Hi Patrick,  Thanks for your reply to my e-mail.  First, please tell
us a little about your museum, where it is, and what you do there.

I retired from Xerox years ago and I've restored music machines for
almost 35 years, with occasional help from other MMD subscribers.
I get to meet lots of interesting people and I find the technology
astonishing and challenging, especially since it was all accomplished
without the sophisticated tools we have today.

But back to the subject at hand -- I can send you some pictures of a
27" Regina coin-op changer if that would help.  Just let me know what
you need.

I don't mean to be an alarmist (and I certainly don't want to offend
your volunteer, who, you mentioned, is helping with mechanical repairs),
but I should tell you that it is rather easy to cause a lot of damage
and get seriously injured if you try to take apart one of these music
boxes.

The springs are _very_ strong and, if you loosen the wrong screw at the
wrong time, you'll be in for a _big_ surprise.  I had this happen to me
when I was working on a Regina changer many years ago.  It was skipping,
just like yours, and I reached in and touched the governor to see if it
was loose.

Well it was, and it came loose and one of those two big springs ground
off all the teeth on the first governor gear ($250) and then dropped
the disc, which landed about an inch in front of my toes.  The disc
made a groove in the bottom of the case that was about 1/2" deep and
it certainly would have cut off my big toe had it been closer.

Fortunately, I had enough sense not to try to mess further with either
of the springs.  If you try to remove the spring from the brass barrel
housing and it gets away from you, it could easily kill or blind you.
I wouldn't try to remove one of those springs under any circumstances.

It can be _very_ dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.  There
are people who do it for a living and I would send it to them.

Also, if you remove the bedplate (the case iron plate with the combs
attached to it), and lay it down on a flat surface, you'll likely break
off a bunch of the bass teeth in an instant.  The bill for that will
start at $1000.

I suppose this would be a good time to point out that I'm in New York
and I am definitely not trying to scare you into having me work on your
music box in Canada.  However, I can help you a bit by e-mail and I'll
try to put you in touch with someone in your area who also can offer
assistance.

With respect to the rusty discs you have, how are you removing the rust?
Can you send a couple pictures of the discs?  I can tell you the safest
and easiest way to remove the rust and how to protect them afterwards.
However, in general, I'd suggest that you do not try to play any disc
that has rust on it; the tiny particles of rust and metal will get into
the starwheels and gears and cause all sorts of problems.

Cleaning the front of the disc is pointless (except to esthetics)
because it's the rust on the back projections that will cause the
problems.

Regards,
Craig Smith