Hi all.

For the benefit of anybody restoring a vintage record changer...

I bought a Kriesler 11-92 Portable Radiogram for my stepson, who loves listening to Classical music, an abundance ot which is available from Op Shops and the like.

I replaced all of the usual capacitors and dodgy resistors and the radio worked well, however the stylus was missing. although the record changer mechanism all seemed to work well. I ordered the stylus online and when it arrived, I fitted it and the unit worked well.

Enter day three...

I came home from work to find that the turntable was running a bit slowish, intermittently, then the record changer started to play up, the turntable jamming to a halt when the lever was moved, even with a bit of help it was getting more and more recalcitrant.to the point of being unusable.

I therefore removed the turntable and oiled the motor and idler wheel and all moving bits underneath.

Still to no avail....

I then removed the turntable again, removing various circlips and mechanisms, thoroughly cleaning, removing old grease and re-assembling with new grease.

Nope... Still no good.

Tried using an emery board to scratch the inside of the turntable and rough up the edge of the idler wheel. which to my seemingliness, seemed to be a bit stiff and hard, not supple and rubbery as I should suppose it would be. So I was at this stage I was adamant that a slipping idler wheel was the culprit.

My stepson Ben suggested placing a rubber band around the circumference of the idler wheel. I was skeptical, believing it would simply fall off, but it may confirm my suspicion the the idler wheel slippage was the show stopper!

Indeed, with a rubber band placed around the wheel, the record changer worked perfectly, but alas, the rubber band as anticipated fell off and the problem was still there...

Experimenting with various rubber bands, the best result seemed to be with a thick brownish rubber band, sourced from a humble bunch of Bok Choy, the wider band actually working best due to the larger surface area. I decided to secure the selected rubber band with contact adhesive and leave to dry, so that we would have a permanent fix.

Pleased to say, it worked a treat and now the Stereogram Record Changer works perfectly!!!

Hi,,I have fixed many of those idler wheels with anther method,,,,BUT PLEASE DON"T LAUGH
Years ago I use to Restore sports & Racing Cars for a Job and many of the rubber Components could not be obtained so like all rubber products including your idler wheel the Rubber goes hard and begins to perish over time and wont grip the Disc enough to turn it at the right speed..

What needs to be done most of the time is soften the Rubber again.& for cars I would use a Transmission Seal conditioner and soak any rubber parts in it for an hour and they would be soft and new again..But for small one of parts where you dont need 1 litre. Soaking rubber in KY jelly over night will make most rubbers like new again,,,,so I bet your laughing at me..But I'm not joking its great for restoring Rubber parts to look like new and be pliable again.
If this did not work on my turntables in the past,, I knew that the wheel had worn down too much and gripping was not the problem.
>>pete

It's pretty obvious that the rubber has hardened and may have even worn down. I have actually seen suppliers for them. I have with one cut a score into the rubber and used an "O" ring to re-size.

I have tachometers for diesel tractors & they don't care if its not one. So it's easy to work out if you got it wrong & adjust.

I was always under the impression that the size of the idler wheel had no effect on the speed, only the motor wheel controlled the speed.

Clive I think you're right. The speed would be determined by 2 factors: the motor rotation speed; and the diameter of the part (attached to the motor) that touches the idler wheel. The idler simply transfers the motion to the turntable.

Mechanically though, a wrong-sized idler could get jammed or otherwise misbehave.

"Mechanically though, a wrong-sized idler could get jammed or otherwise misbehave."

Robbbert, I agree.

A good idea with the elastic band, I must try that next time I get a hard jockey wheel.

Vintage Pete I must try the KY trick, seems too good to be true, but worth a go.

Thanks for the ideas people.

Hi all,,
Changing the size of the Idler wheel will also change the spring tension ,,If you have ever seen a new Idler wheel the rubber is very soft so it can grip the disc.,,But 40 years later and its too hard to grip . Softening the Rubber again mostly works well.
The other thing that gives problems is the mechanics of the turntable with sticky 40 year old grease .So I heat it up with a heat gun on low and all the old grease comes out,,I dont put new grease in them anymore..I use a light oil and I find those 2 tricks get them working again

Clever little turntables!!! who ever built the first one had a great mind for mechanics