SMC1 Disco 160, amp's working, but nothing's happening

Hello everyone,

First of all, i'm very new to the jukeboxe world, my mom had the machine in her living room and she gave it to me and my wife as a housewarming gift last month, i have very little knowledge of the name of the peices but i can do my homework if needed.

Also, i'm french. My sentence might be weird sometimes but i usualy get my point across and i can understand what i read perfectly!


So, we have been replacing the 45's in our Jukebox, after trying several of them, we noticed that the songs were starting at least 1min sometimes more in the song and the mechanism wasn't releasing the record at the end of the song, we had to manually release the disk id say 40% of the time. Yesterday when we were using it after a selection the motor started moving toward the next one, picked up the disk and jammed. No special sound, nothing noticable, nothing special really beside the fact that my Jump around disk was stuck in mid air.

I opened the hood thinking that the disk somehow jammed the mechanic, not at all. I was able to removed the disk freely without even touching the mechanism. i turned it off, unpluged it, and turned everything back on after 5 min.

Now the display shows a '' - '' and a '' | '', nothing else. the control box on the upper left side dosnt react to anything action, Scan, relsease, credit etc. the Audit / Normal / pop switch dosnt do anything either. the motor is also still stuck in from of the 163 slot and it dosnt do the initial scan on boot.

The Amp still kicks in on boot tho.

There is a lot of info there, hopefully someone has an idea whats happening with my machine. Thanks very much in advance for any assistance you are able to provide.

Jim.

Hi Jim,
Welcome !
Your English is understandable--
It appears as though the PCC interface board has failed. It also may be a MCU failure. There is no "easy" way to determine which it is ( unless you possess the new "gen2 MCU" that I sell).
The first thing to check is that the motor can turn--it has not seized (which is common) due to lack of proper oil. Then you should check that the motor coupler is not broken--also common, especially on SMC models. If all of that is fine, you will need to get out the schematics and test the inputs/outputs on the interface board--or, you can send me the board for repair, as I still repair them. If you are interested in sending me the board, or purchasing a brand new, MUCH improved MCU, contact me at: ronnnrich@yahoo.com Ron Rich

Hi Ron Thank you very much for your quick reply, i have few questions if i may abuse your knowledge a bit more.

Ron Rich wrote:The first thing to check is that the motor can turn--it has not seized (which is common) due to lack of proper oil.

How can i be sure that it can turn, i looked yesterday but i didn't want to push and press stuff to much since i was scared to aggravate the situation. Also, when your talking of proper oil, ill take a wild guess that i cant go ahead and use WD-40 in there haha, what would an acceptable oil be? sewing machine oil?

Ron Rich wrote:Hi Jim,
Then you should check that the motor coupler is not broken--also common, especially on SMC models.

Where would they be located? ive been trying to find a plan or a shcematic for the motor itself but no luck so far.

Ron Rich wrote:Hi Jim,
or purchasing a brand new, MUCH improved MCU, contact me at: ronnnrich@yahoo.com

i will most likely do that regardless of a fix or not, i want that machine to be as efficient as possible and keep it for future generation, in a working condition.


I appreciate your help a lot.

Jim.

Hi Jim,
Got your email--am just responding to the following as I feel it may be of general interest to the members--
Just look at the motor--the "coupler" is the rubber/brass item mounted above it. It should be "soft", and you should be able to turn it with your finger. If the mechanism has "jammed", you will not be able to do so, in one, or both directions.
If broken, you will see the bottom turning, but not the top.
---AND, most important--keep "WD-40" and all other "sprays" away from that whole phono.
A lube chart is available along with the Manuals--see the "announcements" section above for "where to find--"
Oil should be nothing except SAE 20 wt. ND (electric) motor oil, IMHO.
Ron Rich

Hello again,

came back from work tonight and looked at it for a while, i cannot find the brass peices you are speaking of. However, i removed the small metal hood on the motor and i did turned manualy a lot of peices, nothing felt stuck or broken. when i turned it back it the motor actual moved back into position and i got the selection / credit led back. the motor also react when i switch to service mode and back to normal.

i selected a disk that i do not particularly enjoy (wife's music haha) to see if it would work. the motor went, picked it up the microphone went in position (position seemed a bit off to me) and after few music notes, released the disck and moved back in the idle position. then i tried the B side, and i noticed that the needle wasnt moving towards the right side, instead, it tried to read the same side again ( the 1 towards the motor)

Would that be the continuation of the same problem or its another story?

i recorded the motion of the motor i'm talking about for clarity purposes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GfV-dSGTws

Thanks!

Jim,
I see what is happening--but do not know how to describe what to do. I think that you should get a complete manual, and read it. At that point will be able to guide you using the words in the manual--
It would be my best advise that you un-pulg the machine for now, as you can cause many more problems by not knowing what you are doing--
Ron Rich