Beogram 4002 (5501): Installation of New Aluminum Pulley for the Carriage Servo

A few weeks ago I finished up the restoration of a Beogram 4002 (5501). The only item missing was a new aluminum pulley for the carriage servo. As usual this unit had a cracked pulley that was wobbling quite a bit, and that caused some noise and vibration when the carriage was driven fast like during start or stop. Absolutely not beolovely!

Unfortunately, the normal pulley design that Nick provides for my restorations of these Beograms does not work in the early 5501 types since they have a unique end groove detection mechanism requiring a pulley with four holes that act as optical chopper to detect the speed of the carriage. If it gets fast, and the end groove switch is activated the STOP sequence is activated and the arms travel to the home position. 

I already replaced the light bulb of this mechanism with a LED based fixture, and now I was finally able to add the proper pulley. Nick just sent me a few redesigned pulleys for the 5501 type. Here is an impression of the new pulley together with the original cracked one:

This shows it installed together with my LED based illumination setup:

And since it looks so beautiful (at least in the eyes of the Beolover...;-), here is a photo of the setup in action:

And after playing a few records with the new pulley, I am happy to report that it works very well. The holes are in the right position and they have the proper diameter to be able to trigger the end groove detection mechanism. So this baby may be close to go on its trip home back to the UK! But I will still play it a bit more to make sure that there are no intermittent issues left before it goes on its long trip.

This is what is playing right now:

And an impression from the inside of this lovely gatefold cover:

My Gabor Szabo and Chico Hamilton collection is growing rapidly. This is just amazing stuff. Cannot get enough! Must go buy more shelves for more records!...;-)