Record-o-fone speed selector out of whack

[calcur]

Greetings! I am a relative newbie here and this is my first post. I’m a college student who enjoys music and tinkering.
I own and am currently working on a Bell Record-o-fone RC47A cutter. It is very much a work in progress, and I’m going to ignore the reproducer arm. The magnetic cutting head sounds great though!
I recently took on the task of getting the motor quieter and cleaning it, which I have now done. Upon mounting it back into position however, I realized that the idler wheel no longer makes contact with the motor when the speed selector is in the 78 or 33 rpm position. I don’t know what I did, and the motor seems to be in the same spot… What did I manage to get myself in to? I can’t for the life of my figure it out. It’s a simple mechanism, seen in the attached photos.
Any ideas?
Thank you so much!

[markrob]

Hi,

Is it possible you have the motor rotated from its correct position? It looks pretty symmetrical and could be mounted in one of 3 ways. Remove the motor and make sure that the idler makes contact on the bench. The arm that the idler swings on could be bent or hitting something.

Hope that gets you going.

Mark

[calcur]

Thanks for the reply!
I double checked today and it’s in the same position as before I removed it. Nothing is hitting it, but I noticed it was slightly towards the right before disassembly. This made it contact the idler, but now I can’t seem to line it up in the same way since the screw holes only have so much wiggle room.
I’m wondering if the speed switch arm mechanism somehow was bent? I could be wrong, but it seems exactly the same as before too. I can’t see any places to adjust it and it seems solid. Maybe the spring was stretched out?
It all a simple fix in theory!

Hi,

Is it possible you have the motor rotated from its correct position? It looks pretty symmetrical and could be mounted in one of 3 ways. Remove the motor and make sure that the idler makes contact on the bench. The arm that the idler swings on could be bent or hitting something.

Hope that gets you going.

Mark

[calcur]

I should clarify, by “screw holes” I meant the holes that have rubber gaskets around them. Is that specific part called the bench?

Thanks for the reply!
I double checked today and it’s in the same position as before I removed it. Nothing is hitting it, but I noticed it was slightly towards the right before disassembly. This made it contact the idler, but now I can’t seem to line it up in the same way since the screw holes only have so much wiggle room.
I’m wondering if the speed switch arm mechanism somehow was bent? I could be wrong, but it seems exactly the same as before too. I can’t see any places to adjust it and it seems solid. Maybe the spring was stretched out?
It all a simple fix in theory!

Hi,

Is it possible you have the motor rotated from its correct position? It looks pretty symmetrical and could be mounted in one of 3 ways. Remove the motor and make sure that the idler makes contact on the bench. The arm that the idler swings on could be bent or hitting something.

Hope that gets you going.

Mark

[markrob]

The motor looks pretty well centered in its opening. So, I would look at the speed change mech. You may have to remove it to see what is going on. I can see from the underside photo, that the arm seems to be hitting the end of the curved slot on the baseplate. That seems suspect.

Mark

[calcur]

That’s definitely the issue, took a look at it last night. I’m not sure why it’s like that, apparently I must’ve bumped it while removing the motor. I’m not sure how to adjust it back though, and I think the spring might need to be replaced. I’m gonna mess around with it and try to reposition it today and I’ll report back…

The motor looks pretty well centered in its opening. So, I would look at the speed change mech. You may have to remove it to see what is going on. I can see from the underside photo, that the arm seems to be hitting the end of the curved slot on the baseplate. That seems suspect.

Mark

[calcur]

Removed the speed selector mechanism entirely, and put it back in after examining it. That didn’t help, so I replaced the spring with a new one. Still no luck… I didn’t get a photo of the mounted motor before I took it apart and I really should have! I’m struggling to find information online about the speed selector and what other machines it might’ve been used in so I can find repair manuals. Is there anyone else I should contact directly who might be able to repair it?
Thank you for your replies,
Cal

The motor looks pretty well centered in its opening. So, I would look at the speed change mech. You may have to remove it to see what is going on. I can see from the underside photo, that the arm seems to be hitting the end of the curved slot on the baseplate. That seems suspect.

Mark

[markrob]

Hi,

I just had a thought. You are looking at the idler with the platter off and assuming that it is not hitting the motor. I'm wondering if this is because the idler is not in contact with the platter edge. Have you tried re-installing the platter to see if the mech is working as designed?

Mark

[calcur]

Good thinking. I just tried it and it is still shifted. Both of the wheels don’t touch at 78, and that 33 both of them touch only the turntable edge.
Also, now the motor isn’t turning on! The rest of the machine is getting power, so I’m assuming something might’ve come unsoldered from inside it. I’ve been very careful, but who knows with this stuff. It worked yesterday…

Hi,

I just had a thought. You are looking at the idler with the platter off and assuming that it is not hitting the motor. I'm wondering if this is because the idler is not in contact with the platter edge. Have you tried re-installing the platter to see if the mech is working as designed?

Mark

[calcur]

Update on this mess: I got the motor repaired and it broke after seven minutes of use. Does anyone have any idea where I could find some sort of replacement? I know that’s super far-fetched, but any direction would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[tape]

have had the same problem, its nothing as complicated as mentioned in the various posts. You simply have to "wiggle" the wheel in place if I remember correctly. It should make a "clonk" sound when in place - sorry I can not give a more detailed description. You are also missing an idler wheel, looks like some serious damage has been done at some point

[calcur]

have had the same problem, its nothing as complicated as mentioned in the various posts. You simply have to "wiggle" the wheel in place if I remember correctly. It should make a "clonk" sound when in place - sorry I can not give a more detailed description. You are also missing an idler wheel, looks like some serious damage has been done at some point

I appreciate your response! It definitely had something done to it before I acquired it. Are you talking about "wiggling" the idler wheel or the motor? The reason I'm progressing is someone stuck a great magnetic recording head onto it and the electronics are now good.

[tape]

the idler