Beogram 8002: Adjustments and Some Final Touches

I recently repaired a Beogram 8002 that showed some strange behavior. Before I send it back to Australia, it was a good moment to clean up a few other small issues. I first focused on the tonearm. Its horizontal parallelism was a bit out of whack (the arm was a mm higher than the sensor arm):

This is an easy adjustment but one has to lift the carriage up. This is easiest done by pulling out the back slide rod (it just pops out of its plastic brackets by using a screwdriver for forcing it up). Then the carriage can be lifted:

This is how it looks from below:

The adjustment screw is right below of my thumb. For lowering the arm it simply needs to be turned a bit CW. I did a 1/3 rotation and that fixed the issue:

Then I closed the deck from the service position and did the tracking force adjustment. For that it is best to drive the arm a bit in onto the aluminum plate without the platter installed that the arm can be lowered onto the tracking weight gauge:

It turned out that the weight adjustment scale was adjusted perfectly, i.e. I did not have to do anything. The next step was to install new rubber bumpers into the hood to improve the 'hood closing sound' (yes, this is important!..;-). I extracted the bumper remnants from the orifices that hold the bumpers with a 2 mm drill bit that I outfitted with a 3D printed handle for enhanced control and convenience:

Then I glued in snippets of a 1/8" thick O-ring and razor bladed them off using my 3D printed cutting template that has the right thickness to keep the hood level with the bumpers in place:

With the new bumpers installed I also adjusted the hood damper to give it a smoother closing feel.

After that I cleaned the aluminum surfaces with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Pads. This shows the surface before:

And after:

Much shinier, I'd say!

The final touch was to adjust the platter height to be 2 mm all around its circumference. This shows the adjustment of the spring on the right side:

And then it was time to give it a spin!

I chose 'Mister Magic', one of Grover Washington, Jr's 'KUDU' label records (KU 20). I just love the smooth arrangements on this record. And what a great cover! It is a shame (or great opportunity...;-) that one can buy this lovely vinyl for about $5 on Discogs in NM condition! In my opinion a greatly under-appreciated work by an extremely talented artist! My favorite track is 'Passion Flower', which is an amazing and mysterious journey through a lush soundscape. Perfect to enjoy a lovely Beogram 8002!