Wow! Feeling rather star-struck finding you on here! I would certainly appreciate a 'shout out' from you. I only started this channel in January, and am still finding my feet with RU-vid. I might hit 1K subscribers yet... Thanks Mat! Mark.
Just some tips for this endeavour: Never use your bare hands when handling the spring and always wear eye protection and long sleeves. These springs can cut you really bad when you lose grip. Also, when removing the spring, don´t pull it out. Use more of a twisting motion and it will come out more easily. Placing the spring barrel in a vice also helps for removal and inserting. Before reinserting the spring it needs to be greased up. Yes, it will be messy but this is the only way the grease coats all the surface of the spring.
Installing a spring is easier, if you put the motor that much together, so you can have the spring grip onto the windup axle. Then you can use the handle to wind all of it inside. When everything is inside, wind a bit more until you hear a "click". The spring has then attached itself onto the pin on the side. Voila. Entire spring installed. By sheer luck, that's what I came up with and did as a first timer.
As someone who used to repair clocks my heart was in my mouth when you were putting that spring back in without any gloves on, those things have some power and can easily slice a finger end off. I have a similar unit to restore known as the pye black box which has the same problems as this one.
This video gave me so much of confidence to go ahead and open up a 1925 HMV 101and sure enough, the spring box of the motor was quite like what you filmed with the gramophone you demonstrated in troubleshooting. Hats off to your clarity of video, speech, brevity, simplicity, all cautions in place and fundamentals to such cleaning, selection of grease (the why and what of it)..... You are GOOD!!! THANK YOU!
I had to stop before the terrifying part at 8:28. I am a retired watchmaker, and sometimes clock repairer. That mainspring is NO JOKE. You can be badly injured if you lose control while releasing the spring from the barrel. A deep cut from that stiff spring filled with old grease and dirt...bad business. Another comment mentioned Simple Green. A good start, and won't poison you in your shop. You can clean the spring holding a bit of 000 steel wool (wire wool?) held in flat pliers. Much easier and quicker. I won't critique any more. If you are interested you can contact me directly and I would be very happy to give you safer ways of dealing with clockwork mechanisms. Thank you for your content and can do attitude. I look forward to each new video.
Thank you. I needed to see how a Gramophone comes apart. Just recently acquired one after passing of my brother. He restored antique radios; I restore antique clocks and music boxes. Like other commenters, I was concerned about you getting hurt by the spring. I will use my ultrasonic bath to clean the parts on the Gramophone.
Good video and a good repair too! I've done a couple of machines myself and it certainly is messy work. As well as not being totally effective, the other problem I found with white spirit was the fumes. I have an old book on gramophones and interestingly enough it suggests petrol as being very effective. WD40 also works well, but works out expensive. Thanks for posting 👍 😀
Removing that spring was pretty terrifying! I’m sure you know what you’re doing but I’d be scared stiff to use petrol indoors as it’s the vapours that make it much more dangerous than other flammable liquids. Keep up the great work though!
Just a few suggestions regarding the record and gramophone, don't play any 78 record or vinyl one that was made after 1935, it wears out the record easily. Also, sometimes those machines won't play a very worn record, in which that one you used was very damaged.
Amazing I sent the spring motor out for repair in my shop, still I think I'd never try it, even aftr seeing how. Great JOB! As a side note one time I got a antique toaster to fix.
Make your life easier. Install the spring THEN add the graphite grease to the inner coils. When you wind it up, the grease will spread to the rest of the spring!!!!. Also some slight oiling on where the spring clips to the barrel also helps. You really don't want the graphite grease to ooze out of the arbor sections and migrate to shaft components if the temperatures ever decide to get a bit warm. Let winding action spread the grease. Might want to tune the governor a bit. Bare hands on springs is taking chances of getting cuts on your hands. Also wear a face shield just in case a spring let's go violently and could cause more serious injuries. Avoid scraping caked grease of a spring using metal objects to prevents nicking the spring and causing breaks in the spring. Best thing is to use a plastic putty knife to clean the spring. When spring is put back into a barrel, on certain models the spring is not flush in the barrel. Lightly tap the spring in using an old Hockey puck or a flat plastic dowel to flush the spring in the barrel. Great video for beginners.
