I am going to put this on hold while I work on the rest of the changer. The spindle is scaring me just thinking about it. lol.

No need to be scared of the spindle, just cautious. The two small springs sit horizontally between the two shelves, so just make sure to hold the shelves in place while you are removing the spindle top so the springs don't get loose. And when tightening the screws holding the spindle top on, just don't use too much force. Firm, not tight. Many of us have done this successfully, and I know you can too.

-David

UPDATE:
So, I recapped the chassis. For my first time I think it went rather well. I took it outside, plugged it, flipped the switch and ran away real fast and hid behind a wall! roflmao! No, Bang? No, Boom? Hmmm, did I actually do this without causing the little guy to blow up? ok....what about Murphy's Law? It always seems to apply to me. I crept up to it slowly as not to scare it, , and noticed that things were spinning and moving, good.

The tubes seemed a little on the hot side but, I don't really know what "too hot" is for tubes. Should they glow white, orange, red, some other color, lol? How can I tell if they are working properly? (They were checked before I bought them) I don't have a tube tester. Then I noticed that the Resistor (rectangular, gray, ceramic like thing?) was pretty warm to the touch? Should I replace it? It looks like it has a small crack going through it.

Another thing I noticed was that when I brushed my finger across the needle, no sound came from the speaker. (The unit wasn't all put back together so I couldn't try to play a record.) I have not replaced the cartridge and needle yet. Would a bad cartridge prevent sound from going to the speaker at all?

I know....lots of questions! Sorry!
TIA!

I think so too

Tubes get pretty hot (hot enough to burn you), but only the filaments should glow.

The cartridge might well be bad although other things could still be wrong. Putting your finger on the connecting pins at the cartridge may get you some hum out of the speaker. There is still a little way to go before you are probably done.

The hot cracked ceramic resistor is probably OK (the fact that it was hot is actually a good sign meaning it isn't burned out). It's not unusual for these things to develop cracks.

Congratulations

Curtis Eickerman

Yay! Thanks, Curtis! You have been such a great help. I am still cleaning the little guy up...he was pretty dirty.

More updates to come!

EDIT TO ADD: I have a replacement cartridge with needle...how do I access the old one? The arm doesn't lift all the way up. Do I have to unscrew something?

On your set the signal is on the red cartridge lead. Touching that one with the volume turned up should give you a good hum from the speaker. Don't be grounded when you test this.

You can easily remove the tone arm and lay it upside-down on the motorboard by loosening the hex screw at the base of the tonearm. Be careful not to stress the leads when you remove the arm. You will have to remove the arm anyway when you overhaul the turntable since you will need to remove and clean the arm pivot shaft.

When you re-install the tone arm you will have to adjust it to land properly on the record and trip properly at the end. The RP-190 service manual explains all the adjustments.

If you want to remove the cartridge with the arm in place, you can use a stubby phillips-head screwdriver to reach under the arm. That's how we did it back in the day to replace the stylus, which requires removing the cartridge.

-David

Thanks, Curtis and David! When I put my finger on the red cartridge lead I did get a good hum....that is all I did last night. lol. I will be at it again this weekend. Updates to come. Stay tuned!

If you got that, the new cartridge should do just fine. It also sounds like the re-cap work was likely successful and things are generally working correctly.

Now to tackle that changer mechanism

Curtis Eickerman

Yep...still reading and hilighting stuff in my binder so that I know what is supposed to be greased and what's not supposed to be greased and so on. I planned on doing all that 2 weeks ago but I chickened out. lol. Once I was able to actually bring myself to cut wires and solder I am not so scared any more. I just had to kick myself in the butt and get started. I have been cleaning and parts here and there as I did other things. The first step was the hardest part.

Thanks Again for all of your help and cheerleading , Curtis!

Hi, if your still kinda nervous about the spindle , fortyfiveplayer, on youtube has a several part series on servicing the RP190 changer. He talks about things that could go wrong as well as what to do and what not to do. This is what got me through my first RP190 restoration! Now these 45 players have become one of my favorite record players to restore. Tomorrow i am picking up a Decca portable 45 player. It has a HUGE amp driving an 8 inch speaker. It has separate volume tone and bass control. I like this idea of doing a step by step restoration and posting updates on here. I will probably do this with the Decca!!

