rockola 440 pushbutton troubles

I recently acquired a rockola 440 ,and by browsing this forum have learned a lot about the inner workings of my jukebox. The jukebox is in pretty good shape, having been in the basement of a family for quite some time. Its only misfortune was probably not having been used enough. A general lack of lubrication, stiff gripper arm, faulty micro switches, and lots of dust were just a few of the problems that were easily solved.

One problem I continue to wrestle with is my # 6 pushbutton. When depressed with any letter, it starts the write in carriage in motion but refuses to move the selector lever into the play position. The write in carriage just continues to spin and the #6 button, with which ever letter was chosen, stay pushed down. The only way to undo the spinning and pop the buttons is to turn the jukebox off. All of the other pushbuttons work fine in selecting the corresponding 45s.

Any suggestions? Could this be a wiring problem? Or a contact problem? A problem with the hammer coil?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Probably dirty slip rings.

This can be caused anyway along the circuit--from the contact switch on the keyboard all the way to the wiper on the WI housing. Look for a poor plug connection-- Ron Rich

Thanks for the quick response, I will begin by checking the multiple plug connections, as this seems like the easiest place to start.

Just curious though, and sorry for my ignorance, but what and where are dirty slip rings? How would I go about cleaning them?

I think Ken means the rings that the WI wipers "run around on"--
Ron Rich

Ron Rich wrote:I think Ken means the rings that the WI wipers "run around on"--
Ron Rich

Yes that is what I meant.

Can you recommend a safe solution to clean the rings with? Just curious though, wouldn't it be a little unusual, if these are dirty, that it would affect only one specific pushbutton? or do the wipers and rings relate separately to corresponding pushbuttons?

I recommend a plastic-safe, safety solvent first--then DeOxIt. Yes and no--there areas that relate to both a particular
letter, and to a particular number. Check the schematic. Ron Rich

So for about 2 minutes everything was working fine and a should have just left well enough alone. Having adjusted many of the plugs along the way and cleaned the write in, all of my pushbuttons were working, including the #6, which previous to then had never worked. I moved on to replacing the three micro switches that ride the cam in the rear of the jukebox because the toner arm was not always returning at the end of the 45, ( I would have to shift the scan switch on/off a couple of times and then she'd go). Now for some reason none of the pushbuttons work. I put the old micro switches back, and the pushbuttons still don't work. When any combination of buttons is depressed, the write in just spins and spins, the buttons don't pop back up, and no 45s are grabbed. Could I have over cleaned? Miss adjusted a wiper? Blown a fuse? FRUSTRATED!

Well, who knows ?--First of all, none of those Microswitches has anything to do with the end of the record--that would be the end of record cancel switch, which is the open bladed switch under the tone arm.
Second, none of them has anything to do with the WI circuit--
So, how did you "clean it" ? What did you use ?
And what did you "adjust" ? Ron Rich

Initially I used windex (ammonia free) sprayed first on a towel and cleaned outer metal portion of write in. I then used a radio shack precision electronics cleaner on the inner circle, followed by CRC QD contact cleaner for the wiper blades. As I mentioned before everything was working fine after this initial cleaning. It wasn't until after i fiddled with the micro switches that all the pushbuttons stopped working. Is it possible that in cleaning the wiper blades that there positions could have been moved? there are 2 sets of 5 wiper blades, the three inner blades ride with two under/behind them. Do they all run directly over the silver stripes? Sorry I'm such a newbie at this!

Ken.

Ken,
They had better "run on the rings" --did you "lift" the wipers to clean them, or did you remove the arm ?--which I have already told you how to clean--Don't know if RS, CRC, / products work there-- Ron Rich

I did not remove the arm, sprayed the contact cleaner on a piece of construction paper and slipped it under the wipers. Caigs Deoxit was an easy find, but having trouble finding a plastic-safe, safety solvent. Do you recommend a certain brand? I live in chicago, and wouldn't think it would be a hard to find item.

There are lots of brands out there--I am currently working on a case I found a few years ago--which was "buried" for 40 or more years ! I don't think this brand is around any more -- Ron Rich

If you have the service manual, look at page 23 and 24. It sounds like you may need to adjust the number lock bar. When you open the glass, push the buttons that are working and watch the lock bar. Then push the #6 to see if it behaves differently. I had a similar problem with a 440 , but with a few keys not working correctly. In my case, it was the letter lock bar and simple adjustment fixed the problem.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Rob