Beogram 8002 (5633): Initial Assessment

I recently received a Beogram 8002 (Type 5633) from a customer in Missouri. It arrived safely packaged in a Beolover shipping container, and no shipping damage occurred. I put it on the bench:

As usual, the aluminum panels had come loose. The hood has some moderate scratching. Also very common. Luckily, this can be fixed. Co-Beolover Beomazed has figured out how to transfer the original trim to a new replacement hood. This is a significant step towards a pristine, like-new look!

Otherwise, this unit is in pretty nice cosmetic condition. The veneer corners are in an unusually good condition:

It also has a platter that looks very good:

Unfortunately, these platters are easily damaged when people try to clean them with alcohol or harsh detergents. It is usually best not to use alcohol on this particular Beogram vintage. The black paint of the enclosure is also easily damaged that way. Water and a mild hand dishwashing detergent, plus a soft cloth or sponge, are usually the best approach.

After this visual inspection, I removed all the technical parts and set them up on my lazy Susan work platform for easy access to all components:

Then I plugged it in and pressed START. It reluctantly moved the carriage over to the LP setdown point and arm lowering was triggered properly. The typical signs of hardened lubricants and/or a worn carriage belt. But after the arm was down, it immediately returned the carriage to the home position. This usually means that the <</>> adjustments are out of whack. 

In summary, I would say this unit is a promising starting point for a full restoration to a like-new condition. Stay tuned for my post about the work that will be done on this unit!

Beogram 6000: Oil Infusion of AC Platter Motor Shaft Bearings

I recently received the AC platter motor of a Beogram 6000 (Type 550x) from a customer in the Netherlands. The motor exhibited knocking noises that could not be adjusted away by reducing the motor voltage. This is usually a sign of dry motor bearings. My remedy for this issue is reinfusing the Oilite motor bearings with synthetic oil under vacuum.

This shows the motor as received:

After a trip to my garage for drilling out the rivets that hold the enclosure together, I disassembled the motor:

It is important to keep the parts on the shaft in their original order and orientation (the washers have an orientation, too!):

Unlike the later DC platter motors, there does not seem to be a straightforward method for removing the shaft bearings from the enclosure halves of the AC motors. Therefore, I simply put the entire enclosure into the oil. This is a bit messy, but it works well. This shows the initial bubbling coming from one of the submerged bearings while the pump labored to pull a vacuum:

A few minutes after the lowest pressure had been reached, the oil had foamed up:

These bearings were pretty thirsty! But I think some of the bubbling up air also comes from pores in the enclosure itself. The infusion process is completed when the bubbling stops. At that point, all the pores are again filled with oil. After two days, the oil became quiet, and I removed the parts from the vacuum chamber. This shows one of the bearings after I cleaned out the oil:

These bearings look pretty similar to the ones found in the later DC motors. They can also adjust their angle to minimize misalignment with the shaft.

I put the motor back together:

If you try this at home, make sure the stacked coils are re-inserted at the correct polarity (purple and green wires need to be on the same side as before, otherwise the motor will run backwards). Since opening these motors requires destroying the threaded rivets that hold the enclosure together, I developed 3D printed plastic parts (red) with integrated M3 nuts for the tilt adjustment screws. Note that without the rivets, the enclosure is mostly held together by the mounting screws after the motor is bolted back into its place in the Beogram. This is not an issue for the operation of the motor, but it needs to be kept in mind when the motor is reinstalled.