Problems with Leslie 47

[DizzyFingers]

I just bought an A100 and Leslie 47 speaker off Ebay. The organ seems to basically be in excellent condition. (minus a couple of bass pedal notes that don't play) However, the accompanying Leslie 47 lacks any significant rotation speed for the treble driver. The tone itself is clear, and it blows the windows out at full blast. The dealer I bought it from said he refitted the Leslie for a fast and slow speed. But when you click the Leslie switch to "on", its fast speed ain't very fast. Picks up just a bit, but never goes into a rapid rotation. Therefore, it doesn't give you that classic Leslie high speed tremolo. The Leslie also makes some extraneous noise when the horn rotates, plus a pop when you turn it on. </p>

I'm a newbie when it comes to repairing these things, and in general I'm doing good to put batteries in a flashlight. Any advice from you veterans would be greatly appreciated. </p>

[johnny b3]

Re: Problems with Leslie 47



To clarify - your leslie switch is the older kind with "Off-On" print on it, correct? and when you switch it to "off" both rotors spin slowly?</p>

First, I'd remove the belt from the horn and try to find the area of resistance. First check to see that the motor speeds up properly when you switch to "on". It should hit top speed in less than 2 seconds. Does it achieve high speed?
</p>

Remove the center panel of the leslie and observe the speed change. The slow motor's drive shaft moves up and down to engage/disengage the rubber lined wheel found on the bottom of the fast motor's drive shaft. Sometimes the motor stack isn't adjusted properly and the slow drive shaft does not disengage properly, causing drag on the fast motor. Check to see that the shaft does fall down and the fast motor is unobstructed.
</p>

Turn off the organ/leslie. Do you encounter resistance when trying to turn the motor pully by hand? It may need oil.</p>

Next see if the idler bearing on the tension arm can spin freely with
no resistance. Next rotate the horn by hand, it should move fairly
easily...it may spin once or twice. The horn and bearing need to be
oiled occasionally and this can be determined by moving the parts by
hand to see if you encounter relative resistance.</p>

I can't help you with the pop noise, but the noise emitted when it spins is usually due to lack of lubrication. The idler bearing is the first culprit. Spin it by hand and add a drop of oil into the seam...it should spin very smoothly. The horn has a hole for adding oil, and the motor has black felt on the inside of the casing behind the drive pulley. You can see it through the holes in its chassis. Add a few drops to it through each hole. There are other oil locations for the motors but I find this spot is usually culprit. You'll need to remove the motors to oil them properly. I always try to land a drop of oil on the drive shaft just below the pulley so that it seeps directly into the top bearing. This can be tricky and messy so be prepared. Most any light oil will do - Hammond oil, leslie oil, sewing machine oil...Try not to over oil and avoid getting oil on the pulley or rubber lined drive wheel. Also check out geoelectro's guide to leslie motors.</p>

Have fun!
</p>

[TheAdmiral]

Re: Problems with Leslie 47

It depends on how it was converted to 2 speed. There are several different ways and which way will determine what kind of advice we need to give you. Can you post pictures with the back off? Does it have double motors or is it converted using a switching device like Hamptone or Carib? Both upper and lower converted or just upper.