Haven't posted any videos here of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer since I've gotten it properly working, so here goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bcPObsjLFE (The file is a bit too big to actually post on Mastodon).

The #Amberola #RecordPlayer was starting to get stuck. I had to unpack/clean/regrease/repack the spring canister *again*. White lithium grease is apparently not the thing to use. This time I followed the advice of an expert and combined modern chemistry with Edison's original recipe: A modern grease called "Lightning Grease" + graphite powder and a few drops of "Lubit8" oil. Crazy-looking stuff but it works. (Lightning Grease and Lubit8 are from a company called Fluormatics). Playing smoothly now--I actually had to readjust the speed limiter because it was running way too fast.

After months of tinkering, multiple tear-downs, thorough cleanings, rebuildings, and correcting a few of my own goofs, I finally got the #Amberola #RecordPlayer working at about 1:30 AM this morning.

Huge thanks to Charles from the FB Amberola page for a ton of advice and encouragement!

Some progress on the #Amberola #RecordPlayer. First, happy to report that I've found some online support from the record-player restoration community (which doesn't seem to congregate in Mastodon much--yet!).

Anyway, I was a bit befuddled because the machine was definitely playing slower than it's supposed to (160rpm), measuring the speed with a strobe light (well, strobe light app--one called "Strobily"--there are others, but they have issues--for example, not being able to turn *off* except by restarting your phone!).

I found that I couldn't get it to go faster than 120rpm. It wasn't that it didn't *want* to go faster, it was just that if I adjusted it to run faster, the weights of the centrifugal governor would spread out so far they'd start to smack the baseplate. I think over years of use, the springs that hold the weights just stretched out.

I was able to remedy this by disassembling the governor and bending the springs back. I reassembled everything and now can comfortably hit 160rpm.

This was both an aha monent and a @#!$(& moment. The part on the left is the "half nut" from the #Amberola #RecordPlayer. It rides on the feedscrew and pulls the reproducer/stylus along. On the right is a piece of broken metal I found in the bottom of the case, which I now realize is an extension of the spring-metal strip the half nut is attached to. I think this supposed to give the reproducer a little bounce, and *not* having it is why the stylus is dragging heavily and slowing the whole machine down. This is going to take some thinking.

Much better sound out of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer now. Will be better when there's actually a horn attached.

Spare parts for the #Amberola #RecordPlayer arrived today. I ended up with half of another player to get one part but it was cheap, and I guess I can stockpile extra bits. The second picture shows an old (L) and replacement (R) for the key component--if you look closely at the original you can see the mashed gear teeth that were causing problems.

Getting some sound out of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer. It's pretty warbly! But I think I know why--one of the gears has some smushed teeth. Found a replacement on eBay, so if my theory is right I should be getting some better sound out of this thing soon.

Progress on the #Amberola #RecordPlayer. Things are spinning! (Had to futz around with the spring more times than I can count).

Getting the winding spring off of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer wasn't so hard after all--turned out I happened to have a wrench 3/8" wrench which fit around the rod, and could use that to force it off. I straightened out a bit of the spring and now it fits on like it's supposed to. And, once things are loosened up once and cleaned up, it's not so hard to get the spring on and off--you just have to twist it in the loosening direction to get it to move freely.

The only problem is, now that I've got this put together and attach the crank handle, I'm starting to suspect that I've got the main spring wound the wrong way.

This rod is connects the crank handle of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer to the spring, so that you can wind it up. What looks like threading is actually a spring wrapped around it, which works with that little leverish thing (a pawl) to keep the crank handle from going backwards--when you wind up the spring, you want that energy to be released by running the machine, not by turning the handle back. The spring is supposed have an end sticking out that goes through a hole in the pawl, but it's broken off. I'm attaching a picture of a replacement spring someone is selling for comparison. Hopefully I can get the spring off and just straighten out part of it to replace the broken off bit, and not need to order a replacement.

The #Amberola #RecordPlayer's spring barrel is back together. Life lesson: don't disassemble something the night before you go on a trip, unless you make really good notes about how to put it back together! But I think I've gotten it right. I can twist the big gear to wind it up and it springs back with a lot of force.

Repacked the spring on the #Amberola #RecordPlayer. Used modern grease from the automotive area of a department store instead of the original/authentic mixture of petroleum jelly and graphite that Edison used. Make sure to wind the spring the correct way.

That grease came off easier than I expected, and the #Amberola #RecordPlayer's mean spring is nice and shiny now. And overnight soak in soapy water did most of the work. I loosened up the last of it with a dose of hot water from a tea kettle. With a little bit of elbow grease (ironic expression here!) It all came off.

Went through most of a bar of Lava soap cleaning up from this job!

Sprong! Took a little work to get the gear canister of the #Amberola #RecordPlayer open. But at least, it looks like nothing's broken--just stuck in partially solidified Edwardian grease.

This canister contains the spring for our Edison #Amberola #RecordPlayer. I think the spring is broken. All sources say to open these with caution--wearing goggles & gloves, because springs (or parts of them if broken) can fly out and they're sharp!

Some parts from our Edison #Amberola. The left one as we found them, the two on the right after cleanup (soapy-water+elbow-grease) to strip hardened 100-year-old oil and grease.

Eventually I got that broken bit of metal out. There's not much that you can't fix with a Dremel! Now it fits on the #Amberola's reproducer. But a little too snugly. It's supposed to freely swivel, but it goes on pretty stiffly. I'll have to grind out some more material (carefully!)

The ID plate on our #Amberola record player.

Here's the "reproducer" on our #Amberola. This is where the horn attaches--there's a little bit of metal chipped off, but not nearly as much as was stuck in that horn.