How do I adjust the speed on an old record player?

Question

I have a Columbia 360 record player from the 1950's and it plays records a bit too slowly. The 33 rpm speed needs to be adjusted a bit. Is there an internal adjustment dial or screw that will do this on old record players?

Answer 1

The first answer about lubricating things is good, but it is probably the drive wheel to the platter (that's what most had then). It could probably use a new drive wheel, but that's going to be difficult to find. It is probably slipping, because the rubber is hard or the turntable is corroded.

If it's not corroded, then you might try a very light sanding with very fine sand paper or an emery board to rough up the rubber very slightly. You don't want to take off a lot of the rubber, because then the diameter will be so far off that it will never work. Just enough to unglaze the surface and get something that feels like rubber again.

Also, there is a spring that presses the wheel to the motor drive and the turntable. It's possible that the spring is sprung and needs to be replaced. Again, this will be difficult, because it was originally tuned for just the right amount of pressure to run properly. There may be some adjustment there -- you'll just have to check it out.

I played with some old turntables back in high school and these are some of the things I ran into.

Answer 2

Normally, there is no adjustment for the speed. A very few turntables had an adjustment, but they were where they could be seen and had a strobe display to set the speed.

The speed is usually changed by changing the size of the shaft on the motor. Each speed has a different diameter on the part of the shaft that it used. There is no way to tweak the speed on them.

If it is running slow is is probably because the oil or grease has gotten stiff. The drive for the turntable is just a friction contact by a rubber idler wheel between the inside edge of the turntable and the motor shaft. If the lubricant is stiff, the rubber wheel will slip a bit and the turntable will run slow.

The rubber wheel itself could be a little dry and hard from age. This will compound the slipping problem.

You can put a little high grade machine oil on the motor bushings, the turntable bearings, and the bushing for the rubber idler wheel. This might fix the problem. Just be careful, don't use too much oil. If it gets on the friction surfaces that drive the turntable or the rubber idler wheel it will really slip. Then you will have to clean everything very carefully with alcohol. Good luck.