Rowe R74 Jukebox Rebuild

Ok, here are my suggestions:

1) Lube the gears and bearing in the two gearbox motors, first with a lightweight oil (10wt) and after a few days use 20wt. The gear boxes actually have felt oil pads but Rowe's mounting blocks them unless the motors are removed -which I don't recommend here. just place a drop on each bearing end.

2) Hopping-stopping. The stopping switches are that assembly that rides around on the outside of the pinbank and stops at a punched pin. At the end of your vid it sounds like a pin may be partially out and the stop pawl is hopping over it. Not a big deal -just look for any slightly extended pins.

3) Fast company. Rowe turntables in the 1100-1200 series run really fast. I find that annoying and slightly file down the motor shaft to slow it a bit. This is best left for later.

4) Dried rubbers. The motor grommets and possibly idler puck are prone to becoming hard and thus loosing their ability to isolate the vibrations of the motor from the turntable. The idlers used in jukes are generally harder to begin with due to the heavy use they will get and the fact that they are not lifted from the T-T or motor when not in use.

I believe Vern Tisdale has these, if not, try Always Jukin or Victory Glass. There is a chance that a good hardware store will have them but, the ones for use here are necessarily more supple than standard grommets.

1. at times the tone arm will hit the side of the record and pick it up just as it is being droped on to the record player
2. At times the needle will land just a bit too far left and get caught in a perpetual skipping loop before ever starting to play.

You are going to have to do a set of tonearm adjustments -but first check that the copper spring in the tonearm cam is there and not broken. That spring keeps the tonearm cam follower against the cam profile and thus provides a consistent setdown point. The arm lift height in generally correct if the bottom of the cart just clears the gripper bow by about 1/8th in.

Rob

Tony, an addendum to the post above: check the height of the tonearm brush. This is tricky in that if it is too high the tonearm will bounce after hitting it. This can throw-off the setdown setting. The brush should just skirt the underside of the stylus.

Rob

Thank you so much to everyone in particular Ron and Rob.

Lots of work to tackle over the weekend, should be fun.

Another question I would like feedback on.

in order to fully restore the unit in a manner that warrants bragging, I would like to pull out all the components from the mechanism compartment including, record playing mechanism, coin drop mechanism, Amplifier, and Power source. and then sand the wooden portions and paint in glossbright white so everything stands out, metallic brackets I intend to sandblast and paint in shinny black.

I believe at this point I am sufficiently comfortable with the individual components to fully take out and put back in, would also like to replace all the wire holders around the cabinet walls as they are brittle and break just by looking at them.

any comments or suggestions regarding this task ?

One more thing.. I really like the idea of slowing down the motors as everything does seem to be a bit harsh and sloppy with the fast movements, how difficult of a mod is this going to be ?

thanks to everyone again and kindest Regards.

Tony

Hi Tony,
Painting should be no problem--don't know about your colors--but I do not "hafta" look at it--just remember, YOU do !
As for motor speeds, all except the TT motor run on "low voltage AC power(24-30 vac)"--not too much can be done here.
Ron Rich

Netcat wrote: I believe at this point I am sufficiently comfortable with the individual components to fully take out and put back in, would also like to replace all the wire holders around the cabinet walls as they are brittle and break just by looking at them. One more thing.. I really like the idea of slowing down the motors as everything does seem to be a bit harsh and sloppy with the fast movements, how difficult of a mod is this going to be ?

Tony, what wire are "brittle"? If it is the AC for lights, etc, then go ahead. I'd avoid the L-V harness -you can cause yourself a lot of aggravation there.

The -only- motor that needs to be slowed is the turntable motor. Doing this properly requires a strobe disk, fine contact file, rubbing alcohol and patience. To the extent possible, mask off the T-T motor bearing by punching the shaft through a piece of masking tape. turn the motor on and hold the file against the step on the shaft where the idler contacts it (keep idler away).

---Do this ONLY FOR A SECOND, clean with alcohol, replace T-t and let it run a few seconds and check with strobe disk.

Be patient and expect to do this a few times and understand that this can not be un-done if you go too far and slow it excessively. I leave them slightly fast similar to the Seeburgs.

