Beogram 4000: Installation of New Dust Cover and Aluminum Trim

The customer of a Beogram 4000 that I restored in January-February 2025 recently let me know that the new DKsoundparts hood that I installed during the restoration broke off one of the hinges. He included this sad picture:

I decided to replace the cover under warranty since it cannot be ruled out that this was caused by mounting screws that were tightened a bit too hard.

He sent me the hinge. And I installed a new hood and aluminum trim. See here if you are interested in this service. This shows the parts before installation:

First I improved the design of the plexiglass cover by installing small 3D printed plastic bits into the top ends of the 'channels' they designed into the side areas where the aluminum trim is supposed to adhere: 

These channels make it difficult to achieve a perfectly sharp bend with the trim, since it is not supported when it is bent, causing a more rounded corner.

The next step was to check whether there is any interference between the metal back and the plexiglass part when the hinges bend. The new hoods seem generally a bit tighter than the original ones and bent metal hinges can cause interference between metal and plexiglass. The resulting stress can crack the hinge areas of the plexiglass cover. I bolted the metal back onto the hood and checked if the metal would touch the plastic in any way during bending the hinge. On both sides I saw a minimum 1 mm spacing between the parts, i.e. this was a pass:

I removed the metal back again and centered the aluminum trim using my alignment pieces:

I usually use a strip of blue tape to make a pencil mark between strip and the hood:

Then it was time to bolt the metal back in. I put some white wood glue on the threads of the holes in the hinges:

This holds the bolts in place even if they are not tightened very hard.

The final step was applying the aluminum trim

and bending it down on both sides:

Nice precise corners due to my little plastic inserts! Beolovely! Here an impression of the entire dust cover assembly:

Time to send it back to Australia!

Beogram 4002: Installation of a New Dust Cover and Aluminum Trim

I recently received the back of a Beogram 4002 dustcover from a customer in California for the installation of a new dust cover and aluminum trim (Beolover now offers this as a standard service). This shows the received parts on the bench:

My customer already had the hinges removed. This made it easy to check if they were not bent using a special tool that I made a while back when a new hood cracked due to bent hinges (they caused it to chafe on the metal back, and after a while it simply cracked off the hinges due to the stress that occurred every time it was opened or closed). In this case the hinges were perfectly 'spec':

I re-installed them on the black back part. This one was an earlier design that still had the nice set screws for the dowel pins that hold the hinges in place. The set screws are located under separate screws that cover the threads for the set screws:

After removing the screw the set screw can be screwed out. This shows it all the way out for clarity:

Normally, they only need to be loosened a turn or so and then the dowle pin can be stuck in from the side. This shows one of the hinges installed

and here the other:

This shows the components before putting them together: DKsoundparts hood, Beolover aluminum trim and the original hinge:

I strongly recommend doing a quick test with a new hood if it really works with the assembled dustcover back. The new DKsoundparts hoods are a bit 'tighter' than the original ones and the metal back gets closer to the plexiglass than an original one would. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that there is no chafing. If there is the plexiglass will likely crack after a while. So I now always bolt the metal part in for a quick check if there is any contact between metal and plexiglass:

Once the parts are bolted together, I manually crank the hinge and watch closely if there is any issue. If there is interference, it will most likely be close to the sides. This shows the right hinge in the position with closest metal to plexiglass proximity. A satisfying ~1mm gap can be observed:

And there the other side with a similar gap:

This was no surprise since both of the hinges had passed by calibration tool at the beginning of my process. 

Sadly, later Beogram 4002/4004 do not have the set screws for the dowel pins anymore. Their pins are pressed in and in many instances they cannot be removed without the risk of damaging the black metal back. In such cases the only remedy when the hinges are bent enough to cause interference is Dremeling the plexiglass a bit until friction-free operation is achieved. Luckily, the 'region' that usually needs to be Dremeled is not visible during normal use of the turntable, i.e. this can be done without harming the appearance of the unit.

On to the installation!

I removed the hinge part and installed small 'filling pieces' in the channels that they designed in the back of the hoods where the aluminum trim needs to be installed. Not sure why there are these channels, maybe a requirement for the casting process. The original hoods do not have it. These channels are a bit annoying in that they make it difficult bending the aluminum trim smoothly. There is nothing under the trim when it gets bent, and so the bend is less 'sharp' in the area of the channels. These little 3D printed pieces try alleviating this issue. I epoxy them into place and then trim them with a razor blade:

The next step was determining the perfect center position of the aluminum trim. I do this with my alignment tools that clip to the hood. They make it very easy centering the trim:

Once the trim was centered I made a pencil mark across the trim and a piece of blue tape on the hood:

Then it was time to bold the back part in again. I usually put a bit of white carpenter glue on the threads in the hinges:

The idea is to hold the screws firmly in place since they cannot be bolted in very tightly. If they are bolted in too hard, the hood can crack again after a while. The white glue is soft enough that the screws can still be removed if need be, but it will hold them in place against vibrations etc...

Then it was time to glue the aluminum trim on and bend the side pieces. I use a specially designed bending block. It makes it easier to get a good bend around the corner:

The final step was inserting the hood bumpers on the front corners:

These bumpers come with the DKsoundparts hoods. And here a picture of the final result!

Beolovely! This hood assembly is ready to be returned to its Beogram 4002!

Beogram 4004 (5526): Installation of a New Hood and Aluminum Trim

This post is a follow up to the main restoration summary of a Beogram 4004 that I recently posted here. Due to a shipping mishap I had to wait for another hood to arrive from the Beoparts-store in Denmark. The first one  came chipped:

Unfortunately, the Beoparts-store seems to enjoy saving on packaging, and so a minor whacking of the package on its way through automatic sorting machines or while being bounced around in speeding delivery vans can cause significant damage. This shows the damage to the carton at the location of the above chip:

These fairly delicate hoods come in a single cardboard wrapper 

with barely enough space on the inside for a double bubblewrap layer around the hood.

