AMi H-200 problem

Haven't played it for 10 days, room is uncomfortably cold but played it today. First record played fine. I was outside, 2nd record never came on--but it did. There was just no volume. Volume button didn't work. Record did not reject. Reject button in back did not reject the record. Opened it up, moving tone arm all the way over did not reject the record. Turned all power off then on, didn't help. There's a little box on the right by the turntable I think is called the Control Box Assembly. The toggle switch didn't stop the turntable and made a disturbing static-y BRRRRR noise. No good! Of course, the black manual button that turns the record magazine didn't work either. Did some fuse or big wire go out? Can anyone help? Thanks! Chris

Chris, this is typical of what happens when the reset solenoid fails to reset the pin soon enough and the gripper motor over-travels causing it to jam. It should also blow the low-DC fuse.

There is a removable filler piece on top of the gripper motor. Remove it and observing the gears try turning the armature with your finger so as to free the jam.

--Check ALL fuses including the one hidden inside the gray PSU box.for correct values.

The direct cause may either be gummy residue on the pinwheel or poor contacts on the over-center switches that are actuated by the gripper (right side).

This was an ongoing problem in that series of mach and is why AMI went to an AC gearbox motor beginning with the K model. These used an "crank" cam and didn't reverse so that if an overtravel occurred all that would happen was that the record would be placed back in the magazine and the mech would 'try again"

Rob-NYC

Thank you, Rob! But what does PSU mean and where is that gray box located? I did watch Ron Rich work on this machine--twice--and a friend and I worked on it too, manual in hand, so I'm not completely uninformed but I don't know what PSU means. I saw Ron and my friend take the top off the gripper motor and move the armature so I think I can do that. It's really cold in that room, 45--55 degrees for the last couple weeks though that didn't affect turntable speed on the one record the machine managed to play yesterday, an idea that Ron said was wrong anyway.
I'll get to it sooner or later, sooner I hope.
Thanks, Chris

Chris, PSU: Power Supply Unit. It is the small gray box on the right interior of the cabinet and the power switch protrudes through the back of the cabinet from it.

The "disturbing static-y BRRRRR noise" is simple; the machine is chilly.

Rob

P.S. Two points:

1) You really should get a service manual.

2) Ron is never "wrong".

Hi Rob,

I have the AMi service manual, the same one updated and expanded from Always Jukin' and Dr Know It All's AMi/Rowe collection of articles, and 43 pages of e-mails between me and my friend all about the circuitry and mechanical things in the machine . I just don't know a darn thing about electronics but Friday she is coming over to help me. Ron Rich finally fixed it after two visits. Ron is always right, you betcha! No bull! Love that guy!

The PSU--power supply unit?- I think is what the manual calls the Junction Box Assembly, Part L-1336 which has a fuse in it as well as the power cord and other stuff. I'm going to try everything you suggested saving the PSU for last. I'm going to try to attach 2 pics here, one of the inside of the Junction Box Assembly and one of it and the big transformer and the Control Box Assembly Part H-338 which is behind a steel plate under the transformer. This seems to hold the power toggle switch, reject button and volume control on the back of the machine, at least on my model.
I have to put the 2nd picture in another post right now, too big for this post. Hmm, Preview didn't show the attachment. Whatever.
Thank you for your attention and help.
Best,
Chris

Chris, the pic-size problem is dealt with by UL'ing to a host like this:
http://www.fileconvoy.com/index.php -and posting the link that comes back once the upload is done.
The "junction box" is the Power Supply Unit.
On the following machine's I've owned: H-200
I-200 Mech sel
J-200 (stereo)
Continental 1 (200 sel)
Continental 2 (100 sel).

A common problem was that overtravel leading to jamming. One consequence was that two of them had their pinwheels gunked with some sort of grease which had hardened. During the normal wash/restoration process extra effort was required to get all that "stuff" out of the wheel so that the pins could move with only spring pressure restraining them. Obviously the previous owners had tried to solve the jamming problem that results when the pins aren't reset quickly enough.
Check out the pins. They should move smoothly without any sort of damping or viscosity -they should simply slide firmly.
This area and the occasionally malfunctioning of the snap (over-center) switches are the main flaws in that mech.

Rob