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I was wondering if the brushes for the speaker spindle contact are readily available or will somthing for say a washing machine work?perhaps somthing that can be widled to fit?any one know where to get these brushes?
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Where to find Brushes for allen gyrophonic speaker contacts
Anyone know where brushes for the speaker contacts in the allen gyrophonic projector can be bought?I've had no luck with responses in the leslie section because perhaps thats not the place for the question -
Sure, contact Allen directly. Believe it or not they still support all their old products. Last year I bought a repair kit for a Gyrophonic from them - it didn't have the brushes, but other updated or common-failure parts.
Are you sure the brushes can't be readjusted though? I also had to tighten up the connection on mine, after all it's 40 years old.Comment
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One other thing. Allen's service data on these recommended you could improve the contact on the brushes with emery paper, Crocus cloth or fine sandpaper. They do state though never to use anything coarser than crocus cloth.Comment
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You might try Helwig Carbon Products. I've gone to them before for brushes for real old motors, and they've always been able to help. Their URL is www.helwigcarbon.com
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thanks bob,I contacted allen by email today,I'm going to see if I can source some brushes from an electronic distributor thats local as I'm pretty sure the gyro isn't the only thing that uses that style brushe,readjusting isn't going to happen as one got broken off so it needs to be replaced,curious?how much did gyro repair kit run you and what did it consist of?
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bob,I forgot to ask,where do you oil the motor on these things,mine has no oil spout or funnel and also where does the gyro bearing get oil?do you know where to view or download a service document for these?thanks for the responses:->Comment
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got to thinking that the precious metal key contacts from a hammond organ might work just as good if not better than brushes and my hunch was right so I'll be updating both cabs with those and forgo the brushes
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I've found that the precious metal key contacts from a tonewheel hammond work great in place of the brushes,I have boxes of these things,their so thin they won't wear the spindle contact at all,the audio is crystal clear even when constant speed switching occurs
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That's a neat idea. Sounds like you already thought of my main concern, I'd be worried the key contact would score the spindle. But if not that's a great solution. I wonder how the brush got broken?
As far as the kit from Allen, it was a Gyro power supply rebuild kit. Mainly caps and resistors, plus one key diode (which is what went bad on mine.) Also, a new rectifier assembly to replace the original big honker Selenium rectifier. You can also order service packets directly from Allen's parts department, not cheap but well worth it in my case.
There were different motors used over the years, some AC and some DC. So I'm not 100% sure on oiling, but as I recall you just oiled the bearing through a cup/hole on or near the collar. (I don't have that Gyro cab any more or I'd check for you.) I do remember that on the Gyro units in self-contained models, you had to go in through the front, i.e. through the speaker baffle! Weird.
The Gyro I worked on was one of two huge cabs, to go with a larger analog Allen. I thought the use of varying DC voltages to change speeds was much more elegant than the stacked motor assemblies on a Leslie or Spectratone.Comment
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I did not notice the brush was broken till I got em home,mine are model 100's I believe made in august of 1971 if whats written in black marker on the back is correct,the motors are dc and have no oiling spout/funnel so I broke the motor down and lubed the whole thing but its still a little noisy,I think its just a noisy motor,some are some are not,I have 2 cabs and the other one is very quiet,I like the speed power supply on these as well,a bit over the top but allens are not known for being cheapComment
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