Phonoland

Hi all

I have just purchased a 1977 Rock-Ola Jukebox however although I purchased it fully working, as soon as I got it home it seems to have a fault.

Are there any experts on here that might be able to assist?

Thanks

David

Hi David,
Welcome- the best I can do for you is to ask you to please read "Atten: Newbies", above this post in jukeboxes. Ron Rich

Hi Ron

I have read that post, thank you.

I have looked through service manuals etc, and still can't ascertain the reason behind the fault I am experiencing so was after some 'advice' from those that know a little bit about jukeboxes.

Thanks

David

David,
Well, it would surly help if you can at least explain what the fault is ? At the moment, I don't have a clue if the phono is even attached to the mains--or turned on ?
Ron Rich

Apologies Ron, I just wanted to check someone would be able to try to help prior to explaining the fault I am experiencing.

Firstly the Jukebox is connected to the mains and switched on

I purchased the Jukebox yesterday, and got it home yesterday morning. I tested it at the house I bought it from and it seemed to work without any issues. Again, when i got it home I turned it on, had a little 'play' and all seemed to be working ok.

After a short while things started to go wrong. The Jukebox selected a record and played the record as you would expect but once it reached the end of the record it would not eject the record. I tried with the track skip button on the back and again nothing.

I have done a little bit of reading, although I am no means an expert but have found out that on this particular model there are two brass strips that make underneath the arm when the record reaches the end, these seem to make as I can hear a relay activating (although it seems to be the mute relay), however once it makes it does not tell the relay for the gripper/return motor to active and ultimately eject the record. If I make this relay by hand the record does eject. From what I can see it appears to be a problem between the strips under the tone arm and the relay that activates the motor. Are there any obvious things it could be, or common things these machines suffer with?

Another issue I seem to be experiencing is an intermittent selection fault. Sometimes the arm on the wobble plate spins and spins and does not recognise what track it needs to stop at. Sometimes it does, however this is after it spins for some time prior.

I am not experienced with Jukeboxes, however deem myself to be relatively intelligent so would like to try to resolve myself prior to call an engineer.

Thanks

David

Hi
when the record finishes the tone arm closes the tone arm switch, maybe it needs adjustment and/or cleaning, once this switch closes it activates the reverse relay which reverse the operation of the gripper motor, this relay is located in a control box underneath the chassis again this may need cleaning, it may be possible that the plug connections at the control box need cleaning. Regarding the non selection, the slips rings on the wobble plate would most likely need cleaning
regards
clones

Hi David,
Well, first of all I HOPE that that phonograph NEVER "ejects" any records ! If it should begin to do that you will find broken records on the cabinet floor. (RockOla's are prone to ejecting the records if not kept oiled !!!) What you want it to do is "REJECT", the record at it's end. Since you hear a click (muting, I assume), the set of contacts under the tone arm that "make" at records end, are working just fine--these are VERY sensitive, and should not be "adjusted", or otherwise "touched" unless ab-sol-lut-ley necessary !
I suspect that Clones is correct in his assumption that you have a poor plug connection somewhere in that circuit.*
He is also correct in his statement about the missing selections--that's a "dirty" slip ring contact--I suggest that the only way I have been able to "cure that problem", is to first clean the rings/contacts with a plastic safe-safety solvent --then use a product called "DeoxIT 5" on all surfaces. If anyone else has found another product that works, PLEASE post it, as that "stuff" is expensive--but a small amount does do the job !
* these plugs can also be "sprayed" with DeoxIT.
Ron Rich

Hi Clones/Ron

Many thanks for your replies.

I have checked all of the cables that can be seen along the run between the tone arm and gripper motor relay and all look ok. I forgot to add that whilst it won't reject a record at all now (apologies for my previous terminology, I'm from across the pond in the UK) it was intermittent to start with, as in if you shut it off for a while it seemed to work again once or twice.

Are there any switches along the line before the gripper motor relay?

Thanks for the suggestion on the selection, I will have a look at cleaning the selectors etc.

Regards

David

David,
People on "both sides of the pond" tend to use the word "eject"--No big deal, as I was just having fun--
You will need to look for any "switches" on the schematic, as I don't recall any--
Also, may just be a matter of terminology, but the other problem lies on the "pinbank" , not "selector" (keyboard) section--
Ron Rich

Thanks for such a quick reply.

Do you know if any of the micro switches by the tone arm activate before the micro switch is pushed by the cam? I can't fathom that out from the manual? Trying to work out if any of the micro switches could be at fault...

Thanks

David

David,
"---Micro Switches by the tone arm----" ?? I don't know of any Micro Switches there ??
Ron Rich

Hi Ron/Clones

Thanks for your input on this.

I have removed all of the microswitch's and cleaned the terminals plus cleaned all of the contacts on the pin board and so far it is selecting and working a treat!

Hopefully it will remain this way!

Many Thanks

David