I like to play the two jukeboxes I have in our summerhouse, when I'm working in the garden.
This is the younger of the two.
It dates from 1976. They were produced for hotel foyers and high-end bars, where "Silver Age" machines were considered to be out of place. The graphic is a reproduction of Monet's Sunlight Under the Poplars.
I've had it about fifteen years.
This is the flyer produced to promote this model, seems so incongruous now.
Over time, I've had a problem with the carousel motor, running slow, to the extent it would often activate the trip that protects the mechanical side.
I took it out and gave it a bit of a service a few years ago, but it was recently doing it more frequently. It meant that sometimes if the next selection was a couple of dozen records further away in the carousel than the last played, it would stop. There was a chance it might not "trip" and I'd eventually have a bigger problem.
So I "bit the bullet," and took it out last Thursday. This was no easy task. A question of removing three bolts.
Sounds easy, but it's a nightmare.
It would have been impossible without a set of spinners.
There's no way you could get any sort of regular open-ended or ring spanner on the bolts.
To be able to see anything, the front had to come off. It's just two latches that secures it at the top.
I've added a 60w heater, which gets turned on during the cold months, as these machines, "don't like it cold or damp."
Then the small back panel.
This is all you can see.
It was a question of finding the bolts by "feel" and then getting a spinner on them. You have to do this, by lying full-length on the floor. Not too easy when you're 84.
These motors are exceptionally well-made. They had to be, as most jukeboxes in their time were working all day, every day.
There was a lot of scoring on the armature. This happens if dirt gets between the brushes and the armature.
I'd attempted to reduce this on a previous occasion, but it was difficult, so didn't do it that well.
But this time I used a tip given me by another jukebox enthusiast. I put it in my electric drill and then locked the drill in the vice on my bench. Then wrapped a strip of emery paper lengthways around half a pencil. Just a question of turning on the drill and holding the pencil against the armature. A few changes of paper and the job was done in a few minutes. Then I carefully ran the tip of a Stanley knife blade to scrape out a bit of the insulation between the segments, as these must not be proud of the rest of the armature.
I did connect it up and had it running to check it out before I started to put it back in.
Getting it back into the jukebox is a bigger nightmare, as you're doing it by feel. I put Blu-tac around the bolt and the head of the spinner to stop it falling off. I managed to wedge a Philips head screwdriver through one of the holes in the motor bracket and the jukebox chassis to line it up, So I could screw in the first two bolts.
Sounds easy, but it took me half an hour to get it back in.
Now in perfect working order.
If I'd called out one of the very few jukebox servicing companies, no way would they have wanted it to do it here. They'd want to take it back to their workshop and raise it off the ground to a working height. This would have cost "an arm and a leg."
It cost me 59p for a sheet of emery paper.
This is the younger of the two.
It dates from 1976. They were produced for hotel foyers and high-end bars, where "Silver Age" machines were considered to be out of place. The graphic is a reproduction of Monet's Sunlight Under the Poplars.
I've had it about fifteen years.
This is the flyer produced to promote this model, seems so incongruous now.
Over time, I've had a problem with the carousel motor, running slow, to the extent it would often activate the trip that protects the mechanical side.
I took it out and gave it a bit of a service a few years ago, but it was recently doing it more frequently. It meant that sometimes if the next selection was a couple of dozen records further away in the carousel than the last played, it would stop. There was a chance it might not "trip" and I'd eventually have a bigger problem.
So I "bit the bullet," and took it out last Thursday. This was no easy task. A question of removing three bolts.
Sounds easy, but it's a nightmare.
It would have been impossible without a set of spinners.
There's no way you could get any sort of regular open-ended or ring spanner on the bolts.
To be able to see anything, the front had to come off. It's just two latches that secures it at the top.
I've added a 60w heater, which gets turned on during the cold months, as these machines, "don't like it cold or damp."
Then the small back panel.
This is all you can see.
It was a question of finding the bolts by "feel" and then getting a spinner on them. You have to do this, by lying full-length on the floor. Not too easy when you're 84.
These motors are exceptionally well-made. They had to be, as most jukeboxes in their time were working all day, every day.
There was a lot of scoring on the armature. This happens if dirt gets between the brushes and the armature.
I'd attempted to reduce this on a previous occasion, but it was difficult, so didn't do it that well.
But this time I used a tip given me by another jukebox enthusiast. I put it in my electric drill and then locked the drill in the vice on my bench. Then wrapped a strip of emery paper lengthways around half a pencil. Just a question of turning on the drill and holding the pencil against the armature. A few changes of paper and the job was done in a few minutes. Then I carefully ran the tip of a Stanley knife blade to scrape out a bit of the insulation between the segments, as these must not be proud of the rest of the armature.
I did connect it up and had it running to check it out before I started to put it back in.
Getting it back into the jukebox is a bigger nightmare, as you're doing it by feel. I put Blu-tac around the bolt and the head of the spinner to stop it falling off. I managed to wedge a Philips head screwdriver through one of the holes in the motor bracket and the jukebox chassis to line it up, So I could screw in the first two bolts.
Sounds easy, but it took me half an hour to get it back in.
Now in perfect working order.
If I'd called out one of the very few jukebox servicing companies, no way would they have wanted it to do it here. They'd want to take it back to their workshop and raise it off the ground to a working height. This would have cost "an arm and a leg."
It cost me 59p for a sheet of emery paper.
Very interesting relict of technological and cultural history. Could you please post a detail/closeup picture of the title select buttons and the title table (details of the numbers and characters column/rows, titles entries are not that interesting (well, at least to me))?
Mmmmm, machinery! Looks v. well engineered, other than perhaps the tonearm which looks out of place in that industrial landscape...
Nothing elaborate about an "industrial tone arm."
It's not designed to play valuable albums, just disposable 45s. But the machinery treats them well, never scratches them. It uses a Shure M44 MR cartridge. The amplifier switches to "mute" after each record finishes and comes on again when the next record is tracking in.
It's not designed to play valuable albums, just disposable 45s. But the machinery treats them well, never scratches them. It uses a Shure M44 MR cartridge. The amplifier switches to "mute" after each record finishes and comes on again when the next record is tracking in.
I made another video this evening. This shows how well the motor is now working.
As well as the weight of the carousel, it also has to overcome the friction of the edges of the records, that are only stopped from falling out of the bottom half, by a thin strip of stainless steel which contain them as they rub against, it as the carousel turns.
As well as the weight of the carousel, it also has to overcome the friction of the edges of the records, that are only stopped from falling out of the bottom half, by a thin strip of stainless steel which contain them as they rub against, it as the carousel turns.