New to Jukes - Working on a Rowe R91

Ron Rich wrote:On your in/out play, problem--you never answered me--??
Is the basket itself sliding on the rod it is attached to, or is the whole rod shifting in/out ?
Ron Rich

The perceived "play" was more a result of the fact that the gear on the sprague wheel had a rut worn into it. The gear on the magazine was lining up with this groove, which makes sense as said gear is what created the groove in the first place (most likely with assistance from whatever lube was put on this part).

There was melted plastic on pretty much EVERY tooth of the magazine gear. Took me a good hour to remove it all with alcohol and a microfiber rag.



You can see that the two plastic bearings for the magazine are also broken. Guess I will need to get a new pair of these as well.

And yes, your are correct about the black goo coming from the bushings. I finally put that together mentally a few minutes before checking back here.

Parts inquiries have been submitted. There is a sprague wheel assembly for sale on ebay for $35. Seems like a lot for such a small piece, but I will probably bite the bullet and hit "buy" on that as soon as I hear back from the seller about whether or not he also has the bushings.

Duane,
OK--got it --NOW. the photo makes sense--was having areal hard time thinking about that !
Why buy that assembly from "eBay"--I think you can find it for MUCH less, new, (not used), at your local Rowe distributor ( or at one of the suppliers listed above). Ron Rich

Hi Duane,

Those two plastic inserts are supposed to be split, Rowe Ami used several of this type bearing on some of the earlier mechanisms.

One of the main reasons for the sprag wheel getting a rut in teeth is the way that records are loaded into the mechanism.
If the mechanism is empty then everyone loads 20 plus records on the top accessable area of the mechanism, the canel button is pressed to turn the mechanism around and of course the mechanism is now out of balance and very top heavy.
Basically as you turn the mechanism you get a whiplash effect, I tell everyone of my R-84 to R-94 customers that after loading the records at the top whilst pressing the cancel button to place your hand on the left side of the mechanism to ease it's turning around. Once the mechanism is fully loaded then this is not an issue.

I have seen brand new sprag wheels stripped straight away by not aiding the mechanism around.

Just clean up the hub it will be fine and then fit the stem bushing into the spragwheel and fit it onto the hub.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Thanks again for the input gentlemen. I have inquiries out to several suppliers regarding purchasing a new sprague wheel. Hope to have that ordered today. I did notice that there was some kind of viscous lube around those bearings. They are NOT supposed to have any lube of any kind, correct? Also, when loading the magazine, I did read in the manual that you are supposed to load a few records, then forward the mechanism a bit to balance it out. Will definitely be sure to do that once I get this thing running again.

The factory did lube those nylon liners, with a sort of red-ish/ brown colored grease, I spoke to one of the engineers about this once, and he told me to just re-smear it onto the posts/nyliners. If totally dry, he suggested the use of a drop of 20 wt oil upon assembly. These were , according to him, "---lubricated only to assure that they would slide into place without damage---" Ron Rich

Thanks for that Rich. I wiped away all of that old lube, so will reapply 20 wt as suggested before reassembly.

And It Lives!

https://youtu.be/3W3snd27opc

Now I just need to replace the 10" woofers as they are pretty much disintegrating. Any suggestions on a good source for replacement speakers?

Also, how the heck do I change out the small bulbs in the top of the machine. The manual says to simply rotate them 1/4 turn counter clockwise, but I can figure out how to take the piece of plexi off that cover them to grant access. I presume that this is going to be another one of those "DOH!" moments when I figure it out.

Thanks again for all the help folks!

Tomorrow it's back to working on the Ti-1100 Seville and the B-side issue that I have there. After that, I think I'm ready to tackle the Rockolas

Hi Duane,
Iffin it were me looking to replace those speakers, I would not do it ! I would have them re-coned ! You might also check with the parts suppliers listed above, to see if they have any good ones for sale ??
As for the lamps (#73, BTW) yep--just grab the (usually gray colored--sometimes black) plastic holders, from BEHIND the lamp, and twist--yep annoudder Duh moment ! --and I am not so sure about you and RockOlas !! Ron Rich

Ron, you ARE a funny man. BTW, the name is DANE

With that said, why not simply replace the speakers. What is the advantage of having the existing ones reconed? A quick web search of my area (Myrtle Beach, SC) does not result in very many promising options for such services.

Dane (sorry 'bout that--if you and all would sign their posts, this would not happen),
Jukebox speakers, in most cases are "tuned to the cabinet". IMHO, the engineers specified a speaker that matches the whole sound system, Once again, IMHO, "changing" them usually makes little or no difference-or, makes them sound awful. If you can't find a local person, use the resources of this forum--I know there is at least one re-coning service listed here above in the sticky section---Ron Rich

Hi Dane,

I agree with Ron to get the speakers renewed, however the era of your jukebox the bass speakers were fitted with foam surrounds. These I assume is what you mean by disintegated, they go to dust or just become sticky with holes in them.

You can buy new 10 inch foam surrounds from a number of outlets in the USA & Europe.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Hehe no worries on the name gentlemen. I have friends who I have met via the web and now know in person that I still refer to as their given username. Always thought the pseudonym thing was a bit silly, but somehow it grew on my after a while.

I plan to remove the speakers today and will try to source out a local vendor that can repair them. Pretty sure the majority of the issue is with the foam surrounds that Alan mentioned. Would this degrade the sound? These things really do sound bad. Also plan to install a new needle today as well. Once that is done and I get those damned little lights out and replaced, this thing will be ready to resale so that I can pick up a few more projects. I think I have another addiction here.

With much appreciation - Dane

Hi Dane,

With the foam shot the sound would be awful, I suggest that you stop using the amplifier until the speakers are repaired.

Before I replace the foam surrounds I check that the voice coil is not rubbing by pressing down on the paper cone with my fingers in a claw shape and listen for any rubbing on the coil, if there is then get replacement Rowe Ami speakers. You can also meter the coil (you will not get the correct impeadance however) or you can place a 2.4 volt or 3.6 battery across the terminals as a quick test on the coil.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK