The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I survived putting the new spring in it's casing and got the machine re-assembled. I do wish that the manual had mentioned that when you bang the spring out of it's wire retainer into the spring casing it lets out a horrifying shriek as it unwinds into the case. I was not expecting that.

Once re-assembled I played a disc and was quite surprised by the volume coming out of the machine. We'd all been amused by the "volume control" ball, but it turns out to be quite necessary if you're really close to the machine. I know, I know, arrogance of youth and all that...

There is one issue - when winding it I reach a point where there's a sort of nasty "schhhhh-THUNK" from inside the motor. I'm guessing that the spring I replaced didn't catch on the hook inside the spring casing and once I wind it past that point it slides around in it's housing. I'm hoping I'm wrong as it means I have to remove and reseat the spring, but I'm not sure what else could cause that noise.

If you got it to wind up and play, then the spring is hooked or it wouldn't stay wound... My guess is that you did not grease the spring when you replaced it or maybe it needs more grease to quiet it. The ca-thunk is usually an issue of no grease or old dried up grease, which the latter would not apply in your case. As the spring winds down, the coil releases and rubs against itself - grease quiets the noise.
Curt

Well, the spring I replaced got greased quite thoroughly. The other one may need to be cleaned and regreased though, as I didn't mess with it apart from making sure it wasn't broken.

However - the noise doesn't happen while playing, only while winding. It plays beautifully, just not really long enough for a whole side.

From the description, it does sound as though one of the springs is slipping out of the outer stud. Once it has slipped, it might fetch up against the stud again, leaving enough tension to play partway through a side...

It would be a good idea to check both springs carefully again, and adjust the curvature of the outer end so that they fit securely on the stud.

Bill

I tried it again later that afternoon (of course when I was trying to show it off) and now it doesn't work at all - when the crank is turned there's just a slight "clunk" with every other turn or so - the platter turns a little, but not anywhere near proper speed. Soooo, time to open it back up again. I'll let you know what I find.

Okay, so the original problem was that the spring hadn't caught on the spring case, the second problem was that the spring had also come off the shaft after the first few plays.

Once I got it open and got the spring out it was pretty obvious it had been spinning in the case, leaving some nice scratches on the inside of the spring case.

I'm guessing that the second spring (counting from the crank handle) was originally attached at the shaft, but not at the case - as it was wound up the first spring would wind normally and the second would wind until it got enough tension in it to spin in the case. So I could get enough tension to play ¾ of a record, but past that I got the "schhhhh-schhhhh-thunk" sound as the spring spun around to relieve tension.

At some point after the initial plays it must have also popped off the shaft, which was why it wouldn't play at all later.

All in all, I've had quite enough of those springs for today.

Okay, if an anonymous note shows up saying basically the same thing as this post ... it was me forgetting to log in.

Yeah, so it was spinning in it's case (leaving some nice scratches on the inner surface), and then it came completely loose later.

It's a double spring motor, so I'm guessing that as I was winding it the first spring (closest to the crank) was winding normally and the second would wind until it got enough tension to spin and produce that "schhhh-schhhh-thunk" as it spun in it's case. So I could get enough tension to play ¾ of a record, but no more. At some point while spinning the spring also hopped off the shaft, which was why it stopped working completely afterwards. After pulling the spring and making sure it was hooked properly it worked fine until the spring came off the inner shaft again. Sigh. Well, I'm getting pretty quick at taking this thing apart.

I bought a cheap VV-XI that has the same problem. One "good" spring, one loose spring. By counting the number of times I crank it, I can easily get through a record, but eventually I'll have to either swap out the spring barrel or motor. (It's not cost effecttive to pay someone to change the springs on a machine this cheap and I won't do it myself.)

I opened the second spring case and had a little "chat" with it - just me, the spring end and a pair of channel-locks. It now automatically catches the center shaft like it's supposed to.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaGLD7cCS_4[/youtube]

Glad you got the spring fastened! I believe the turntable's running too slow. If turning the speed knob (located to the upper left of the turntable) counter-clockwise to its max doesn't get you up to speed enough, then you'll need to do some adjusting underneath.
You need to be running at 80 rpms (or 20 turns per 15 seconds, to make quicker adustments)
It's nice to get these machines up and running!
Bob