Rockola 408 Rhapsody Magazine Motor

[jturner0305]

Hi from Florida. I have recently acquired a 1963 408, which has the magazine in the back, like a Rockola Tempo. It has been severely neglected and of course I am trying to revive it. Now that I am in the powering up stage, the magazine motor seems to spin the magazine backwards. When facing the juke box, the magazine is turning clockwise. Videos I've seen on YouTube suggest it should be spinning counter clockwise. Can someone confirm to me which way it should be spinning? And if it is spinning incorrectly, clockwise while facing the juke, anyone have a suggestion on fix? I would assume that perhaps a wire is crossed since this is a DC motor, or perhaps someone put the wrong replacement motor on it?

Thanks in advance.

[jukenorman]

Hi JT,
Interestingly, off the top of my head I was sure the magazine went clockwise especially since I refurbished one of these less than a year ago! But no, counter clockwise is the correct direction of rotation; it plays records in ascending order ie 1's, 2's etc.

You do have -28V as the DC supply, don't you? I appreciate that it might not be straightforward to get that wrong but still has to be the starting point.

Norman.

[jturner0305]

I'm scratchin' (Did'ja read the manual? RIP RR) my head at the moment and will throw a multimeter on it soon...Or teardown the motor and see if something weird inside is happening. Stay tuned.

[Hildegard]

Did you check the microswitches for correct function?
If switch #2 does not work properly the field winding of the magazin motor can fails. This can cause a backwards or a too fast rotation of the magazine.
Worn plug contacts at the motor socket of the control box might also cause this error.
At least in our German forum some user reported this.

Hildegard

[jturner0305]

Thanks Hildegard, I have not. This is great information as it does seem to be rotating too fast in the backwards direction. I disassembled the motor is much as I could and cleaned. Everything looked relatively ok compared to other magazine motors I have inspected. PN on my motor is 36594-36815. I was wondering if this was the correct motor, but I can assume that it is since I have not been able to find a correct manual for this model. It is a 408, but the mech on these units have the tempo style mech. The tempo manual has a different part number magazine motor, so who knows???

Let me investigate further on switch #2. I have a 426 I can rob some parts from if needed.

[jturner0305]

Making progress. #2 switch is good, but I took it apart and cleaned. It was really gunked up. I cleaned the junction box with some contact cleaner, then followed up with some de-oxit. Motor is turning the correct way now. Buttons are selecting and everything seems to be coming back alive. I do have an issue with the magazine. The magazine doesn't correlate with the selector. It seems to be miss-indexed or something. Like it's 45 degrees off? Weird. But honestly, I'm not surprised. This box has been abused for a long time and I'm sure people have been tinkering with it who has no clue how to work on them.

Stay tuned.

[jukenorman]

Removing and re-installing the selector unit is covered in the manual.

Norman.

[Hildegard]

JT, great that you could solve the problem with the backwards running issue.
In general, microswitches can look fine and also making the "click" sound - but still not working properly, means not open and close really well. Inside dirt can cause that the contacts do not get made well enough. So like you did, opening and cleaning was a very good idea.

Right, 408 uses old style magazin like Tempo, Regis and Empress models. #36815 is the right part number for 408 magazin motor.

Victory Glass victoryglass.com/product/part-number-37-1197/
and
Always Jukin alwaysjukin.storesecured.com/items/service-manuals/rockola-service-manuals/408-r31-detail.htm

offer the service manual for your 408 Rhapsody.

Hildegard

[jturner0305]

Everything is coming along now. The selection issue was on me. When I disassembled the magazine for cleaning, I didn’t get it back I the original position, which is why it was selecting the correct record. Now it is since I re-indexed it. A1 picks up A1 etc…like it should.

Thanks for all the insight. Will update again once it is back together.

[jturner0305]

Quick update, got it all back together and she is working lovely. I appreciate all the help on the magazine rotation issue. I hope this thread helps others in the future.

[Hildegard]

Thank you for letting us know. Great that the Rhapsody works fine now. Enjoy!
And happy new year.

Hildegard

[jturner0305]

Likewise, Happy New Year.