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.
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"
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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The late great Wesley Dean already did this. His solution was to mount two micro switches, one at each gripper rest point by the basket and over the turntable. It didn't look pretty but was effective. They were simply wired as the existing camshaft switch is. The existing camshaft switch already provides the safety action needed, but occasionally they do go bad. The switch is located in an awkward location beside the tonearm post. But easy to unplug and remove from the mech. The switch is held together by metal clips and you can disassemble and clean it. Best to check the groove in the cam for hardened grease as well. Good luck, Jim On Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 10:02:33 AM EDT, 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" _______________________________________________ Jukebox-list mailing list -- jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com To unsubscribe send an email to jukebox-list-leave@lists.netlojix.com %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s Searchable Archives: http://jukebox.markmail.org/
Wes Dean was a gerius! On Wed, Aug 6, 2025, 8:25 PM JIM & LAURIE DIRKSEN via Jukebox-list < jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> wrote:
The late great Wesley Dean already did this. His solution was to mount two micro switches, one at each gripper rest point by the basket and over the turntable. It didn't look pretty but was effective. They were simply wired as the existing camshaft switch is. The existing camshaft switch already provides the safety action needed, but occasionally they do go bad. The switch is located in an awkward location beside the tonearm post. But easy to unplug and remove from the mech. The switch is held together by metal clips and you can disassemble and clean it. Best to check the groove in the cam for hardened grease as well. Good luck, Jim On Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 10:02:33 AM EDT, 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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I had this on a Rowe Ami that I used to repair and it was only years later that I realised the issue was with a faulty microswitch that was internally connecting the carousel motor before the cam operated it, so as the gripper was returning the record, the carousel would turn, taking chunks out of the records. At the time I was bewildered and in order to provide some protection I added a long bladed microswitch that only closed the circuit to the carousel motor when the gripper arm was situated above it. It worked a treat, never a broken record again. On your B I reckon you could set up the same kind of safety feature. It's probably a contact operating when it shouldn't, but at least this way gives you a bit of reassurance that you won't be breaking any more records. Nigel,uk
On 6 Aug 2025 at 13:06, Derek Thompson via Jukebox-list <jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> 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. _______________________________________________ Jukebox-list mailing list -- jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com To unsubscribe send an email to jukebox-list-leave@lists.netlojix.com %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s Searchable Archives: http://jukebox.markmail.org/
Very innovative record safety interlock solution there Nigel! I think a good place for this email trail would be for a PDF copy on John’s https://flippers.com website if he can accommodate it. It would be a sort of service slant for the vulnerable AMI models. If possible, it may also be a good idea to occasionally test the mechanism without records. Even with the retrofitted interlock installed; in a similar situation, I would want to ensure that the micro switch continues to function as it should. This could potentially save other owners from losing records. Shankar Singh On Aug 6, 2025, at 10:54, Nigel Pugh via Jukebox-list <jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> wrote: I had this on a Rowe Ami that I used to repair and it was only years later that I realised the issue was with a faulty microswitch that was internally connecting the carousel motor before the cam operated it, so as the gripper was returning the record, the carousel would turn, taking chunks out of the records. At the time I was bewildered and in order to provide some protection I added a long bladed microswitch that only closed the circuit to the carousel motor when the gripper arm was situated above it. It worked a treat, never a broken record again. On your B I reckon you could set up the same kind of safety feature. It's probably a contact operating when it shouldn't, but at least this way gives you a bit of reassurance that you won't be breaking any more records. Nigel,uk
On 6 Aug 2025 at 13:06, Derek Thompson via Jukebox-list <jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> 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. _______________________________________________ Jukebox-list mailing list -- jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com To unsubscribe send an email to jukebox-list-leave@lists.netlojix.com %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s Searchable Archives: http://jukebox.markmail.org/
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Interesting. I’ve been working on AMIs for, literally, a half century and have never encountered this. It’s probably instructive that when AMI designed the 45 mechanisms they went from micro switches to simple blade switches for the transfer and scan functions. They may have had real world experience that the micro switches were trouble. Sent from my iPhone
On 2025-08-06 9:55 a.m., David Breneman via Jukebox-list wrote:
Interesting. I’ve been working on AMIs for, literally, a half century and have never encountered this. It’s probably instructive that when AMI designed the 45 mechanisms they went from micro switches to simple blade switches for the transfer and scan functions. They may have had real world experience that the micro switches were trouble.
And yet the blade CAM switches of the 50s caused innumerable problems (burnt coils, jammed gripper motors) that mircoswitch upgrade kits like the CAM-1 from the UK fix! I think a safety switch add-on may solve this problem, someone just has to take the time to design it. I'm happy to host the results on my AMI/Rowe page on Flippers, I just don't have the time, nor a machine to test a safety switch at the moment. 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"
Fortunately the open blade Ami switches were short lived. Give me a Continental to work on any day over a H or I. I made the safety mod on a Rowe 1100 mechanism, very simple. I can take any pictures or describe it to anyone..No wire cutting or splicing is necessary. However, I think it's a mod that, luckily, is hardly ever necessary unless you have a problematic mechanism with a real oddball problem that you just can't solve. Nigel, UK
On 6 Aug 2025 at 18:23, John Robertson via Jukebox-list <jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com> wrote:
On 2025-08-06 9:55 a.m., David Breneman via Jukebox-list wrote:
Interesting. I’ve been working on AMIs for, literally, a half century and have never encountered this. It’s probably instructive that when AMI designed the 45 mechanisms they went from micro switches to simple blade switches for the transfer and scan functions. They may have had real world experience that the micro switches were trouble.
And yet the blade CAM switches of the 50s caused innumerable problems (burnt coils, jammed gripper motors) that mircoswitch upgrade kits like the CAM-1 from the UK fix!
I think a safety switch add-on may solve this problem, someone just has to take the time to design it. I'm happy to host the results on my AMI/Rowe page on Flippers, I just don't have the time, nor a machine to test a safety switch at the moment.
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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participants (7)
-
David Breneman -
Derek Thompson -
Ed Liss -
JIM & LAURIE DIRKSEN -
John Robertson -
Nigel Pugh -
Shankar Singh