Claxonola speed control

[mtntrail]

Hello- I have an old Claxonola which seems to run fine with the exception of the speed control. The linkage appears to be intact, but when dialed to "slow" there is no effect on the speed. When the dial is moved past midpoint in the direction of "fast" it begins to strike the rotating governor. Any ideas on how this adjustment can be made? Thanks
Don

[JerryVan]

I'm assuming there is a lever arm reaching from the motor/governor to the speed control itself. If there is no other means to adjust the speed control lever, it's not uncommon to have to simply bend the arm until the friction felt at the governor is in the correct spot to give the speed you want for a given control setting.

Really difficult to speculate further without a photo.

[mtntrail]

Thanks for the reply. There is an arm and it is attached to a small bolt in the end of the vertical control armature. Is it possible to post a photo directly to this forum? I wasn't sure after reading the FAQ
Don

[John Svensson]

Sure, have the photo saved to your hard drive and when you post your Reply look down the page to where you can "attach one or more files"...
hit browse to find and attach your photo. John

[mtntrail]

Thanks John, I bent the control rod around a bit and that solved the speed problem. Only now after winding and playing, it no longer winds up and I am hearing the rhythmic clunking of what sounds like a detached or broken spring. So I guess more questions. I took the spring barrels out and carefully removed the barrel ends. There were no obvious breaks in either spring , but maybe that is not apparent on a quick visual inspection. I didn't want to pull the springs, not knowing the procedure and thinking that a rapidly uncoiling spring would be more excitement than I would want. Anyway any suggestions as to how to proceed?? Manuals, instructions somewhere on the web or even something other than a bad spring that could prevent the spring from winding. I have not ventured into one of these machines before but I'd like to get this one going again. It appears complete and the cabinet is solid although the finish is pretty rough. She was on her way to the landfill when I picked her up on Craig's list- dont think she's ready for the scrap heap quite yet ! Any suggestions as to what the best course of action would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Don

[Phono48]

There are two possible reasons for the problem you describe. If the springs appear to be intact, then first see how they are attached to the outer edge of the drum. If there is a single rivet, then there will be a pear-shaped hole on the end of the spring, which hooks over the rivet. You should be able to see if the very end of the spring is in the same position as the rivet. If it's not, then the spring will have to come out for investigation. Please do not attempt this if you have not done it before, those things can cause great damage to you and your surroundings! If not a rivet, there may be a hook welded or riveted to the inside of the drum, in which case the end of the spring will be bent back on itself to form a reversed hook. Again it should be easy to see if the hooks line up. The spring is more likely to have come detached from the centre hub. This can happen easily if the turntable has been spun backwards when the spring is unwound. Again, there will be various ways the spring hooks onto the centre hub, but whatever method is used, simply bend the centre of the spring until it hugs the centre hub reasonably tightly. A clue to what the problem could be is this. If the spring will wind a few turns, and then slips, then it will have become detached from the outer end, (or is broken) but if it will not wind at all, or you hear a regular "clonking" noise with every revolution of the crank, then suspect the inner end.

Barry

[mtntrail]

Thanks Barry, I can see right off I am way over my head in terms of trying to repair the springs. do you know of anyone who repairs these units? This "rescue" s not something I planned on and do not really have the time to learn how to do this right . I would like to get it working so I can pass it along to someone who will keep it out of the dumpster.
thanks for your advice.
Don

[Phono48]

Sorry, Don, can't help you with repairers, as I'm in the UK, but this is a fairly straightforward job, so I'm sure someone else on the forum will be able to point you in the right direction.

Barry