New Replacement Keypad Plates for Beogram 4002 and 4004 are in the House!!

A happy day in Beolover world!!:

After about three years of time consuming and costly effort one of us (Beomazed) finally figured out how to manufacture faithful reproductions of the often worn keypads of Beogram 4002/4004/6000.

Finally, another milestone on the way to perfect cosmetic restorations achieved!...;-).

Here a couple impressions of one of the new keypads recently installed in a Beogram 6000:

The challenges were twofold:

1) First, a manufacturer had to be found who could make faithful reproductions of the original metal plates. A number of materials and processes were tried out until finally a perfect keypad plate emerged that had the proper springy feel and the perfect brushed look.

2) Then a coating material had to be found that would give the new metal plates the characteristic look of the original ones. This was pretty difficult due to the color and hue changes the original pads exhibit when observed under different viewing angles and in changing lighting situations. After many trials finally a coating was found that matched the original behavior well. While looking great, it is also an advanced material that is very durable.

It is pretty difficult to take pictures of finished metal surfaces that faithfully show the actual look observed directly.

Therefore, I removed the slightly worn keypad of my bench 4002 for taking some pictures in direct comparison under different light and camera angles. This direct comparison allows a better impression how close the new pads are to the original look.

These pictures were taken in diffused natural light:

And this one with a more harsh LED light coming in from the back on my work bench:

I think it is obvious that the new pads match the originals quite well.

Of course there are small differences as should be expected with any reproduction process. Also keep in mind that the original keypads probably looked slightly different when they were new. Most materials slowly change their optical properties as they age due to chemical and surface structure changes.

Stay tuned for updates. We will soon offer a restoration service for worn keypads.