIV, I completely changed out all four springs with new ones. While I have not noticed any real difference in playing time (the 8-4 motor plays the longest out of all of them), I can tell you that putting in four brand new springs was a lot more difficult than repacking the old springs into the spring barrel.