AMI I Problem - Please help!

Hello All.

My AMI I has developed a fault. The record will not reject either at the cut-off point or by pressing the reject switch at the rear. All fuses are good. The turntable is turning. The amp is getting power although it is in a muted state. The cut off micro switch measures zero resistance across the two wires - irrespective of the switch position. I have the service manual.

What should I check next? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

John Murray
Alberta
Canada

John,
Might could outta help---if I had any idea of what model AMi you are axkin about ??
Ron Rich

Ron

sorry - thought it was clear from my post - Its a 1958 ami I 120

Thanks

John

Hello John,

I do not have the drawing for the model I but it should be similar to the Continental.
You need to check out the transfer motor relay contacts and check that the relay is operating when any of the reject circuits are closed, if not check out the cam switches.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Jon, I have an I-200 Mechanical selection. These machines have relatively weak gripper motors and plugs on those motors are prone to falling off.

Normally if the gripper motor has jammed due to overtravel it will blow the fuse. However that is dependent upon the pin not being reset. If the pin were to reset just a bit late the motor will still overtravel and jam but current will be cut before the fuse blows. This arrangement was a bit of a pain, that is why AMI went to a non-reversing AC motor in the K series.


Others here have given good advice, I'll add two points: You have to disconnect at least one lead from the trip switch to properly test it -though if the amp is muting that will not be the problem here.

Next, remove the little cover on the gripper motor's magnet structure and with power off, try to turn the armature with your finger. It will be easy to determine if the motor jammed. once you get it to turn manually, apply power and see if it 'takes off" and finishes the cycle. it is possible that the motor has developed an open turn on the armature or just poor brush contact. You can check for the roughly 28VDC at the motor's terminals using a multimeter, or just get a small 28 volt bulb, solder thin wires to it and stick those into the motor plug.

Has the power supply been rebuilt?

Rob/NYC

Alan and Rob

Thanks for the tips and advice.

Rob - the power supply has not been rebuilt. The machine was rarely used over the last 15 years but was so rediculously cheep I just had to have it!

I figured the next thing would be to check for power at the gripper motor and take it from there then check the contacts as per Alan's advice (big learning curve for me lol). I hope to get "deeper" into it next week and will let you know how I get on. Thanks again guys - what a great forum!

John