1950's Seeburg Jukebox Issues


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Old 12-26-14, 07:52 AM
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1950's Seeburg Jukebox Issues

We have an old Seeburg 100JL that worked when we last used it years ago. Unfortunately, we moved to a smaller place 10 years ago, and it’s been stored unused for 10 years.

Just for old-time’s sake, I grabbed a heavy duty extension cord and plugged it in. Unfortunately, it didn’t work properly. All it’s doing is moving around to different locations, pulling the record out, lowering the needle on the record, immediately raising the needle, putting the record back in the rack, and moving on to another spot.

I’ve let it run for several minutes, and the only thing that seems to have changed is that the “stops” seem to be less random than they were in the beginning. It pretty much just goes down the line in order until the end, and then resets to the beginning. I don’t know if something got damaged in the move, or someone along the line punched a bunch of buttons. My theory (hope) is a short or dirty contact.

I know this one will be a lot trickier than most problems posted here, but I have nothing to lose except for posting a 5-minute message!

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
 
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Old 12-26-14, 08:47 AM
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It has nothing to do with pushing buttons. There is no memory when unit is un-plugged. Even when unit is plugged in and all the buttons are pressed..... it only will play each selection once.

There are a lot of switches on the playing carriage. There are solenoids on the pin rack that can be getting stuck. When a button is pressed a corresponding pin is set which tells the mech. to scan.

If you're going to service this yourself it would be wise to purchase a service manual copy.
 
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Old 12-26-14, 09:48 AM
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The worst thing you can do with an old electro mechanical machine is let it sit. I tinker with pinball machines as a hobby and machines from that era can be kept running forever and are pretty reliable when used regularly. As they sit switch contacts corrode so they no longer make reliable contact. Solenoids get dirty and can stick. Luckily though machines from that era are spared many of the power supply and electrical connection problems of later machines that have rudimentary computers and solid state controls.

I think you're just going to have to open the machine up and start at the beginning. What should the machine be doing? At each step in it's process notice what switches need to be made, what motors or solenoids should activate and what mechanical part should move? Get the machine to complete a step properly then move onto it's next step.

There are entire forums and how-to manuals for keeping old jukes and coin operated amusement devices running. Many people quickly become discouraged because they are accustomed to instant gratification and simple fixes. Get in the mindset and treat it as a hobby where the process of getting to know your machine inside and out is half the fun. You're not just fixing it but becoming a caretaker of a piece of history.
 
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Old 12-26-14, 10:02 AM
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You're not just fixing it but becoming a caretaker of a piece of history.
Well put and really quite true. I had two AMI's here but was forced to let them go due to lack of room. I still get to work on them.
 
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Old 12-26-14, 02:02 PM
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I restored a 1960's Seeburg S100, and without the manual, I would have been sunk. Look on ebay for manuals for your machine, and do a search on Yahoo groups for Seeburg Jukebox enthusiasts. They guided me along during my restoration, and there are links there to parts and literature sources.
Andy
 
 

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