rockola 940 with a slow turntable

[George]

I am new to this forum so please bear with me. One of my three juke boxes is a rockola 940 that has always worked well, but it hasn't been played in a while. After start up, I noticed that everything worked but the turntable was spinning 34 rpms like for playing an LP. The voltage to the turntable motor is 120 volts and I don't see any binding of the drive wheel or platter. I did notice that the power distribution box has four monitor lamps. The second lamp, labeled -28v, has a very faint glow unlike the other three which are bright. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thank you for the opportunity to post my problem.

[ami-man]

Hi George,

I do not know of a Rock Ola 940 are you sure you have the correct model number, leds for the power rails on the power supply (junction box) would indicate it is a 70' or early 80's jukebox.

You say that the turntable motor is a 120 volt motor (this is bassically the same motor that is used on the 1100 & 1200 mechanisms on the Rowe Ami jukeboxes) does you jukebox have speed shift options of 45rpm & 33.3rpm? if this is the case then I would look for any switching in this area.

Regarding the dim led have you measured your voltage rails to see that you are getting the -28 volts DC?

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

[George]

Hello Alan;
               Thanks for catching my mistake. My juke box is a Rockola 490 made around 1984. I think I found the problem. The three nylon bushings that hold the turntable motor collapsed under the washers and e-clips that hold them in place. This allowed the motor to sag causing the drive wheel to ride on a part of the motor shaft that is smaller in diameter thereby slowing the rpm down. Thank you for steering me in the right direction.

                                                                                                            George