Seeburg V Drum Detent Switch

The interlock switch on the title strip drum appears (to me) to be only an interlock that prevents the drum motor from operating if the drum cover is rotated up while servicing the title strips. The reason I ask is because the switch has been made inoperable on my machine. I just wanted to be certain I am not missing any other purpose it might have. Some of these things are pretty darn sneaky! I'll leave it disabled unless there is another reason for it. I'll have to see if I can scrounge up the parts to enable its operation if necessary. Thanks Everyone! You have all been a great help.
David (Geritol Ghetto)

David, that is the only purpose it serves. it does make changing strips easier in that the drum doesn't fight you as you turn it.

More important are the carry-over contacts that ride on the cam right near the gearbox. Those take the (3 amp) load off the push button sliders once the motor launches.

Rob

Rob, Thank You! Great Advice! I'll double check those carryover switches. I think I mentioned on my "V" someone added leaf switches to each of the slider switches. Someone had NOS sliders on Ebay a few weeks ago and I bought those but they had only three. Then they put up three more but I missed those. I'll just put those new ones in the cashbox. Thanks again! It is greatly appreciated!
David (Geritol Ghetto)

David, I'd be interested in seeing how the leaf switches are mounted. At this point I just make up "originals" from components I bought back in the late 80s. It requires careful cutting of the phenolic and I break about one-in-ten in the process.
I also add an AC relay to actually control the drum motor. this reduces the current from approx 3 amps to a little over 30ma.
In commercial service where kids pound away on those buttons I considered it a good mod. For home use it is probably not necessary.

Rob

Rob,
Let's see if I have the correct method of getting pictures onto the Phonoland site! They are of the modified slider switches for the V drum. I am not so sure about the insulators used on the long blade. I was thinking of some layers of heat shrink as a replacement or something, maybe phenolic pad made from old circuit board with super glue.

David

Guy's,
I think this is a great idea--I have used hi current rated, MicroSwitches, with a .01 cap , in the past for this, however I think this is a better idea.
As for the insulator, one could use the round white nylon "pads" that attach to the blades--- Ron Rich

David, thanks for the photos. That was one approach I considered back when I got a V w/bad switches in 1986. At the time I saw that it would conflict with the keyboard cover, which I see is off here. It is possible that the contacts used on your machine are in fact shallow enough that they would not be a problem.

thanks again,

Rob

Rob,
The keyboard cover was on the machine so perhaps there is not a conflict for clearance. I had never thought of that. I'll have to give it a good look. I need to clean that cover up first. It is an ugly black in color. I think it is a repaint. Whoever did the last restoration liked to give wire splices a good twist and then tape them up.

It has been well over 100F in the little garage workshop, I have. Even in the mornings it is miserable but temps are starting to cool off a bit. It has been a hot, moist, humid summer for Arizona. I've avoided a lot of time out there.

This V has been the worst since a Seeburg B that had every inch except the glass and keyboard covered in fake fur. It was so full of dust I had to wear a mask while taking it off and there were about a zillion tack holes left in the case. Wish I had taken pictures!
David (Geritol Ghetto)

Hi Dave,
That cover originally was painted a (IMHO crummy) green --Seeburg "musta gotta deal" on that stuff !
Ron Rich

The same green was used on the L keyboard.

It made more sense there since you can actually see it from the side

Rob

Guy's,
Knowing how Seeburg operated", it would not shock me to find out that someone's brother-in-law, owned a paint store, and made them a deal that they couldn't refuse, on that, and the "red paint" they used on earlier ES covers ! ( the "deal" was un-doutably better for the paint store owner, then Seeburg !! ) My memory is very foggy on this, but it seems to me I spotted a "lot of stuff", sitting on shelves (?), in the factory, that were painted with both those colors-- Ron Rich

Got the keyboard painted another weird green color. It was what I had on the shelf (just like Seeburg, I guess). I still want to know who harvested the black widow webs at Seeburg and if they got extra pay) I slipped the green cover into place and there seems to be ample clearance for the added leaf switches for the title strip drum.

Now I gotta take a look at that Tormat. It is sparky with erratic selections. Looks like someone "cleaned" a lot (maybe all) of the silver plate off. I've been looking at flippers.com for that ground wire solution that some really smart guys came up with.

Dave,
What's sparking on the TMU ?? --if it's the grounding plate--simple fix, just turn it over ( I do not like the "other" grounding circuit).
Ron Rich

David, where is the sparking taking place? The V has a primitive detent switch (unless modified for the later one) and it is adjusted by bending bracer blades to move the contacts closer or further apart. It is common for people to bend these too close casing the pulse to be at the plunger before it hits the rivet. This doesn't do any damage, but it will foul the rivets with carbon deposits that have to be cleaned more often than if properly set.

Check that the mech's plungers (one closest to the rear is for A side) centered on a rivet when tripped and fully in play mode.

Ron and I disagree a bit on the whether to eliminate the ground plate connection and replace it with a wire & fuse connected directly connected from plate to the chassis. I use a 1 amp-fast fuse here and disconnect the fuse in the front of the mechanism. I've only needed to do this on the fast scanning mechs (K-L-up) but that has been my solution for the ground plate sparking since the early 1990s.

Rob

I took a good look at the "sparky Tormat". No problem with the ground plate sparking. It is the front row of contacts that is just about all of it. I cleaned everything again and it has some sparking but not nearly as much and the mechanism is behaving. I guess I was a "lazy, sloppy, no good" cleaner when I did the Tormat. I'll play it some more and we'll se how it goes. Thanks Much!!
David (Geritol Ghetto)