Michigan Beogram 8002 Restoration: Final Reassembly

I left off in the previous post of this project with a broken Beogram 8002 cabinet hinge guide...for the service position hinge.

That type of break on these cabinets is difficult to repair with any reliability.

I have tried unsuccessfully to repair these before and it was the same section of the cabinet hinge that is broken on this Beogram 8002.

Without a good spare Beogram 8002 cabinet to replace this with, I had to attempt a hinge guide repair again.

This broken hinge guide presented a new challenge because it also had a crack in it.

So I had two repair steps.

One was to reinforce the broken piece that I needed to glue back onto the cabinet frame.

The second then, was to glue the reinforced piece onto the cabinet so it is strong enough to support any pressure from the metal hinge rod.

I used two glue types for this repair - Bondo Steel Reinforced epoxy and JB Weld reinforced epoxy.  The latter was used in the last fill of the broken section.

The repair effort turned out successful but the various glue steps and time waiting for epoxy to cure took a total of three days.

Here is a look at the repair scar after I was done.

It still isn't pretty but the scar is smooth and is not visible unless the Beogram is upside down.

The important thing is that exercising the cabinet open to the service position and back closed does not cause the repair to break again.

Since the service position is not something a Beogram 8002 owner will typically use, I am satisfied with the repair.

It means the internal Beogram 8002 components can be reinstalled.

Another quick cabinet problem I decided to address was the metal lid hinge damping.
The Nyogel 767A damping grease I used in the previous post did not result in a slow enough closing of the lid.  I could hear the lid when it reached the closed position.  With proper damping the lid should be silent.

I pulled the metal hinge bar out again from the section holding the metal lid to the cabinet so I could remove the lid for re-greasing.

The area highlighted in yellow is where I re-applied damping grease.

This time I used Nye Lubricants PG-44A Grease.  It is much thicker than the Nyogel 767A damping grease and the result was just what I was looking for.

Next was the re-installation of the internal Beogram 8002 components.

That meant removing my test point leads from PCB 1 and attaching the metal lid to the microcomputer assembly (PCB 2).

I put some thermal conductive tape on the uC IC.

Applied some thermal grease.

Attached the metal lid and checked that the heatsink on the lid was pressed onto the thermal grease.

Next up should be some photos of the reinstalling of the floating chassis assembly, PCB 1 and 2, the transformer assembly and the Control Panel assembly.

However, I was so concerned with the service position hinge repair that I spent all of my effort carefully installing the components and did not take any photos :-(

So instead, the next photos are after the internal components were installed.

Here is a sequence of photos I took as the metal deck lid was closing.  It shows the slow lowering of the lid that now touches down onto the cabinet silently.

I did a little polishing of the dust cover and I will now move on to some record listening to wrap this project up.

The only issues with this Beogram 8002 are a couple of cosmetic problems.
The left side front of the cabinet has some small pieces of rosewood veneer missing and the Beogram platter is not pretty. 

Again, the Beogram 8002 platter should never be cleaned with anything other than some very mild soap (if even that) and distilled water.  A pristine Beogram 8002 platter should only be dusted with a dry cloth.  Platters like the one in this project were exposed to some sort of cleaning fluid at some point and the top coating from the B&O factory has been damaged.

That doesn't affect playing records great which is what these turntables do.

Michigan Beogram 8002 Restoration: Cabinet Repairs

In the previous post on this Beogram 8002 restoration, the turntable electronics and record playing related functions were tested successfully.

Now it is time to work on the Beogram 8002 cabinet components.  

As with most Beogram 8002 turntables, the original double-sided tape that secured the aluminum platter deck, the metal lid over the tonearm compartment and the tonearm compartment panel had completely deteriorated.  All of those pieces mentioned are typically loose prior to this type of restoration.

The first step is to remove all of the old double-sided tape residue. It's not difficult but it is messy and not my favorite restoration task.

Here are some photos of the afore-mentioned components and the tape residue.

