Inside Look of the "DEATH CUBE"

bob06

Addicted Member
Just took the death cube apart for service. Nothing to be afraid about. I'm still here.:D Anyway it is a very simple motor. One of the easiest I have worked on. The motor is not in to bad of shape but the bushing are dried out and a lot of dirt and dust. I will clean it up and give the bushings an oil bath and put it back together. It will run for another 60 yrs. :yes:
 

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Inside look of the bushings. It is an oil lite bushing (sintered bronze.) You can see that there is a felt washer that goes all around the bushing to keep it oiled. That felt washer should be kept oiled. You can see in the last picture of the cover there are 4 tiny holes around the shaft hole. OIL ALL 4 HOLES. This is where you put oil to oil the bushings. The felt washer is good size so it will suck up a lot oil. Both ends of the motor have the same setup.:thmbsp: You can see from my photo how dry my felt washers are.
 

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These motors spin at 1800rpm. Big torque motor. I think it's way over kill to spin a 4lb platter.
 
You should get some heat shrink on the wires, while you've got it apart. If they are like mine, the inner insulation is rotten, leaving only the thread wrap. Its easy to see that bright white flash when you least expect it.
I had my Borg apart a few years ago doing this same thing.
 
You should get some heat shrink on the wires, while you've got it apart. If they are like mine, the inner insulation is rotten, leaving only the thread wrap. Its easy to see that bright white flash when you least expect it.
I had my Borg apart a few years ago doing this same thing.

Yes, I planed on doing that before I put it all together. :thmbsp:
 
Whats the motor out of? Looks to be something decently stout.


If those bushings are really dry, you can stick them in a jar of oil and draw vacuum on them to re-juice them. A slightly modified baby food jar and a hand held vacuum pump will do wonders for that.
 
Whats the motor out of? Looks to be something decently stout.


If those bushings are really dry, you can stick them in a jar of oil and draw vacuum on them to re-juice them. A slightly modified baby food jar and a hand held vacuum pump will do wonders for that.

It's out of a REK O KUT CVS-12. I put the bushings in a tuna can filled with oil and bake them in the oven. It opens up the pores of the bushings. Done it before works great.
 
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Here's the trust pad from the other end of the motor. You can see in the first picture that it is worn and has a good size dimple in it. Luckily it has not been rebuilt before so I can flip the trust pad over and use the other side. Picture #2. :banana:
 

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It's out of a REK O KUT CVS-12. I put the bushings in a tuna can filled with oil and bake them in the oven. It opens up the pores of the bushings. Done it before works great.


What temp and how long? I've heard of people boiling them ( I think ).
 
THANK YOU, BOB!

I desperately want to service the Death Borg motor in my L-34. It runs fine but after a few hours it gets hot enough to heat up the platter and the LP on it. Not good.

This appears to be a simple enough job for a beginner like myself to do. Unlike my TD-124, there are no rivets to drill out or other invasive actions required.

What kind of oil did you bake the bushings with? Would SAE20 3-in-1 be a good choice? I assume you soaked the bearings with the same type of oil afterwards?
 
I do mine at 100 to 125 for 1hr. What's nice about it also cooks the old oil out also. After 1hr I take them out of the oil then drop them in some clean fresh oil and let them keep soaking while I clean up everything else.
 
THANK YOU, BOB!

I desperately want to service the Death Borg motor in my L-34. It runs fine but after a few hours it gets hot enough to heat up the platter and the LP on it. Not good.

This appears to be a simple enough job for a beginner like myself to do. Unlike my TD-124, there are no rivets to drill out or other invasive actions required.

What kind of oil did you bake the bushings with? Would SAE20 3-in-1 be a good choice? I assume you soaked the bearings with the same type of oil afterwards?
If it's getting that hot then it's time. It is a very simple job. There are no rivets but there are tabs that have to be bent. I use SAE20 weight turbine oil. So your SAE20 3in1 should be fine.
 
Here's a close up of the cover. The first pictures is what it looks like together. You can see the tabs that have to be bent up. I just used a pair of needle nose pliers. it can only go back together one way but to be safe and take pictures of everything before taking it apart. The round cover is what holds the bushing and felt washer in place.
 

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It's hard to tell from the pictures but the shaft is worn. That's from not being oiled in 60yrs. So there is some play between the bushings and shaft. I did notice that the pulley end is worn more than the back. That is dew to more pressure from the Idler pressed against it. When I took the bushings out I mark them so I knew front from back. When I put it back together I will flip the bushings and put the back one in front. :thmbsp:
 

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