Dansette Debonair

[Andy_Clarke]

A friend of mine asked me to take a look at his Dansette Debonair which plays ok, with a bit of speed fluctuation, on 78 & 33 but 45rpm is obviously slow.

It looks to me that the stepped brass sleeve, attached to the motor shaft, is worn at the 45rpm section, I guess it's had 40+ years of just playing 45s!

What are the options for fixing this? I guess there's no chance of getting a replacement, I believe the Debonair is quite rare.

[Edward Huggins]

The Dansette Debonair is extremely rare. It's possible that there may be an accumulation of rubber debris on the stepped drive spindle. Clean with IPA.

[astro63]

Is it possible the rubber grommets that hold the motor in place have shrunk and gone hard making the motor drop lower down thus making the idler wheel not making contact on the stepped motor spindle part. or possible the inner rim of the turntable where the idler wheel runs on needs a good clean so it makes a better contact and grips better. only other thing could be the idler wheel has worn over the years,

The deck is a E.M.I make there is a spring underneath which can be adjusted into a choice of 3 holes, it's towards the speed adjust knob moving it will make the idler wheel have more tension towards the turntable. but I'd try the other options first.Also when not in use rotate the speed selector so it's inbetween 2 speeds, that way the idler wheel isn't engaged against the turntable and will stop the idler wheel getting a flat edge if left for long time.

[Michael Maurice]

The idler might also need rebuilding in which case Terry does a great job.

[Andy_Clarke]

Thanks for the replies, sorry not to have responded sooner, been busy with other things.

I don't have the Debonair with me at the moment but will follow up the suggestions when I get my hands on it again.

[astro63]

If you need help with the deck etc feel free to message me etc, and like someone else said thats one of the rarer models for Dansette