Common issues with springs

[nyjb]

I just read a comment by Ron about the importance of spring tensions in the Seeburg mech, and it occurred to me that it's a subject that doesn't seem to come up very often outside of tonearm and trip switch issues.

Spring settings for the Electrical Selector are specified in my service manual, but not for most in the mechanism.  I don't think that there are many places in the troubleshooting guide that refer to spring tension, either, but I could be wrong.  Perhaps this is the kind of thing that one gets a "feel" for only after having worked on many machines.

I'm wondering if there are any commonly occurring issues that can be traced back to springs, and if there are any springs that tend to need replacing.  I'm working with a Seeburg R, but it might be useful in a more general sense.

Thanks.

[robnyc]

From my own experience, the only mech spring that tends to get damaged is the one for the pilot clamp arm. Prople pull the clamp back too far and stretch it and weaken it so that it may not properly clamp a record against the flywheel.

Other than that, the only springs that I've had to replace due to actual wear are the tine springs on the stepper clappers -and that takes a lot of use before those weaken.

Springs are the least problematic point in these mechs...unless abused.

Rob-NYC

[Ron Rich]

Yep--"Normally" the biggest "issue" I have found in 50 years, is the suspension springs supporting the mechanisms. IMHO, "people" tend to ruin these springs by "bolting down the mechanism"--IM-properly-- The nuts(most models are 9/16--others-1/2 in) should NEVER be turned down all the way, even for transportation ! Other than the above, if "nothing has been "changed", the springs Seeburg used are seldom any source of trouble--Seeburg's QA was insistent on the quality --- NOTE--this was NOT the case for "Stern/Seeburg", and later built, equipment !! Ron Rich

[Ron Rich]

Hi Rob,
Note--springs, or anything else, inside the stepper, were not Seeburg products--Steppers as well as most "open type" relays, and most contact blades, were built by the Guardian Corp. I don' know if Seeburg did "life tests" on stepper springs--do know they did life tests on the relays themselves--- I am aware of a couple of instances where Seeburg requested, and got, a re-design of a contact or blade from Guardian. Ron Rich

[robnyc]

Mar 8, 2017 15:00:24 GMT Ron Rich said:

........if "nothing has been "changed", the springs Seeburg used are seldom any source of trouble--Seeburg's QA was insistent on the quality --- NOTE--this was NOT the case for "Stern/Seeburg", and later built, equipment !! Ron Rich

 My dealings with the later products were limited to amp repair/mods. Were there specific areas where the lesser quality assurance was noticeable. In know the SHP-3 amp was cheaper to produce, but I didn't find any different in output or response. ...How about the mechs?

Rob

[Ron Rich]

Hi Rob,
Yes--EVERYTHING was built "cheaper" as the years progressed--the worst year was the USC-2 model. They hired a new batch of "bean counters", who cheapened the whole construction process, causing so many problems with the introduction of that model, that they were fired shortly there after.
If you were to examine the cabinet structure,from the USC-1, on, you would notice that no new jigs, or castings were built. Almost all of the needed jigs, or castings were made from the USC molds--just slightly modified. As for the mechanism--that was the year they stopped, for the most part, tapping holes--went to the use of self threading ("crummy" 6/32) screws, sans washers.
Ditto for the black/gray box,DES plugs, on the 1st USC-2's. All DCC-2 Code A units also were recalled--but not instantly, as it took some time to discover the "less expensive design, error".
As for the SHP-3 amp--DRASTIC price reductions were achieved on the first production run of them--only one problem--they were defective prior to sale ! I sat and "re-worked", what seems like "hundreds", for "dayz"--
And then there was the SMC-1-- designed by a (well known) outside design house, who apparently had no one on staff, who had even played a jukebox, was a total di-zast-ter ! "In house engineering" had no clue this was coming--they had planed to use the same MicroLog system used for years. I have a list around here of approx 25 mods that needed to be made to the electronics ( there were earlier and later mods, not on my list), and 3 to the mech, that I can think of--Let's just say that I got into many "wars", with the production dept. often over costs of less then 1/8th cent ! (won MOST, but not all of them). --Ron Rich