To Rod Cornelius, asking in the 200525 MMD about repairing his
Monopol disc box:

Hi, Rod.  I don't know about your experience with music box repair,
but in case you haven't tried this before, be aware that mistakes can
be dangerous to both the box and your fingers.

In your note, you mention that when you turn the handle, "the whole
lot turns."  Please explain.

When you turn the crank (like one turn) and hold it, you should
have wound up the center few turns of the spring inside the barrel.
If the barrel turns as you wind the handle, the governor is either
missing or disconnected.  Also, there will probably be no force
trying to turn the handle back.

If the center shaft turns slowly or not at all, but the handle
wants to unwind, you are probably missing the holding pawl mechanism
or wrap-spring clutch that should be holding the winding handle.  In
this case, turn the handle back slowly until there is no force on it.
Let me know what happens.

With regard to the start-stop mechanism, please send me a couple
of pictures of the bottom of the bedplate.  The start-stop control
usually screws into a bracket that slides on the bottom of the
bedplate.  The bracket has some protrusion that lifts the auto-stop
arm on the governor so that the motor will start and/or continue
playing.

Regards,
Craig Smith
near Rochester, New York