Definitely not enough cushioning. Luckily, the Beoparts-store does not make a fuss about such damages and they replace for free. Though I really wonder if this is very efficient compared to double boxing them outright. Charge a few $$ more for the additional packaging and save everybody some time?

Anyway, the replacement recently made it in good shape, and so I set out to repaint the corroded hinge. This happens fairly often with Beogram hood hinges. Two pictures of the damage:

I took the hinge assembly apart to get the main part ready for spray painting:

Normally, pretty decent results can be achieved by sanding the corroded areas with an orbital sander followed by spray painting with a satin enamel. This is the result of my efforts:

Not perfect, but definitely much nicer than the corrosion!

This shows the hood replacement and the reproduction aluminum strip:

And here after everything was put together:

This concludes the restoration of this Beogram 4004, and it will soon be time to send it on to its owner.

Beogram 4002: Installation of a Brand New Hood and Aluminum Trim

I recently received the hood hinge from a Beogram 4002 located in Florida for installation of a new hood. This shows it as I received it:

Closer inspection revealed what had happened:

The hood developed a fracture around the mouting holes, which is unfortunately very common due to the design choices that B&O made back then. The use of flat head bolts created lateral stress in the plexiglass material. Over time cracks develop and eventually the hood breaks off.

Luckily, there are brand new hood available that are faithful reproductions of the original design, but with a better bolt design, which promises to last longer. These hoods are available for DIY from the Beoparts store in Denmark.

This shows the new hood together with a new reproduction 4002 aluminum trim. In the picture the trim is in process of being centered on the hood with the help of two brackets that I designed for this alignment process:

Once the alignment mark is made on the blue tape it is time to bolt the new hood to the hinge. For this it is best to remove the sliding pads that are under the springs. This gives the hinges more room to move laterally, which makes it much easier to put the bolts in:

Once the bolts are in, the pads can be replaced:

The final step is to glue the aluminum strip to the hood, and then we have a brand new hood for an almost 50 years old Beogram 4002!:

This hood will soon be shipped back together with a Beolover internal RIAA pre-amp and a Beolover Commander remote control system. A very nice upgrade! Beolovely! 

Beogram 4002 (5503): Installation of Upgrades - Internal RIAA Preamp, Commander Remote Control and a New Hood

After completing the functional restoration of a Beogram 4002 (Type 5503) that I had received from Oklahoma, it was time to install the upgrades my customer desired. He wanted the internal Beolover RIAA pre-amplifier that I recently updated to fit AC motor Beogram 4002s, the Beolover Commander remote control system and a brand new hood to give this Beogram a pristine like-new look.

I started out by preparing the keypad for the Commander remote system. This shows the complete Commander kit for AC motor Beogram 4002s:

The small narrow circuit board to the right in the above picture is the keypad adapter. Since AC motor Beograms still mostly rely on directly soldered wiring harnesses, the installation of the Commander is unfortunately not 'plug and play' like the DC motor version. Instead, a breakout for the keypad signals needs to be created that the Commander can communicate with the control system of the Beogram and take over the keypad functions. 

This shows the keypad PCB after pulling it out from its slot under the keypad:

The solder pads on the left side connect to the wiring harness that sends the keypad signals to the main board. This shows the contact pads magnified:

The keypad breakout fits onto these pads, but a 'corridor' needs to be generated by removing some of the solder that the adapter can be soldered in. This is shown here:

When I took the above picture I already had added some solder flux to the pads in preparation for soldering the adapter in. This shows the adapter (also with some flux on the pads):

The adapter essentially connects the small white connector 1:1 to the keypad pads. When soldering it in, it is best to first tack it on only on two of the terminals so the fit can still be corrected easily. This is shown here:

It is important to make sure the board sits orthogonally respective to the keypad board:

Once the orientation is satisfying the remaining pads can be soldered into place:

Before I continued with the Commander installation I plugged the Beolover RIAA preamp board in since this needs to be done while the keypad is removed. This shows the original output board still in place together with the new green RIAA board on the right:

Implantation is a straight forward board switch. The RIAA board has the same connectors as the original board. This shows the board installed:

Then it was time to slide the modified keypad board back into its slot under the keypad:

Then I bolted the Commander board in (it uses one of the main PCB bolt holes):

After this I plugged the Beogram in and pressed start on the Apple Remote that connects to the Commander board and the carriage started moving. After it had moved sufficiently to reveal the small plastic fixture that holds the output board in place, I unplugged the unit and bolted the grounding connector of the RIAA board on top of the plastic part. The bolt goes directly into the enclosure, i.e. this is a good spot to make a system ground connection:

The last step was the installation of a new hood (acquired from the Beoparts Store in Denmark - these hoods are faithful reproductions of the original ones, made by injection moulding - very beolovely!). The first step was the removal of the hood hinge assembly from the scratched up original hood. To get to the screws one needs to remove the aluminum trim from the sides of the hood. This can usually be done with a razor blade that is forced in-between the trim and the plexiglass:

After unbolting the hinge assembly, I removed the actual hinges and checked them with my template that I recently developed after bent hinges led to the catastrophic failure of one of these hoods. These hinges passed with flying colors and fit perfectly onto my template:

So, on to the installation. I put the hinges back into place and then prepared the reproduction aluminum strip for hood. I usually make a small mark across a strip of blue tape and the aligned aluminum strip with a pencil:

That helps aligning the strip once the hinge has been bolted in. This shows the final result after installing the aluminum strip:

Very nice! This Beogram is ready for pickup! What better reason could there be for a roadtrip from Oklahoma to Albuquerque?!?!...;-)