Rock-ola 448

I'm a newbie Jukeboxer! My Dad just bought a Rock-ola 448 Musical Mint and i'm helping him to get it going, but it needs a little bit of work. I bought him the service manual/parts manual/troubleshooting guide for Fathers Day from Victory Glass and a couple of the problems that it has may not be as bad as I thought: First, sometimes it wont play the correct song pressed on the buttons, so i'm thinking either the selection control board may needs to be cleaned or there is a problem in the push button assembly. We are also getting some buttons sticking, so again i'm thinking the push button assembly. Finally we are getting the grind when the button stays down after ordering the selection. I understand the setting it up for free play may not be a good idea, but it is sitting in a family room and my Dad doesn't want to put quarters in it. Any ideas?

Thank you very much! Yes we are going to get it professionally serviced the 1st time to see if there are any more unexpected bugs. Afterward I hope he gets many years of enjoyment out it. I see they are robust machines and need to be played and this one we can tell have been sitting idle for awhile and it just needs some TLC and use! I will be on the board looking for help when necessary.

Hi tb0816,

to get the jukebox working without money a good way is a little knob hidden somewhere outside the cabinet which is connected to one of the contacts of the slug rejector.
When the money is inserted the coin drops on a contact blade which is connected to the credit unit. Depending on which blade is used 1, 3 or more plays will be possible.
So if you connect a little knob to e.g. the 3-play contact blade with one touch you would get three plays.

You can see a picture (of an older model) here: http://www.jukebox-world.de/Forum/Archi ... ispiel.htm
The text is in German but maybe the photo/drawing gives idea enough of what I mean.

If not done yet the keyboard and the wiper blades and circuits on the selector should be cleaned well. The pins for each selection should move easily.
If a wrong title is played: maybe this selection is still valid (not cancelled) and the selected song wasn't written-in. To find out you should push all selection levers back so no selection is valid anymore. Then try again. Also check if the other side of a record is played instead of the selected one. Maybe the jukebox doesn't switch from A to B sides or vice versa.

Besides this having a professional doing this job is a good idea. Then learning more about the jukebox to help yourself with minor problems is easier.

Kind regards - Hildegard

Hildegard, and all,
I recommend that the RockOla, and other brands NOT be "free played" with an added switch. When a switch is added, it is impossible for the human hand to pulse it with the same timing as a coin does. This causes the coin fuse, if used, to blow, or worse, it can cause the coin coil itself to degrade, and eventually burn out.
One safe way to free play this model is to simply remove one screw that holds the "subtract relay", and slightly "spin" the whole relay so that it can not strike the credit wheel when energized.
As for "playing the wrong side" --this, if true, would indicate to me that there are major problems in the system. The only way that I can envision that happening is if the toggle (on the gripper) is frozen. I don't know, but I think that the cam follower (which controls the "side played") can shift in the cam, without the toggle shifter following it, as I believe it is spring loaded. If the cam follower failed to "switch sides" (which I have seen happen due to lack of lubrication), the A/B switch is not shifted, and the machine will fail to pick-up on one side-- Ron Rich

Well the good part is that it is not playing B vs A. The big problem is that the push button selection is not choosing the right selection. It is a wonderful machine and the sound is great! I work on computers for a living, so I'm ready to grab a volt meter, the troubleshooting manual and my tools and get busy, but we want to let the professional get to it first, service it and have him set it for free play since it is in the family room and I don't want to have that constantly energized coil. It really has been neglected. My Dad loves it and he is happy, so i'm happy. I came over the other day and heard The Miracles - Ooo Baby Baby on the jukebox! It was sweet! Looking forward hearing from everyone on the forum. Thanks!

What "constantly energized coil" ? IF, ANY coil on that phono is constantly energized, shut it off ! (before it catches fire !) Nothing should "constantly energized" on that phonograph. Ron Rich

Hello Ron,

thanks for your advise. The extra switch is what technicians over here do when a customer wants a free play. The switch simulates a coin dropping through the slug rejector. I understood that this is fine as the switch does the same as the coin.

But of course you're the technician not me. So tb0816 please use Ron's advise.

Let us know what the professional technician found out when he got everything fixed. It's always good to know what the problem caused.

Kind regards - Hildegard

Hi Hildegard, and all,
The added switch is done here too--but there is always danger that "somebody" will push and hold that switch for too long a time period. When a coin activates a switch, it only makes the switch blades contact each other for milliseconds. When a human pushes the switch, it tends to be "held" for seconds. Most "coin add coils" are not "hefty enough" to withstand the additional time. In cases where the manufacture bothered to fuse the coils, "humans" tend to blow the fuse, so larger values of a fuse are installed--which puts the "strain" on the coil--same as if there were no fuse. It is for this reason that I do not add the switch. If a customer INSISTS that this MUST be done, I will install the switch, along with a "quick-make/brake" set of contacts on a new relay. Ron Rich

Hi Ron,
thanks for explaining this agian. I now understand better and see what can happen.
I know the problem of higher values fuses. A nail instead of a fuse was the ""best"" I heard of so far ....

Regards - Hildegard

Hildegard,
I hate too, but--I think I can go one better ! How about a nice, thick, 14 gauge, wire, soldered across the two terminals of the fuse holder !
That's "the best" that I have seen -- Ron Rich

That is what I was talking about. I have read on many of these forums that putting on a switch can cause many problems including the explanation that you gave Ron. The people at Victory Glass have me to point where putting it on Free Play does more harm than good to these machines since when they were not really made for home use, they were made for coin use. Well we have someone coming out this week and you all have given me plenty of questions to ask. I hope he doesn't get annoyed with me. Thank you all for the information!

Ron, ok - this can't be beaten.
Not even the guy who told that a fuse was blown but he replaced it. Afterwards the transformer did smoke a little bit.
I asked him if he used the right value fuse.
Answer: "Value? I replaced it with a regular fuse I had on my shelf. Do they have different values?"



Hildegard

Hildegard,
"They" do that ( replace it with the first fuse they see) all the time ! Hey a fuse is a fuse --no ??
or "they" replace it with one slightly larger in value, "because the dam thing kept blowing "
Ron Rich

Hi Hidegard & Ron,

The worse fuse issue I had was when a customer returned a 1KVA 240/110 transformer that I had made for the company I worked for (over 35 years ago) returned the transformer saying it was faulty. The transformer was completely burnt out shorting out the primary and secondard windings and the earthing strip between the windings.

The reason that the transformer was burnt out was that the primary and secondary fuses had been replaced with brass rods instead of the correct fuses.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK