Phonoland

Hello, guys I am new here. I am having some difficulty with my rock-ola 448 160 selection juke box. This is the back ground. I bought the machine about 14 years ago and have worked on it as needed with the help of some trouble shooting guides / repair manuals that I picked up on Ebay as well as trial and error. I had the machine working well and then I moved to another house. After the move the carriage coil on the write in carriage fails to operate on the B side of records on just half of the selections (200-293) The carriage is properly lined up and if the hammer is pressed by hand the selection is made and the machine will operate as it should. I have checked every plug that I can find as well as fuses. The I have cleaned the write in board and the contact fingers seemed to be lined up. The K2-1 switch seems to be operating correctly. I tried swapping out the relays and nothing changed. I am wondering if perhaps a wire came loose inside of the selector assembly. I am starting to run out of any other ideas, and the trouble shooting guide does not list this specific problem. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi
Does the write in arm operate when you make selections between 200-293? but just brakes and carriage coil fails to operate,
I would start first and check for any breaks at the keyboard and check the selection control box, the non selection of records between those ending in 0 and 3 is likely to be the selction control box and keyboard assembly
regards
clones

The write in arm indexes as it should and stops at the correct finger / record. The hammer coil however does not operate or even attempt to operate once it gets there. My thought is that for some reason power is not getting to the coil to energize it. It only does it on the B side of the records on the first 60 selections. It does not seem to be the "0-3" senerario.

IF, this is a 160 select model,it has two write-in "arms"--didja try both?
If both fail in the same spot, I would suspect the "ring" is dirty in that area.
Try cleaning it with a plastic-safe, Safety solvent--then using Deoxit 5, on it. Ron Rich

Yes, both selection arms fail to operate. It is more than just one spot; it literally affects every B side selection for the first 40 records. I noticed that the ring seems to be "broken up" into sections, I was wondering if one section of the ring was not working how would I go about checking into that. I have cleaned it before, I will try it again. I am not familiar with Deoxit 5 where would I be able to get it?

Just tried cleaning again, no change. Getting ready to pull my hair out! We really miss our Juke Box! Anyways, I am open to any suggestions. Thanks for your input.

Hi
It would be rare that a wobble plate would fail although it can happen, if the write in arm is stopping and finding the correct location that would rule out keyboard and selection box issues, the stop relay should activate the accumulator reset coil along with the wobble plate solenoid, the accumalator rest coil should remove a credit and power the write in carriage coil to move the selector lever into the play position. I would say again clean the slip rings on the wobble plate , the wiper blade contacts on the write in coil and no harm to clean the stop relay contacts and the contacts of the ADR relay and accumulator reset coil located in the credit unit. It could be that the wiper blades on the write in carriage coils are not making full contact with the wobble plate or something is impeding the coil hammers at the particular prtion of the wobble plate where the B sides are not registering
regards
clones

Guy's,
If the wobble plate coil, or plate itself were failing--it would do so on both A and B sides, IMHO.
This leads me to only to two "conclusions". Either the slip ring/contact for the slip ring, are not making, or BOTH "B" side write-in coils are defective (doubt this if it selects B sides at all). Like I said before--Deoxit 5, is the ONLY thing I have ever found, that will "cure this"--(available at any good "electronics supply house"). Ron Rich

Guy's,
If the wobble plate coil, or plate itself were failing--it would do so on both A and B sides, IMHO.
This leads me to only to two "conclusions". Either the slip ring/contact for the slip ring, are not making, or BOTH "B" side write-in coils are defective (doubt this if it selects B sides at all). Like I said before--Deoxit 5, is the ONLY thing I have ever found, that will "cure this"--(available at any good "electronics supply house"). Ron Rich

I will stop by radio shack and pick up the Deoxit 5 and give it a go I hope that will solve it. My feeling however is that the ring itself is not getting power. My repair manual does have wiring schematics but I am not terribly good at reading them. Best I can tell is that on the 160 selection box there is two different wires powering different sections of the ring. I believe one half of the ring is not getting power accounting for why half of the B sides work and the other half does not. I am wondering if something was jarred during the move causing a bad connection. My question is mainly how to test the rings for power and where to start looking for loss of power. Also can the selector wheel assembly something that can be taken apart in order to check for connections or is going to spring apart like a jack in the box. Thanks!

Hi
i don't think its a power issue think as the machine writes in correctly,the wobble plates can be taken apart but is tricky to reassemble, deoxit is the way to go first as i have found out myself on most machines
clones

BTW--Follow the instructions, exactly, as printed on the Deoxit can! Do not use ANY kind of "sandpaper", on the rings, or contact points. If after two-three tries, it is still failing, remove the pin assembly and burnish (using a burnishing tool) the contact points, on the write-in arm( I assume you have checked the B coil soldering at the arms ?). Ron Rich

I was not able to locate any Deoxit 5 locally. I bought the best contact cleaner I could find and worked it 3 times. I then sprayed it on a cloth and scrubbed the rings. There is no change. I am appreciative of your advise however I really think there is a power issue. The selector hammer will not strike on each and every record for exactly half of the records on the B side only. If I read the schematics correctly there are two wires going to each ring. Does anyone else have a set of wiring diagrams and would be able to confirm this? My service manual says it covers models 448 and 449. My trouble shooting guide covers 447,448,449,450,451, and 452. How can I test to confirm if the ring is getting power? I have never really traced down a power issue in a machine like this. Where would be a good starting point.

I am working on the machine as I type this. If I read the diagram correctly there is a yellow and yellow / green wire that powers the hammer coil for the b side. I removed the wobble plate and took ohm readings. It appears as though I am reading the diagram correctly. I tested each side of the slip ring to the plug. Yellow ohm ed on one side yellow/green on the other. Am I correct in assuming that I should not have any connection issues within the wobble plate itself? While I have it out I will clean all plug connections as well as the fingers on the write in and read out arms. I will update after I get everything put back together.

Did a good job of cleaning slip rings and fingers on the write in carriage. Got everything put back together. No change, still have the exact same problem. Any ideas on where to go from here?