Phonoland

Sorry if this is one of those "too often" asked questions by newbies, but I've been looking through the service manual and searching the forum and haven't found a good explanation of the purpose of the wobble plate solenoid. I recently got my first jukebox (Rockola 448) and having a fun time getting it playing, but that pesky solenoid's purpose is bugging me. Internally that solenoid's movement must do something to the selector assembly other than activate the associated microswitch, otherwise a simple relay would have sufficed. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks in advance....

Hi Tony,
No problem !
The "purpose" of the coil is to "pull" the "wobble plate" ( a "locking device") "outta da way" so the "hammer" can "set" the first selection made. After that, it's useless, as the wobble plate is held "outta da way" by the set "pin". It still receives a "pulse" each time a subsequent selection is made, however this does nothing. When the coil fails, for one reason or another, the hammer usually is not powerful enough to push the wobble plate out of the way, and the pin is not set, at that point. ( to "see this" for yourself--remove the power when no pins are "set". Push a pin from the un-selected state to the selected state with your finger--feel the resistance--now with one pin set, push another pin to the selected position--slight. no, should be a major difference in resistance !! ) Ron Rich

Makes more sense to me now - thanks!