Beogram 4002 (5513): New Wood Plinth, Dust Cover, Keypad and Installation of a Commander Remote Control System

I recently functionally restored a Beogram 4002 (Type 5513) for a customer in Virginia. He decided to also get its cosmetics upgraded with a new walnut 4000c style wood plinth, hood and keypad, and also get a Beolover Commander remote control system installed.

This shows the final condition of the unit:

Beolovely! Almost like new!

My first project was replacing the cracked wood plinth:

Its left front corner had taken a hit at some point:

I put the frame into the oven at 250F. After baking it for 30 min I took it out and with a carpet knife cut the wood panels from the metal fixtures. The glue gets weakened by the heat treatment and the metal parts are easily liberated when hot. The more difficult task is the removal of the hardened old glue remnants. I usually soak the parts in Goo Gone for 24 hrs. I spray the product on and then wrap the parts in plastic foil to prevent drying out:

After 24 hrs the glue can be rubbed off with a bit of effort. This shows the cleaned parts after washing them with dish detergent:

I use 3M 300LSE double sided tape for glueing the parts into the new frame. This shows the tape backed parts together with the new 4000c style walnut frame:

I use two small Beogram 400x aluminum cover plates as alignment help for gluing the metal frame pieces at the right height into the wood frame:

I also use a strip of parchment paper on one side of the metal parts for keeping it from sticking while pushing it into the corner on the other end. The aluminum plates have a thickness that matches the machined recess in the wood frame perfectly, which makes it easy to glue the metal parts at the proper level. This shows the nice alignment achieved with this method:

Her a shot of a corner:

Beolovely! On to the keypad.

This shows the original keypad with finger smudges (on the right) together with the restored keypad that I installed:

The first step was replacing the cracked original plastic brackets that hold the RPM panel in place. They often crack when people pry out the RPM panel in an off angle:

Luckily there are perfectly reproduced replacements available at the DKsoundparts store in Denmark. This shows the two new replacements together with the extracted original parts:

All one needs to do is transferring the metal springs to the new parts:

This pictures shows them installed:

And here bolted into the new keypad:

The new brackets need to be adjusted that the RPM panel is flush with the left keypad side:

Before I put in the new keypad I installed the Beolover Commander remote control receiver board:

It plugs directly into the keypad jack of the main PCB. This shows the keypad installed with the Commander auto-repeat indicator LED bolted in under the keypad screw:

My customer also wanted a new Beolover Carriage Motor for Beogram 4000, 4002, and 4004 installed. This upgrade makes the carriage run more quietly while drawing less current, which protects the H-bridge transistors. This shows the original motor still in place:

I unsoldered the leads and took it out. This shows the original motor still in the enclosure together with the new replacement:

The new replacement fits perfectly into the space with the two provided rubber rings for damping its vibrations:

This shows it bolted in with the leads soldered back on:

The final upgrade was a new hood. This shows the new hood together with a new aluminum trim strip:

The first step of the transfer is unbolting the old hood from the metal hinge. The screws are easily accessed after prying off the aluminum trim on the sides of the hood. This reveals the mounting screws:

The centered alignment of the new strip is a snap when using the Beolover alignment aides (orange):

I usually use a blue tape strip for making a pencil alignment mark:

Once the alignment has been marked, the hinge can be bolted into the new hood and the trim can be installed:

A crucial moment is the bending of the side parts. The Beolover bending block that is included with our trims helps getting a precise corner fold:

This shows one of the corners:

Beolovely! And here a picture of the completed hood assembly:

This Beogram was now not only perfectly restored on the inside, but also in perfect cosmetic condition on the outside! Here a few pictures showing off its lovely looks:

Beogram 8000 (Type 5613): Replacing the Tracking Sensor Light Bulb with a LED Assembly

Recently I was able to buy a Beogram 8000 in fairly decent cosmetic condition. I thought I would restore it and then offer it for sale. After completing the basic functional restoration tasks (stay tuned for my report on the work I did) I had to realize that the tracking sensor light bulb had a broken off wire and so the unit did not track anymore.

So be it I thought. I do not really like incandescent bulbs anyway. They change their emission characteristics continuously over their short lifetimes, i.e. they are always good for some trouble. So replacing them with LEDs is usually a good idea. 

Since this was the first instance of a broken tracking bulb in a Beogram 8000 for me, I did not have a ready to go replacement. So it was time for a bit of creative development work!...;-):

This shows the compartment under the arms where the tracking sensor resides:

After a communication with co-Beolover Sonavor I understood how to get in there. He had done it before. Standing on the shoulders of giants!...;-). One can simply lift up the cover plate a bit until it clears the pin that holds it in place and then slide it out. This shows the compartment opened up:

Here more magnified: 

Photoresistor and bulb are mounted on a small PCB in the back, which connect s them through four wires to the rest of the circuit. These wires come out at the bottom of the compartment and are pretty tight. Luckily one can remove a couple rubber washers that hold the wires in place and then they get a bit looser:

This allows pulling out the small PCB just enough so one can access the solder side:

Here a more detailed view of the backside (bulb already removed):

The red and black wires power the bulb, with the black being GND and red 15V. The hole is sized to hold the bulb base whose wires are then soldered to the two solder pads around the hole.

First I thought I would build a prototype LED board using protoboard to fit into the orifice to replace the bulb. Out came the Dremel and I made a little board that fit:

The plan was to mount a LED and an appropriate resistor on this board and then make the connections to the small PCB. When I debated which LED from my stash to use, it dawned on me that the LED circuit on my standard Beolover Tracking Sensor LED Light Source for Beogram 4002 and 4004 would fit the bill perfectly if the adjustment trimmer connected in series would be removed. In Beogram 4002/4004 the bulb runs at 21V, while here in the 8000 it is powered from the 15V supply. Without the trimmer I thought I would probably get a very similar light output from the LED! So I Dremeled one of the 4002/4004 boards to have the right form factor while still sporting both LED and current limiting resistor. I used magnet wire to make electrical contact. Here you can see the end result in comparison with the bulb:

The narrower end of the board on the right is just about as wide as the bulb base.

This shows the board stuck through the orifice and soldered to the pads:

A view from the other side:

And everything pushed down into the compartment and powered up:

The LED is located in front of the lens at a similar position like the original bulb filament.

The final step was putting the wiring back into place so it would not chafe with the floating chassis base during carriage movements. I pushed the wires back where they were and installed the two rubber discs that hold them in place:

Then I put my test cartridge on the arm and the record that I use for tracking feedback adjustment on the platter. I dialed in the tracking aperture to get about 2-3 rotations of the platter before the carriage starts moving after putting the arm down. Everything worked perfectly! A good afternoon at the Beolover bench!...;-).

This shows the tracking sensor in action:

Records played perfectly with it! 

After this successful prototype development I sat down and designed a more professional PCB that should make the bulb replacement a snap. It is currently in production and I hope there will soon be a new Beolover part available via my store.

Stay tuned for the description of the other restoration task that I performed on this lovely Beogram 8000!