I owned an AMI model A some years ago and it did the same thing. Turns out it was a defective micro-switch and with the center window open it flung 78's across the room. It uses a model 500 changer which was fairly reliable but had issues with the transfer motor. Sound came out the top and it was blaring. Hated it!
On Wed, Aug 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM John Robertson via Jukebox-list < jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> wrote:
On 2025-08-06 5:05 a.m., Derek Thompson via Jukebox-list wrote:
This is a bad situation I can hardly believe it myself, I thought it was only a myth that jukeboxes actually broke discs. Had this machine about
13
years and had no problems once we took it apart and lubricated it etc. Within the last year or so there has been a gripper (transfer arm)
jamming
problem. If you switch the mains off when it jams you can turn the motor by hand and the record is returned to the rack and all continues as normal. Not however if there is another selection waiting to be
selected.
If you don't switch the mains off quickly enough, the rack starts to move even though the gripper has not yet returned the 78 to the rack! Hence breaking everything in its path. I assumed this was a lubrication
problem,
however recently the same thing happened again after lubrication, I lost
15
of the 20 discs this time. I assume it is something more, why is the
rack
starting to move before the record has been returned? You can avoid this potentially happening by only selecting one record at a time, so the rack will not move if there's a problem, but it needs sorting clearly. It can go a long while before jamming, other times it can jam repeatedly, it's random. Am pleased to see this list still exists, it's many years
since I
used it. Thank You. D.
Hmm, yes, I've not seen this very often in my repairs but it can happen. If the Record Rack Motor Camshaft Switch closes too early as I recall.
I wonder how hard it would be to add an additional Safety Circuit to the gripper arm so the Record Rack motor can't move unless the gripper is home. Seems fairly straight forward microswitch added to the gripper assembly that only closes when the gripper bow has released the record - much like Wurlitzer does with their clamping on the 3400s and up and the D. Wurls also use.
Anyone game to work on this?
John :-#)#
-- John's Jukes Ltd. 7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3 Call (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"
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