AMI Continental 2 selector problem — easy or hard?

[beasalator]

I have a well-restored 1961 Continental 2 that I drove from Philly to San Francisco during the pandemic. The mechanism has been working perfectly until now.

Yesterday I changed out all 50 records by selecting each one in sequence and carefully removing each from the turntable. Towards the end of this process I noticed the selector buttons would reset instantly as always… but there would be a variable delay before I could make a new selection. Watching the mech, it looks like a solenoid is not releasing.

I suspect I caused the problem by overworking or overheating the selector mech. Can you offer a hint on whether a coil, capacitor, solenoid, or resistor might be failing? 

To summarize, the problem is:
* apply a large number of credits (coin or credit button)
* make a selection; record plays
* 10% of the time, normal behavior — selector is instantly ready for a new selection
* 40% of the time, a delay of about 10 seconds before the buttons will accept a new selection
* 50% of the time, an unpredictable delay of 5 minutes or more.

One more hint — the Model L Service Manual (for a machine I no longer have) anticipates this problem in the troubleshooting charts, page SM-61 suggests the R1 coil is failing. But I can’t find an equivalent part in the Continental Selector Assembly part of its manual — nothing called “coil”.

Greg

[jukenorman]

Hi Greg,
That's a very laborious way to change records, can you not rotate the carousel using the scan switch? When you say you have to wait five minutes to make another selection, have the buttons from the previous selection released?

Norman.

[beasalator]

Thanks for your message, Norman --

(1) Yes I can use the scan switch, and that's what I resorted to doing when this problem kicked in. I just don't like fingerprinting the edge of the records by putting them in that way... my bad!

(2) Yes the buttons from the previous selection release as soon as it is registered. Then after a period of time (five minutes in this example) I hear another soft thunk and the next selection can be made.

[jukenorman]

Maybe clean the keyboard latch solenoid in the first instance, see SSS-5 of the manual.

Norman.

[mauro]

Greg, check the solenoid mounted to the selector casting. This latches the keys and sometimes becomes magnetized and will hold the plunger in for a while before releasing. See if you can disengage it by hand and make a selection.
When this happened to me I took the backstop and plunger and put them in the freezer over night, it fixed the problem, but I couldn't explain why, lol.
Mauro

[kel]

Greg,
   This sounds like a scan switch going bad.  Could be the contacts are burned from use over the years.  Locate the switch and when the machine hesitates,  gently probe the actuator to see if the switch responds.

Kel