As for the robotics motors, I did find these mechs a bit...inelegant in how they operate -especially flopping the records down. But this causes no harm. In early 1990 I tried running the motors through an external 28vac transformer and powered that from a device used in the recording industry called a Martin Varispeed. This just an metered AC oscillator/poweramp. it slowed the motors to the point where the action was 'cleaner" but the scan and transfer intervals seemed interminable. If you are really interested in doing this for actual use, I suggest contacting Multi-Products -the makers of the motors. Give them the spec#, application and ask about a slower gear ratio.

Rob

Rob,
I believe Tony is speaking of the wire retainers, Rowe used, as being brittle --Sure,Tony, If I am correct, replace them all, but use black colored ones, and they will last ten times longer- Ron Rich

I believe Tony is speaking of the wire retainers, Rowe used, as being brittle --Sure,Tony, If I am correct, replace them all, but use black colored ones, and they will last ten times longer- Ron Rich

This is correct Ron, the plastic holders that help route the cables around the cabinet.

Thank you.

Last night we re-built the top Latch system as the original barrel lock had been drilled out by previous owner.

Sadly by a gross miscalculation on my behalf, I didn't notice the wire pullers had been "mickey moused" by someone before me, and once I had the whole thing assembled and I closed it... IT WOUDLNT OPEN !!!!

Drilled out my brand new Barrel lock, straightened out and re-bent original wire Latch pullers and Installed a new Lock "Again" this time with perfect results.

First Lots of photos to ensure I can reassemble correctly




Next to find the correct fit Barrel lock, Easily found at Lowes Hardware store


Careful reassembly



And Finally to Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ5u7VuinpY

Well....

Today I went to test the jukebox and the entire Selection mechanism is dead again.

I hope it's simply the spring in the Keyboard Mechanism Relay again... but am quite disheartened and will wait a couple hours before I dismantle again.

both letter and Number button go and stay in but nothing happens.

Advice ?

Tony, before opening the keyboard, tap the 3 relays in the search unit. There is a hold-out circuit that prevents keyboard and and search action till a pin is punched.

Don't feel disheartened. These are the "little shits" even experienced technicians deal with. Even after thorough diss-assembly, washing and rebuild I'll always have at least a few of these problems to deal with. Oh, and in commercial service the first week or so is always a lot of 'fun".

Rob

Thank you for your words of encouragement Rob.


After noticing one of the Motors on the selection mechanism was humming and hot. and examining carefully I realized it uses to two rubber belts (same size) to drive the gear system that activates the relays for selection.

One of these belts had slipped off (god knows how), a couple of screws later was able to remove the motor and carefully remount the belt, they both appear to have the same function (as far as I can tell) and both appear to be rather loose (unable so far to fins a way to tighten these) maybe they both need to be replaced?

once belt was back on its track everything seems to be working again.

Over the Weekend Michelle and I went Flea Market shopping we new have more than enough records to replace All of the original yucky scratched ones.

the very few special ones I absolutely MUST have Are being tracked down and ordered on Amazon and Ebay.

thanks to all.

Those belts should be replaced--and the motor(s?) oiled !
Belts are available at: needles4jukeboxes.com
Ron Rich

Yes Sir. I'm on it.

What a great thread... Love reading the progress of fixing and rebuilding a jukebox, especially as they seem like me, a novice, and on a great learning journey thanks to the experience of the other forum members. Anyone will know I gave up on my Rockola due to frustration... But I've got the bug again... and can't stop looking through eBay at other Jukeboxes, give it a week or two and I can see another barn find ending up in my garage.. AGAIN!!!!!

Markey,
I know you did not axk for it--but I will give you my 2 pennies worth--
Buy a good working machine, from a good, known source ( such as Alan, on this forum), and you will get years of enjoyment from it. Buying from eBay, or such, you are likely to get one that has been used as a "parts dump"--remember, in a coin operated phono, it is NOT how "pretty" it looks--it's how well it functions !!
I just re-built a phono that a guy purchased "somewhere" (eBay--I'm sure, as I saw it there), and the poor guy REALLY got "suckered"--EVERYTHING on it on the inside was either broken or did not belong to that model, and could not be made to work with it. It cost him a "fortune" to do this--I feel real sorry, but I did need to put in the time, and parts, just to get it to a marginal state, where I could then get it in the "perfect" state, he wanted----I done it ! Ron Rich