I had the same problem in my HMV 101 where it would slow right down so I took apart the whole mechanism and cleaned it all up, regreased and everything, put it back together to find out I still had the same problem where it slows down... still have no idea what it could be.
does anyone recognize two scenes from the intro: the one with the “trash can” looking item, and the one where Mark seems amused at apparently being shocked?
Wonderful job! Subscribed! I have a Columbia grafonola which has a similar problem so I suppose I will have to do the same cleaning. BTW, what kind of solvent is the second one (the red can)? Thank you!!!
I'd like to know when my HMV 102 portable gramophone was manufactured but can't get an answer anywhere. It's a 102c, number 8129 with a nr4 soundbox (which is original to this machine). Can you help?
Hi Mark, I used to play around with these when I was a child over 70 years ago lol. I can’t remember what the expandable mechanism is called though. A friend of mine has one that vibrates as it runs, so I think it’s possibly loose or perhaps it’s become weaker. Is it called a commutator? Your video brings back some lovely memories of when the world seemed to be less chaotic, but hey, I was just a young sprig lol
Good afternoon, I got a motor from hmv 101, I want to make a replica of hmv 103 with it. If it doesn't bother you, please record a short video with body measurements. Your gramophone. I can't find the dimensions anywhere
I cringed watching this! You really should have worn some protective gear; Gramophone Springs are SO very dangerous and can potentially kill! (I paused at the point where you were pulling the Spring out of the Drum - so you could have been injured yet - I don’t know! Going back to see it finish - but I hope it went okay - I guess so, otherwise you wouldn’t have been her to post it! LOL)
This was one of the best repairs i´ve ever seen. Excellent footage and i truly enjoyed your positive attitude to the work. Working with springs is a dirty and - sometimes- dangerous work, but you made the best of it. And what a marvelous tidy workshop. Great envy ! Sure I subscribe !
Hey. Very nice early Grammophone. This one have the old type of tonearm, what means that it was build round about 1923. definitely before 1925. but I think the motor and controlling parts for the speed is from an newer suitcase Grammophon. 👍
I'm really enjoying your channel Mark that was suggested to me on RU-vid. You also have a very enviable workshop. Keep up the great work and your subs should grow. Cheers from Australia!
Hauling a large mainspring out of its barrel by hand like this is highly dangerous. If it gets away from the operator it can slice the hands to bits. The rubber gloves are totally inadequate protection. In addition, doing this is likely to distort the spring so it doesn't run properly when replaced. ALWAYS use a proper spring winder tool and wear thick gloves and face protection, just in case. Before disassembling the plates, turn the governor by hand to remove latent spring tension, until it is fully down. There is a risk of damaging pivots and wheel teeth otherwise.
British engineering from a time it was made to last. I would have no doubt that spring would be good if not better than todays springs in another 50 years.
Maybe the term lGramophone” is applied to all record players over there. In the United States where that was made we would call what you have there a Victor “Victrola” opposed to a Columbia Gramophone … or an Edison Phonograph. These were all trade marked names.
As you were able to put the spring back in, without using a wise - I would bet it had lost most of its tension (so I would change it) Anyone else that grease up the gears? Like in clock - I never do!
Is there any reason that spring assembly could not be soaked in solvent for a while before trying to take the spring out, instead of fighting all that hardened grease?
My gramophone stops sometimes while i play it,when I pull the little handle to turn it on it wont turn on if I dont move the disc holder (the one that spins) it wont work,it keeps going and makes really loud noises for like 5 seconds then it turns off again without me touching it,whats the issue?
What about repair of the speed control seen at 2:36 in the video? On mine the lever moves the wheel but at either extreme it is still too fast. Another video would be welcomed.
another great video mark it's amazing how old grease can cause problems is this the one you showed me the cables you made for it i don't think i could listen to that for very long tbh sounds like someone running there nails down a blackboard