This photo notes (with a red dotted circle) that the metal spring that should be underneath the aluminum deck is missing.  The Beogram 8000 turntable did not have this spring. At least not during most of its production.  I believe the spring was added on the Beogram 8002 to remove any static electricity from the aluminum deck.

I will supply a replacement spring.

I soaked the tape residue in Goo Gone fluid for a couple of hours.

I did that with all of the cabinet components requiring tape residue cleanup.

Here is the hinge plate for the metal lid over the tonearm compartment.

Here are the loose components - aluminum deck panel, tonearm compartment panel and the metal tonearm compartment lid in soak mode.

The cleanup process involved scraping, cleaning up the messy residue goo, applying more Goo Gone and repeating.

After the residue is gone, the cabinet must be thoroughly cleaned to remove all of the residue traces.

Some of the old tape outlines could not be removed from the aluminum deck, even with a razor blade.

To re-attach everything I use VHB double-sided tape. It is more durable and should not deteriorate over time like the original double-sided tape did.  I use the RP32 VHB tape which has a thickness of 0.8 mm.  That is just high enough to connect the aluminum plate to the plastic platter frame. 

Note that I also installed a new spring (circled in red).

As you can see in the next photo, the aluminum panel fits perfectly onto the frame.

While I was working on the platter deck I decided to tackle the small rubber bumpers that are always worn down or missing from the front of the dust cover.  There are supposed to be two rubber bumper pads on the front of the dust cover where the dust cover rests on the aluminum deck.

Fortunately Danish Sound Parts supplies these rubber bumper pads.

I cleaned out the old, deteriorated rubber pad residue and inserted the new pads.

Here are the pads with the dust cover lowered onto the re-attached aluminum deck.

Now for the metal lid over the tonearm compartment.

The lid installation went smoothly but I discovered that the damper mechanism for the metal lid had absolutely no damping grease.  The lid would open and lock in the open position but when it was lowered, it just dropped down with a bang.

To access and apply the damping grease I had to remove the metal deck lid along with the damping lever.

The easiest and safest way I have found to do that is to push the metal hinge bar that holds the dust cover and metal lid to the rear cabinet frame.

I only push it out towards the dust cover side far enough to allow the metal lid to be removed.

I then use a spare hinge rod to insert from the metal deck lid side for re-testing the lid damping.

The rod is inserted for testing and removed to take the lid off for more application of damping grease.

After a few iterations of applying damping grease the lid started lowering at a slower, steady rate.

The cabinet was now ready for me to start re-installing the Beogram 8002 turntable components.

Unfortunately, I discovered the other metal hinge mechanism, the hinge between the cabinet base and top, had a broken piece for one of the hinge sections.

The red outlined area in the photo below show the broken area.

I could probably get the internal components installed with the broken hinge area if I am careful.

When the Beogram 8002 is put back together there is no activity on that hinge.

That wouldn't be very Beolovely.

I will attempt to repair the broken area using some very strong Bondo epoxy.  However, I only anticipate a 50:50 chance that will work.  Pressure from the metal hinge rod will likely be too much for the repair to hold.

Another consideration is to design a 3D printed part that spans past the broken area.  In that case, I would both epoxy the repair piece and drill holes for some screws into the plastic frame.

Of course sourcing another Beogram 8002 cabinet is also an option.

Beogram 4000: Installation of a New Precision Machined Solid Teak Frame

I recently received a lovely new CNC machined solid Teak plinth from Christian Hakansson, to be installed on the Beogram 4000 that I recently functionally restored.

Unfortunately, this Beogram had an original plinth that was damaged at the corners (please, watch out for door jambs when you carry your Beograms around!!...;-):

I removed the plinth:

If you do this at home, please, note that there is a 5th bolt under the keypad, i.e. the keypad needs to be removed before the plinth can be extracted. 

