Seeburg LS1 Jam After finding record

[ryanthepinballguy]

Hi all,

I have a Seeburg LS1 that is able to find a selection but then two things happen that shouldn't.

First, the clamp arm does not open and allow the record to slide into the turntable. If I manually open the clamp and place a record in and set the tone arm on the record, the record will play. Additionally, it will complete the song and correctly return the record to its proper slot unassisted. Any idea what could cause this?

Second, when I open the clamp arm manually the record slowly slides in but never quite all the way. I inspected the lever below the record and it appears it's pretty gummed up. When moving this by hand it doesn't move well on its own. There is a noticeable resistance. I assume I'll need to pull this apart, clean and oil?

Thanks all for your help!

[jukeboxmarty]

It seems like your mechanism is not sequencing correctly.

When the mechanism cycles into play position the clamp arm is directly opened by a roller in contact with the main cam assembly. Being that your clamp arm is not opening, that suggests the main cam has not rotated correctly.

And you are correct, the record lift arm should be free with no resistance. The lift arm and the corresponding gear segment likely need cleaning/lubing. You may need to remove the shafts that hold these in place for proper cleaning.

EDIT: After thinking about this, your clamp arm must be opening... how else can it return the record to it's proper slot??

[ryanthepinballguy]

Thanks jukeboxmarty, is there a good way/easy way to get that motor out of there? Or is it best if I clean that mechanism while it's in the jukebox?

[ryanthepinballguy]

And yes, it's opening when it's time to return a record, but at the selection stage it won't open.

[jukeboxmarty]

I think you will find that cleaning the mechanism properly is rather involved.

The only way to get it right is complete disassembly.

Many of the lubricants cannot get down into where they are needed unless pins and shafts are removed for cleaning and subsequent lubrication.

There are cheating methods for cleaning, but for maximum reliability, assemblies (such as the clutch) need to be removed.

Either way the mechanism should be out of the machine and venerable components such as the motor, trip coil, Tormat assembly and needle cartridge should be removed.

[jukeboxmarty]

Jan 4, 2024 0:25:23 GMT ryanthepinballguy said:

And yes, it's opening when it's time to return a record, but at the selection stage it won't open.

But if it's open, it should stay open until the record is finished loading.

So when does it close? I'm sure it's open during scan.

[ryanthepinballguy]

I'll have to take a look. And is there something that could cause it to close prematurely that I should be checking?

[jukeboxmarty]

Not really... should be pretty straight forward.

[ryanthepinballguy]

I'll take a look at this component more closely tomorrow and report what I find. Thank you for the help!

[ryanthepinballguy]

So, I was able to fix the problem today. I discovered after further investigation that there is a window of opportunity in which the record must leave its storage sleeve and make its way to the turntable. If it does not make it in that amount of time and only partially makes its way there the clamp arm will close and it will close on the record wherever it is at.

Because the lifting arm was operating slowly due to resistance the record was not getting there in time and therefore the clamp arm was closing on the record before it had fully arrived. After thoroughly cleaning the lift arm, then re lubricating and then working the lubricant into the joints I was able to eliminate the resistance in the lift arm and get the machine to load a record onto the turntable within the "window of opportunity." We now have tunes again...

Cheers,

Ryan

[jukeboxmarty]

Good news! See... you really didn't need us!