Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

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Music Man
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Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Music Man » Wed Apr 04, 2012 4:06 am

I have had this machine for several years but the gears locked up a few years back and I just stored it for awhile. I have taken the Mechanism apart and replace a couple of gears and made adjustments and it is working fairley well with one exception. When I make a selection above about 130 through 200 it is from one to three records off. Also when I select the same records in this range several times in a row it almost always plays a different record ( within two or three records of the one selected) although the display shows the correct selection.
The really weird thing is this does not happen on 100 through about 130 that side is working fine. Any suggestions before I tear into this thing again?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.


Ron Rich
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Ron Rich » Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:13 am

Very interesting---- you do not say if the problem is on the write in side, or read out side?
Ron Rich


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Music Man
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Music Man » Wed Apr 04, 2012 4:45 pm

Thanks for the response but I am afraid I do not understand the question or terminology. Could you explain?


Ron Rich
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Ron Rich » Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:02 pm

Do you have a Service Manual ?
If you look at it--there is a "Write-in carriage" and a read-out" carriage" shown in the book. You will need to determine where the problem is--
in order to take the corrective steps necessary. If you do not have the Manual--see the "announcements(section) --where to find--" above
Ron Rich


Topic author
Music Man
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Music Man » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:38 pm

I do have a service and parts manual and schematics. I am not sure if there is a more comprehensive manual but I can not find those terms in the manual I bought on line.
I attached a pic of the guts if that helps.
Rockola.jpg
Rockola.jpg (6.54 KiB) Viewed 714 times


Ron Rich
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Ron Rich » Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:26 pm

Yup---that helps greatly--as they say, A photo is worth 1000 words--my bad, as I was thinking of the older system--
It would appear to me that you are getting a "mis-count" -on the optic wheel--check it for "stuff" around the "130 hole"--OR-by chance, do you have the basket "un-balanced" ? Ron Rich


Topic author
Music Man
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Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:50 am

Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Music Man » Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:06 pm

Thanks Rich. I have inspected and cleaned the reader parts and did not find anything out of norm. Now the out of balance interest me as it seems this is only affecting one side of the magazine. Is there a way to tell if it is out of balance. I do not see any visual evidence but I have had the entire unit out of the box several times recently while repairing the gears and I am not aware of any procedure to balance the unit correctly.
Thanks for your help.


Ron Rich
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Ron Rich » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:20 am

A full set of records is required to balance it--
Ron Rich


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Music Man
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Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Music Man » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:17 pm

Yes I knew that. I guess I will just keep plugging away. I can usually fix most things if I study it long enough but short cuts like being able to access your experience sure makes it an easier job. What did we do before the internet? Sorry I called you Rich in the last post, I have a good friend with that name and mine is Rick so it just slipped out.
Thanks for your help.


Ron Rich
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Posts: 8196
Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 11:31 pm
Location: Millbrae (San Francisco area)CA, USA

Re: Rockola 490-1 Record Magazine issue

by Ron Rich » Fri Apr 06, 2012 10:10 pm

No Problem--wish I had a "magic,one button fix" for you--
BTW--been called worse-but one good thing about this forum, you can edit your post at anytime-
Ron Rich

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