The deformed particle board under the veneer suggested that this plinth not only had damaged corners, but also had been in contact with too much moisture at some point in time:

The installation of a new plinth requires that the metal fixtures be removed from the old plinth to be transferred to the new one. I usually wrap the plinth in aluminum foil and then I put it into the oven for an hour at 200-250F. Once it comes out the metal parts can be separated with a suitable spatula or similar:

Once the parts are off, the residual contact cement

needs to be removed. I usually soak paper towel with isopropanol or goo gone and wrap the metal parts in it:

I put aluminum foil around it to prevent evaporation:

After 24 hrs the glue can be rubbed off with the drenched paper towels:

This shows one of the cleaned metal fixtures:

I use ultra thin 3M 300LSE adhesive tape for the installation. This makes the process much cleaner than with contact cement. The tape can be cut out with a razor blade to match the frame shape:

It is important to not cover the little spring tabs that are in the back of the frame:

Otherwise they can get glued to the wood and are not able to perform their duty (holding the plinth in place once it is pushed back) anymore.

Now comes the moment where the metal parts are glued to the wood. This is probably the most difficult task since one only has one try and the parts need to be placed precisely at the right level on the frame. This is greatly simplified by using the aluminum panels of the Beogram. They have the right thickness and can be used to align the metal parts with the frame.

It can be challenging to get the metal parts all the way into the corners since there is adhesive on both sides. I usually deal this issue by using some parchment or wax paper to prevent one side from sticking, while I push in the part all the way into the corner:

This shows one side glued while the other still has the paper in:

Sometimes the metal parts are not entirely conform with the frame in the corners. Many Beograms actually came with this issue 'factory installed'...;-). I sometimes use tongue-and-groove pliers to help seating the metal parts in the corners. Be careful not to damage the frame if you do this at home: 

This shows the new frame with installed metal parts:

And here a couple happy shots of the Beogram 4000 with the new frame installed. Beolovely!!:

Beogram 4000: Installation of a Brand New Beautiful Solid Oak Plinth! - Very Beolovely!!

Another Happy Day in the Beolover's life! Recently I received a shipment with two new Beogram plinths from Matt Spangler in Oregon, who is the owner of Vintage HiFi Nut. He specializes among other things in restoring/replacing wood cabinets of vintage HiFi. 

A while ago I sent him each a Beogram 4000 and a Beogram 4002 plinth. Both had been mashed up during shipping due to poor packaging. Unfortunately, this is a common issue since many people underestimate the raw forces in play during the handling of packages in sorting centers and on trucks etc...

Anyway, I received these two plinths back a few days ago. Today I had a look:

The top one is the 4002 type and the bottom one the 4000 type. Wile they look very similar, the metal frames are different in 4000s and 4002/4s due to the different size of the keypad clusters and aluminum plates. Here is a detail shot of the very well defined corners:

The top frame was made from solid Granadillo (aka 'Mexican Rosewood'), while the bottom frame was made from solid Oak. The original hardwoods that B&O used, Brazilian Rosewood and Teak are protected species these days due to over-harvesting, and so one has to use alternative hardwood types if hardwood looks are desired.

B&O did use oak in 'the day' on a smaller number of Beograms, i.e. an oak replacement can be considered 'original'. Personally, I think with wood cabinets one can have a bit of an open mind, and whatever looks great on these iconic vintage designs is great!

This is the sad look of the Beogram 4000 that I received recently:

I bought this Beogram 4000 from a seller in Germany. Unfortunately, despite pointing him to my packaging video, he did not believe in double-boxing and foam padding, and so the unit got mashed up a bit on one corner. The padding he used was less than an inch and so this was almost predictable.

While the right side only came unglued, the left was damaged beyond repair:

So when I received Matt's new frames, I decided to try out the solid oak 4000 frame on this unit. I removed the aluminum panels, platter and keypad to be able to remove the damaged plinth:

Then I installed the solid oak one that carries the 4000 metal frame. Here are a few impressions of the awesome look of this new plinth:

I absolutely love this fresh and happy oak look! A perfect complement to the bright aluminum plates. In my opinion it looks better than the original teak frame (oh, what heresy!!...;-). Matt really did a wonderful job with this cabinet! I cannot wait to install the Granadillo frame on a needy 4002.

This Beogram 4000 is on its way to a like-new look and performance! I will fully restore it and then it will be available to another B&O enthusiast! Stay tuned!