Re: Spring Motors and Leather
By A. B. Bonds
In <9603280958.AA15500@foxtail.com>, Automatic Music Mailing List wrote:
> Subject: DJGPP and Music Boxes
>
> Date: Wed, 27 Mar 96 09:24:42 -0500
> From: lcs@zk3.dec.com
>
> More Interesting News:
> One cannot overemphasize that fact that mechanical music is _mechanical_.
> After having my 22 1/2 in Kalliope down since shortly after I got it, I
> finally got around to oiling the governor and - Lo! - it plays. Plays
> with an absolutely staggering beauty, in fact, I've never heard a box
> with a tone like that one, even my Regina. It's not as brassy as the
> Regina, but it is louder, richer - and with a huge double-comb, it has
> an extra- ordinary range. Still needs a good cleaning and detailing,
> though. Who has some recommendations for people who know how to deal
> with a really freakin' huge spring motor? _I_ ain't going to touch the
> thing, it looks like it could knock my house off its foundation. Any-
> way, the lesson here is, if the box is playing, but slowly, try just a
> tiny drop of oil at the top and bottom of the governor. Use a good
> clock oil (which worked fine on the Kalliope even though the scale of
> the thing and the ironmongery in it suggested something like WD-40!
> But I don't recommend that. =)
There is a firm in upstate New York that sells and services parts for acoustic phonographs. They have a workshop equipped to handle said freakin' huge spring motors. They cut their own replacement springs and load them into the cylindrical canisters for something on the order of $40. Unless the spring(s) are either broken or hanging up (noticeable in the form of periodic explosive noises as the motor unwinds) no need to mess with them. However, hangup indicates that they need lubrication, which involves taking the spring out of the case. There has been a huge ongoing debate on the antique phonos newsgroup about messing with said motors on ones own. Some brave souls think it a fine thing to do, but they doubtless blow the glass for their own replacement light bulbs and run with the bulls in Pamplona.
In any event, I'll get the address for this outfit and post it in a day or so.
And now for something completely different. I've got a lonely little Ariston Organette that has been sitting in my workshop for about 15 years. It is wheezy, to say the least, and I've gotten tired of just looking at it. (Fortunately scored about a dozen cards for it a few years back, so software is not a problem.) It leaks like crazy, and I need a source for the extremely fine leather (it's white and very thin) that is used to hinge the cardboard that forms the bellows and reservoir. For that matter, I will need to find fairly thick, stiff cardboard as well. Suggestions?
Thanks A. B. Bonds
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(Message sent Thu 28 Mar 1996, 22:25:56 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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