Video for the spindle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HRj_cY4bfw

Hope this helps!

Cody

Fantastic! Thanks for the link, Cody...I have another player to work on after this one, it is a 6-EY-3A and it also has an RP-190 changer, so I hope this first one will give me some practice! Good luck to you on your restore!

The 6-EY-3A is one of my favorites. I still have the one I received new as a gift, many many years ago. I restored it last year having not used it for about 20 years. The cabinet acts as a tuned speaker enclosure which gives it a very nice full sound quality.

-David

Got it on ebay for about 5 bucks. What a steal! It is friggin' adorable! Good to know it is a fave of someones...tells me it was worth getting up early to not get outbid. Lol

5 bucks?!?!? I cant belive it!! I was looking for one of those for the longest time!!!

Awww....don't make me feel bad! I paid $5.51 plus $12 shipping.

would like to see photos if you have a digital camera. carb cleaner. careful not to get in eyes. a quick fix at best. mineral spirits or kerosene is safer but may require disassembly. you can use mineral spirits in a spray bottle if needed. much safer than carb cleaner. I like aerosol lubricants. wax dry lube with teflon my favorite. white lithium grease aerosol works well. aerosols will dissolve gunk while lubricating for quick cures. hardware stores like Lowes have it. you could spray with mineral spirits let drain let dry spray aerosol lube into moving parts done. sounds like your amp passed the finger test. tone arm is where to look next. wiring, cartridge. fun. cool. photos

This is what I started with....
Right now it is completely taken apart, spindle cap is soaking in dot3 brake fluid to get the pink nail polish off the top. Most other parts are soaking, drying, or waiting its turn. Having fun, with a couple of bad words in between.

Thanks for the pictures. It's nice to see what the whole thing actually looked like, and here are a couple of ideas for you.

People have various ways of dealing with rust. I'm kind of partial to "Naval Jelly". Its pink stuff and you can get it at the hardware store. It's actually phosphoric acid (like in soda pop). Don't use it on aluminum, but on rusted steel it works good to eat away the rust. You apply it, let it sit for a few minutes (according to directions on the label), then wipe it off with a wet rag or paper towel. Repeat as needed until the rust is gone.

Other people recommend various other ingredients to remove rust, the above is just my preference.

The surface left behind will still be a little pitted, so sanding, priming, and painting will probably be in order for the top of the turntable. That would be something good to do while things are apart to avoid paint on places where you don't want it (like the spindle, tone arm, etc.).

I don't know if you watched that Youtube video recommended earlier, but it and others for the RP-190 by the same person were great at showing all the details of taking an RP-190 apart and putting it back together.

Curtis Eickerman

I watched the series of YouTube videos that you recommended. I went and bought some Naval Jelly and I have been using it....over, and over....lots of rust, yuck. I will be painting the top, appliance spray paint possibly if I can find the proper color? I watched the RP-190 videos by "fortyfiveplayer" and actually took mine apart by watching, pressing pause, copy what was done, repeat. That is how I got it apart, if not for that video I would not have been able to do it...I am really glad he has videos on how to put them back together. Roflmao!

Oh, Get This! When I opened up the motor....It was COMPLETELY BONE DRY with not one bit of lubrication in it. I was baffled quite honestly, I wiped my fingers over everything several times, nothing.

I think that this is what Curtis is talking about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dbANTNvavI
same guy who does the splice vid
Ospho is another phosphoric acid treatment product. this one you leave it on as a primer over rust. turns rust into black inert compound when dry. sand, prime, paint right over it. looks like the platter deck needs to come-off scraped wire brushed sanded treated sanded primed sanded and painted to get it right
I found a kids phono at an antique booth not working for ten bucks. Majorette 1954. opened it-up. three tube amp. fell for it. worked it up. replaced a few things. new needle. good cartridge thank goodness. loud and clear now. plays 33, 45, 78 like crazy. looks used but has that kind of charm. then I have a 60s Magnavox for serious music. stereo parallel p/p 6V6 of course