I'm still going through this Rockola 442 and this issue has my stumped. The turntable appears to be out of alignment with the gripper. When the record is placed onto the turntable, it misses, not coming down centered on the hub. The gripper does fully retract, but the record will often strike the fingers that shift to accommodate the little LPs, then skate off and fall. I tried switching to a fixed hub turntable from the 494, but still no good. I've removed the whole TT assembly, but there doesn't appear to be any way to adjust this. There are two studs underneath that can raise or lower the outer side of the platform, and the other edge fastens to the gripper housing with two screws. So the outside could go up down a bit, but that's about it. To make matters worse, the record lands in a slightly different off-center position on the top side selection than the bottom side. The gripper rest was bent up, but straightening it didn't seem to help. Any ideas here would be appreciated.
Patrick
Rockola Turntable alignment
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Juke-rocks
Topic author - Senior Member
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- Location: Auburn, Indiana, USA
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DoghouseRiley
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Hi Patrick.
It seems more likely that the gripper mechanism is the problem like it isn't fully extending, rather than the turntable having "moved."
I videoed my 468. Easier to video than my 443 to show the action of the gripper mechanism. There's quite a bit of movement on the centre shaft, during the operation.
It could be that yours is suffering from a lack of lubrication. As you will see mine's well lubricated and the "piston," nice and shiny.
Of course it may be something completely different, but this may help eliminate one reason for the problem.
Regards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOLgJE2 ... e=youtu.be
It seems more likely that the gripper mechanism is the problem like it isn't fully extending, rather than the turntable having "moved."
I videoed my 468. Easier to video than my 443 to show the action of the gripper mechanism. There's quite a bit of movement on the centre shaft, during the operation.
It could be that yours is suffering from a lack of lubrication. As you will see mine's well lubricated and the "piston," nice and shiny.
Of course it may be something completely different, but this may help eliminate one reason for the problem.
Regards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOLgJE2 ... e=youtu.be
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I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself, they're pretty bad, I grieve over them on long winter evenings.
Hi
Having experienced this problem before I would say that the gripper bow is rising before the inner assembly has gripped the record, The inner part which grips the record would probably need lubrication. If you loosen the gripper motor and cycle the mechanism manually you will get a fair idea of where to lubricate
clones
Having experienced this problem before I would say that the gripper bow is rising before the inner assembly has gripped the record, The inner part which grips the record would probably need lubrication. If you loosen the gripper motor and cycle the mechanism manually you will get a fair idea of where to lubricate
clones
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Juke-rocks
Topic author - Senior Member
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:22 pm
- Location: Auburn, Indiana, USA
Guys: Thanks for your replies. I'd already had the gripper apart, since it started out completely frozen. All inner parts are shiny clean and well-oiled. Riley: the inner gripper travel on your video is about what I'm seeing here. Thank you for posting that clip. Clones: there's definitely something not quite right about the gripper, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Lubrication is good. The gripper bow seems to have some play in it in any position and it doesn't lay quite straight after dropping the record..
I spent a bit of time with this today and no good getting this resolved. I pulled out the inner gripper, re-cleaned and oiled after buffing the square brass shaft first. I also stretched that inner spring. No difference. It misses the turntable hub on both A and B sides, but not exactly the same error. I'd questioned the turntable alignment because it does have some adjustment in the 490 series, but mount is a little different. Also, on this 442, several parts of the mechanism are oddly bent and twisted. I'd love to know what happened to this before I got it.
My next shot at this I'm going to try swapping gripper parts or maybe even the whole gripper from a surplus 480. I'll look them over first to see if they're compatible. Kinda wish I'd thought of that this morning.
Patrick
I spent a bit of time with this today and no good getting this resolved. I pulled out the inner gripper, re-cleaned and oiled after buffing the square brass shaft first. I also stretched that inner spring. No difference. It misses the turntable hub on both A and B sides, but not exactly the same error. I'd questioned the turntable alignment because it does have some adjustment in the 490 series, but mount is a little different. Also, on this 442, several parts of the mechanism are oddly bent and twisted. I'd love to know what happened to this before I got it.
My next shot at this I'm going to try swapping gripper parts or maybe even the whole gripper from a surplus 480. I'll look them over first to see if they're compatible. Kinda wish I'd thought of that this morning.
Patrick
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DoghouseRiley
- Senior Member
- Posts: 630
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:48 pm
- Location: North-West England
Juke-rocks wrote:Guys: Thanks for your replies. I'd already had the gripper apart, since it started out completely frozen. All inner parts are shiny clean and well-oiled. Riley: the inner gripper travel on your video is about what I'm seeing here. Thank you for posting that clip. Clones: there's definitely something not quite right about the gripper, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Lubrication is good. The gripper bow seems to have some play in it in any position and it doesn't lay quite straight after dropping the record..
I spent a bit of time with this today and no good getting this resolved. I pulled out the inner gripper, re-cleaned and oiled after buffing the square brass shaft first. I also stretched that inner spring. No difference. It misses the turntable hub on both A and B sides, but not exactly the same error. I'd questioned the turntable alignment because it does have some adjustment in the 490 series, but mount is a little different. Also, on this 442, several parts of the mechanism are oddly bent and twisted. I'd love to know what happened to this before I got it.
My next shot at this I'm going to try swapping gripper parts or maybe even the whole gripper from a surplus 480. I'll look them over first to see if they're compatible. Kinda wish I'd thought of that this morning.
Patrick
Hopefully you'll resolve this problem.
However it's important to check that in the "rest" position that the gripper bow is exactly in the centre between the first and last records. There's an adjustment to make this happen. If it is off centre there's a danger that it will scrape the records against the duckbills of the carousel, when pulling or replacing records, which of course are much closer together.
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I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself, they're pretty bad, I grieve over them on long winter evenings.
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Juke-rocks
Topic author - Senior Member
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:22 pm
- Location: Auburn, Indiana, USA
Well, this problem's resolved. As noted in the replies here, that turntable can not be aligned or, for that matter, misaligned. I watched the gripper in action several times and finally discovered what the problem was. I'd noted in the beginning of this thread that the tone arm rest was bent. Actually, that part is the "lifter lever and cam pin assembly" (#30 in the parts breakdown) and it wasn't a little bent; it was twisted badly where the pin rides the gripper cam on the gripper shaft. This was interfering with the gripper action, causing it to drop the record somewhere over the turn table. Since no part of this piece was in it's original shape, I replaced it and watched the gripper arm neatly set the next record onto the turn table on both sides.
There has been a problem with nearly every part of this jukebox. and I can't imagine what all happened to it. But it's making one long winter project. Now the read-out side is operating well. Next up: the write-in side has multiple issues. But now I've got the magazine loaded and I can listen to it play while I move on to the next issues.
Patrick
There has been a problem with nearly every part of this jukebox. and I can't imagine what all happened to it. But it's making one long winter project. Now the read-out side is operating well. Next up: the write-in side has multiple issues. But now I've got the magazine loaded and I can listen to it play while I move on to the next issues.
Patrick
Hi Patrick
I wouldn't have thought of that handy to know the next time I get a rockola with this problem
clones
I wouldn't have thought of that handy to know the next time I get a rockola with this problem
clones
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