The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Greetings. Just bought a nice Victrola XVI with L-shaped doors. It's runing slowly and will need a good cleaning out. Of course, this machine has a turntable that appears to be screwed down, which I'd rather remove before removing the motor board. I'm having trouble unscrewing it. How can I llosen it and which way is it supposed to turn? Thanks in advance!

What would lead you to believe it is screwed down? If memory serves me right, all Victrolas (not sure about the early ones) had a turntable that you could wiggle off/on the spindle. Yours may be stuck, try spraying some Kroil or PB Blaster around the spindle and letting it sit, and repeat a few times over the course of a day or two. It doesn't take much corrosion between that tiny gap to make things stick together.

The spindle cap is removed counter clock wise. Jerry

Jerry:

This is the "yielding turntable" that has the 2 part spindle. You should be able to unscrew the turntable spindle from the motor spindle by holding the turntable or turning the turntable clockwise while holding a good screwdriver in the slot and turning it counter-clockwise. You can't really use any penetrating oil etc. Good luck.


George

Once the actual record spindle is removed, you'll find a threaded spindle that passes through the turntable. The turntable should then simply lift off.

What models used the screw down turntable? I have a VV 2-5 that has a screw down design, but the entire motorboard seems to have been swapped out from an Edison model.

Victor Vs and VIs did as far as outside horn models go (There could be others, but these I know since I've owned them). The VTLA, early XIV and some early XVIs used this type of setup also.

Sean

Jerry

If the problem is that the spindle cap is off but you cannot get the turntable off the motor spindle, you might carefully try using the yielding feature to get the turntable off. The slots in the turntable are cut so that you can tilt it in the slots. Also the old trick done with care of placing some wedges under the turntable to lift it slightly, then giving one well placed "strike" to the motor spindle may also work. Good luck

George

SignatureSeriesOwner wrote:What models used the screw down turntable? I have a VV 2-5 that has a screw down design, but the entire motorboard seems to have been swapped out from an Edison model.

In addition to the models Ortho mentioned, the Victrola XII used the same arrangement. Quite a few of Victor's higher-end models can be found with what the company referred to as the "Yielding Pressure Turntable."

George P.

Thanks all. It took a pretty serious torqueing to get the spindle cap off, but I did get it done. Once I lifted the turntable, I found that some enterprising(?) previous restorer had put a piece of corrugated cardboard between the turntable and its support! Turns out it was there to prevent contact between the underside of the turntable and the 4 rubber bumpers that limit the sideways tolerance of the turntable. In any case, it was a little amusing to see corrugated cardboard show up on a 1910 Victrola!