YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! - Bob's Jukebox Project Thread

[mcnichol]

Inspired by Bill's thread (ok, Jon's thread too), I bought a jukebox that's in pretty rough shape. It is a 1965 Seeburg Electra PFEA1U -- holds 80 45s and can play them in stereo at 33 or 45. The last vending permit sticker on there is from 1980 and there are mud-dauber nests inside the machine. I have a lot of work to do.





I've started testing the capacitors (which are usually what fails on these old machines) and realize I'm going to need to do quite a bit of de-soldering and soldering to replace them. There are three main electronic modules in it that I'll need to do this on: the amp, the auto-speed unit, and the control center (and the pricing unit). Then I'll need to move onto the mechanical parts, probably taking them apart and regreasing/lubing them and fixing any parts that have been damaged over the years.

Thanks to Todd and Dave for helping me move this 370 lb. beast.

[Adan]

Wow, this is awesome. Please keep posting updates.

[Brad Hawkins]

Sweet! Did it come complete with records?

[mcnichol]

Brad - only one record was left in the machine: Dire Straits "Money For Nothing." I hope it's not an omen.

[Brad Hawkins]

Where do you get records for those? Well, OK, I know where you can get the records, but where do you get the little cards with the title and artist? I assume they all got supplied as a package by the distributor. Wonder if they still do.

[shando]

Woo hoo!

[valetoile]

Where do you get records for those? Well, OK, I know where you can get the records, but where do you get the little cards with the title and artist? I assume they all got supplied as a package by the distributor. Wonder if they still do.

It always looked to me like they were hand typed. I bet you could design your own awesome cards.

[mcnichol]

Where do you get records for those? Well, OK, I know where you can get the records, but where do you get the little cards with the title and artist? I assume they all got supplied as a package by the distributor. Wonder if they still do.

It always looked to me like they were hand typed. I bet you could design your own awesome cards.

I think it's both. Jukebox operators who would lease and maintain lots of jukeboxes around town would order multiple copies of a new/hit record and order jukebox strips along with them. They'd often come as 5 or 10 together or as sheets and you would split apart and put them in various machines. Later on I think they became less common as CDs took over and machines perhaps were owned by the establishment in which they were used. In those cases the individual jukebox strips were probably typed up on a typewriter as needed.

There are sites on the net to order them, as well as free designs people have put together you can use. I have an old typewriter I've been holding onto and I guess it was for this very purpose.

[mcnichol]

Update: Was able to remove the amp unit to test it separately and it works! It sounds great, as a matter of fact. No need to replace any caps, at least for now.



Tested the whole machine again and nothing, even with a new fuse. The fuse itself tested fine so I think there's something wrong with either the junction box inside the machine or the wiring that leads from the main plug to the junction box. I replaced that original wall plug and wire, as it was frayed and old, but perhaps the original wiring was screwed up to begin with. Or maybe something is fried out on the junction box. There's also two random wires leading out of the junction box with electrical tape on the ends that don't lead to anything in particular. I believe the original owner died years ago (before it became a haven for mud-daubers) so perhaps he was in the middle of something left undone. Hmmmm.


The junction box is the white box behind the larger black one on the left with the red fuse at top and three plugs going into it. If it turns out that this has been culprit the whole time I'll be relieved as the initial visual inspection of the amp and control center look good: nothing fried and no blown out caps or anything.

[TeresaYork]

MacGruber!

[DollarBill]

Awesome, Bob! Have you dealt with this sort of thing before? What resources are you using for info? Looks like fun!

[mcnichol]

Awesome, Bob! Have you dealt with this sort of thing before? What resources are you using for info? Looks like fun!

I've fixed electrical/mechanical stuff before but not of this size/complexity. I used to dork around with circuitry when I was a kid and had originally gone to school for engineering, but that seems like a lifetime ago. I found an original set of schematics and mechanical operation for this machine online that I'm using to test the circuitry and eventually to troubleshoot the mechanical stuff. There's also a online group of folks who work on Seeburgs -- I've been reading a lot of old messages related to this machine and common issues. And then there are actually some other books related to it that I can use if needed -- trying to wait and see if I can do most of it from the manual and online help though.

Here's one site with some basic info on troubleshooting and cool pictures of old machines:

http://home.pacbell.net/fmillera/index.htm

[mcnichol]

After traveling last week, I had some time to work on things last night.

I had tested it again last weekend and was unable to get power through the junction box where the main power cord leads -- I still need to figure out what's going on there. I think the wiring in that part may have been modified before I got it because it doesn't quite match the schematic. I instead plugged each of these components into a surge protector to see if they worked out on their own. The amp I'd already tested and works fine. The second plug is for the lighting and, lo and behold, the old florescent lights came on! One of them is a small black florescent light that I'll have to replace though. The last plug was the control center and the mechanics. I plugged it in and it hummed -- loudly! -- for about 5 - 10 seconds and then blew the circuit. Not good, but at least there's power going through there. The mechanism didn't move at all though. I took a look at at it and a plug on the mechanism had been unplugged. I plugged that in and then reset the circuit breaker and plugged in the control center again. Movement!! The mechanism started to scan down the track, as if it were looking for the next record to select. And then blew the circuit again. Ok, I know that stuff at least works a little. Next steps would be to electrically fix the control center and then disassemble and re-grease the mechanism itself. I ordered some new capacitors for the former and will order a book that will help me with the latter.

The new capacitors arrived when I got back from the trip so I started desoldering the old caps and soldering the new ones in place. I haven't used my soldering iron for maybe 10 years so much of the night was getting reacquainted with the process. I replaced 5 so far -- you can see them in the pictures below: the four blue ones and then the brighter maroon one replaced the huge ones I took out. I have about 10-12 more to replace and then can start on cleaning and re-greasing the mechanism.

[Jeff]

Profoundly inspiring stuff!

[DollarBill]

Where did you order your parts from, Bob? Looks like fun!