Beogram 4000: Repair of a Cracked Solenoid Arm, Replacement of the Damper Gasket and Re-Glueing of a Plinth Corner

After replacing the wiring sleeve of the carriage harness and repair of an intermittent solenoid this Beogram 4000 needed tying up a few more lose ends before it could be sent back to its owner.

I had originally restored this Beogram 4000 in 2020, and back then I was not aware of some of the 'standard issues' that these decks can develop. One item that learned about in the meantime is the damper gasket. They seem to harden and as a result arm lowering can become erratic causing the arm lowering speed to vary due to random air leaks around the gasket.

This shows the original gasket:

And the new replacement installed:

This Beogram 4000 also came with a solenoid lever that has a plastic extension for activating the solenoid switch:

As I learned over the years from AC motor 4002s, where this type of lever is standard, these attachments tend to break off at the rivet that attaches them to the metal part. This one also already had a hairline crack:

Since it can lead to a fried solenoid when this plastic extension breaks completely off I replaced it with a 3D printed part that I developed for this occasion:

Here a shot from the side:

This shows the lever after re-installation in rest position

and in extended position:

It properly activated the solenoid switch.

In 2020 I also had not realized yet that the BC142/143 power transistors often go out of spec over time. This resulted in occasional carriage drive H-bridge failures, which caused some unhappy returns to my bench. Hence, I started replacing these transistors preventatively in my Beogram projects as a standard feature. I still needed to catch up this Beogram in the transistor department. This shows the original H-bridge transistors:

And with new compatible replacements:

I also replaced the rest of the power transistors:

Finally, this Beogram had a plinth corner that came unglued:

I removed the plinth and glued it back together:

Beolovely! This Beogram 4000 is performing very nicely again. Let's hope it will stay away from my bench for longer this time!