Phonoland

Hi all,

I recently bought a 1984 Rock-Ola 490-1 from a family friend. I admired it when I was a kid and had to have it when they told me they were selling it. They had moved from California to Virginia and said on the trip over, the movers tipped the jukebox, which caused some of the records to jam (they were guessing in the magazine). They never had the time to fix it, and told me it shouldn't be that hard if I just looked over the owner's manual (which they also gave me). After reading through it, I thought it might be fairly easy, so I opened it up to try a few things...and it's not as easy as I thought. Or maybe I'm just not doing something right.

First things first: when I put the Scan switch to "Scan", nothing happens, except the turn table spins with the record on it. The manual says to push the Scan Switch down to the scan position and the magazine should move until I release the switch. I'm not sure if maybe the switch is stuck...it doesn't really seem to move down or inward much (not sure if they meant down as in the direction to the floor or down as in push the button in).


Either way, it doesn't move much. Is that how it's supposed to be? I've also tried rejecting the selection that's already on the turntable by using the cancel feature...but the phonograph arm doesn't lift off the record. Then there's the Mechanism Control box...the manual doesn't talk about it much, and it looks a bit scary to mess with. Could that hold the key to what's wrong with it? Or at least, would it some how move the magazine?


Is there a way to manually move the Magazine, like doing something with this part:


Secondly, when I opened the inside of the Rock-Ola, I noticed they never filled the magazine...which the manual says it's "EXTREMELY important" that it be filled to capacity. I'm guessing for balance issues. Could this also be part of the problem? I can only add records to the top of the magazine, though, since those slots are open...but there are also slots I can't reach that are open. Any ideas?


And lastly, here is a picture of the records they said were "jammed":


However...they don't actually looked jammed...I can easily lift them up into the slot. That's how I thought I might fix it before I started messing with it: Hold the records in the slots as I use the Scan Switch to bring them up...but that doesn't do anything. So are the records just not jammed and it's another issue?

I know I should really find someone with more working knowledge of jukeboxes to come over and fix it...but it's something I'd like to be able to say I was able to fix on my own...but then again, I'm afraid of breaking it even worse, and ending up with an expensive non-working jukebox :-/ My dad is the one who is savvy with all this technological stuff, but by reading the manual, this thing doesn't seem that complicated, I just need to figure out how to get it to work.

Any help would be absolutely appreciated...and if anyone knows of someone who does work on jukeboxes in the Northern Virginia/DC area, please let me know. I'd really like to get this up and running like it used to when I was a kid!

Thank in advance,

Ookami

Ok...I realized my post above was rather long and complicated...but I think I may have narrowed it down some? I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of this earlier, but I looked on youtube on how the insides of this jukebox is actually supposed to work, and noticed something.

It's like the jukebox is stuck in play mode...only the needle isn't on the record to play it. It never resets itself. Is there a way to manually get it to move? Here:


This is the only position it stays in...Could the gears be stuck?

My girlfriend was looking a bit harder than I was and noticed a couple of things.

There's a thick grey cable coming up from the bottom of the jukebox, attached to a "Volume Control" box...but it's not plugged in to anything. I can't find where it actually plugs in to:


This is what the end looks like:


The only other cable I saw like it was this one, already plugged in:


And lastly, she noticed something else not "plugged in". It's at the very bottom, near the Audio Distribution box. It's near the back. It's this black wire...but I'm not sure where it goes...or what it does.




You can't see it that well in the second picture, but it's right above the screw in the back. Should it make contact with the screw?

I apologize for all the pictures, but I'm a very visual person...and with my limited knowledge in this area, I think it might be easier if I add pictures instead of trying to describe what I'm talking about...

Thanks ya'll!

I've had limited dealings with those later R-O's but since no one else has stepped up I'll offer some basics.

First, if the machine was tipped backward and records spilled out, there is a strong likelyhood that they jammed the basket and blew the low voltage DC fuse.

Your 'scan/service" switch appears to be all the way down in the "scan" position. Have you tried to slide it up to "operate"?

It is a bit odd that the turntable is turning and tone arm is in play position...This may indicate that the gripper motor has blown the low-dc fuse and not the basket motor.

At this point I would first look for the fuses and examine them for any blown ones --be sure to replace with the values recommended on the chassis only--

Often with R-O's the gripper motor develops shorted turns in it's armature and while they will still run for a while, the current drain gradually goes up and eventually starts blowing the DC fuse. Dumb operators often just put in a larger fuse just to 'get it going again' and left it that way. After a while the motor will become shorted and that can cause real damage if a too large fuse has been used.

You might try removing and unplugging the gripper motor and try turning the gripper's gear to see if you can get the bow back over the record basket and fully open. if so, it should then be possible to get it to scan. Do this after looking for a blown fuse.

If you replace a fuse and it blows again, unplug the basket motor as well and try the fuse again. Rock Ola motors are notorious for going bad, but generally it's the gripper motor that goes first.

The other connections you mentioned are not involved in any of this. The braided wire with a spade lug is to ground the chassis that is near it. just put it under that bolt.

Beyond this, you'll need some one with more expertise in Rock ola machines.

Good luck,

Rob/NYC

Hi

I have recently restored a Rockola machine myself, and re-iterate what Rob has said.

First things first. You are correct, the machine is in the play position, but strangely as Rob said
there looks to be something odd about the scan switch, it does look as though it's stuck in the scan position,
I think it should return under spring tension.

You do need to get those motors checked before going any further really.
Personally, I would unplug, then drop the motors from the chassis, this will allow you to easily check them properly.
They are DC motors (about 28V DC), and normally draw about 0.5 A when running off load.

Once the motors are out, try turning the gripper gear to return the bow to its home position (over the basket).
You should then be able to rotate the basket easily using its respective gear.

Note, you will not be able to rotate the basket or gripper by hand with the motors attached, due to an internal worm gear
in the motor gearbox. There should be however a knurled knob on the back of the motor to allow the armature to be turned manually.

As Rob has said, I too think it highly likely that one of the motors may be faulty, and has taken out a DC Fuse.

How are your electrical fault finding, and schematic reading skills ? Do you have the full service manual ?

Pete