Beogram 4004 Type 5526 - Restoration Project - Initial Assessment and Cleaning

2026 seems to be the year of the Beogram 4004 turntable...restorations that is.

This post begins another nice Beogram 4004 restoration project.  

Here is my assessment.

The Beogram is in nice shape and very clean.

The Beo4 remote control pictured next to it is because this Beogram 4004 will be getting a Remote Commander that is paired to the Beo4 controller.

The middle, top of the dust cover has a rather noticeable scratch.  I will try to buff it out so it isn't so prominent later.  This Beogram might end up getting a new dust cover from dksoundparts.

The keypad looks nice as well as the other turntable deck components.

The inside of this Beogram 4004 also looks to be in really great condition.
Of course there is the usual floating debris of disintegrating transport lock plastic material.

Everything else looks great though.

The tangential arm assembly looks good.

I removed all of the transport lock assemblies so I can take out the floating chassis components to work on them.

The main circuit board and the output/remote control board look good...ready for restoration.

Here is the cleaned up cabinet and the removed nuts and bolts.

...and here is the removed floating chassis assembly.  I will start the restoration work with that set of components first.

I did not include any pictures of the DC platter motor for this Beogram.  That is because this Beogram 4004 will be getting a Beolover Sync Drive platter motor.  

In the next post I will start disassembling, cleaning and lubricating the floating chassis components.

Beogram 4004 Type 5526 - California Project - Initial Assessment and Cleaning

Here is an initial assessment and cleanup of a nice Beogram 4004 Type 5526 turntable sent to me from California.

 

The platter was packed separately so it isn't in the photos.

The keypad and wood trim look great.

You can see that the tonearm has a problem.  Fortunately it doesn't appear serious.  It is just missing one of two M2 screws that attach the arm to the base.  I have spares for that.

The dust cover is in decent shape although the aluminum trim piece has a buckle.
The owner sent me a new dust cover to replace this original one however so this Beogram will have the new one installed when I am finished.

The inside looked good at first glance.

When I removed the circuit boards and floating chassis I discovered some sort of spillage had occurred in this Beogram's past.  Some sort of liquid was spilled?

Amazingly, this Beogram has original transport bushings that are not dried out and crumbling apart.
They are intact and still soft.  I will leave them in place and coat them with a rubber treatment to make sure they stay soft.

Also note in this photo that I installed the missing M2 screw on the tonearm.  It still needs adjusting of course but that will come later.  For now the arm isn't dangling around anymore.

As I removed components from the floating suspension frame I looked for more remains of whatever was spilled into the Beogram.

Besides a dry film on the Beogram part surfaces, there were a few places where there is corrosion.

The suspension wire assembly at the back (where the spillage must have occurred) has corrosion so I will replace that part in the restoration process.

Not surprising the pivot posts for the tonearm operation were gummed up from the liquid that spilled.
The lever that lower and raise the arm would barely move.

I didn't want to wait until later to start cleaning this residue up so I decided to clean as I went through the initial assessment.

The cleaning up wasn't too bad.  I only had to apply corrosion cleaner to a few places.  Most of the residue scrubbed clean.

The arm lowering and raising assembly is back working smoothly again.

The pulley belt for the tangential arm is all stiff, dried and broken. That isn't unusual but is kind of surprising seeing how the transport lock bushings remained soft over the years.

Really amazing is the condition of the phono DIN plug.  It is corrosion free.

The old tangential arm drive pulley is going to be replaced with a new, aluminum pulley so I removed it and cleaned up the tangential arm drive spindle.  I also cleaned the guide rails, spindle nut and cover.

This Beogram 4004 is now at a point where I can begin working on the restoration of the mechanical parts for the turntable.

Michigan Beogram 8002 Restoration

It is time for another Beogram 80002 restoration project.  This one comes from Michigan.

These are always a favorite Bang & Olufsen turntable to restore.  

Here is the unpacking...

The creative packing method is a little different than mine but it is sound and did a good job of protecting the Beogram on its journey here. 

The next step was to open the Beogram 8002 up and assess what the restoration will be like.

The first thing I noticed was that the Beogram's floating chassis was not locked down all the way.
Only one of the three chassis lockdown screws was engaged.

On the other two, one was not engaged while the other one was missing the lockdown screw.

The front leaf spring for the floating suspension has some odd glue on the screw used to set the floating suspension height. Perhaps someone wanted to make sure no one adjusted its position?

The black, metal cover beneath the tonearm home position has the usual deteriorated double-sided tape B&O used on these components back in the early 1980's.  That is always an expected part of these restorations.

I will set the pieces needing replacement mounting tape aside for now.

Another piece that falls into that group is the silver colored, metal deck.
It was completely loose as usual.  Removing it revealed the little spring the fits underneath the metal deck for static discharge was missing.  I will install a replacement spring for that.

The remaining part of the Beogram 8002 assessment requires opening the cabinet up to remove the turntable inner components.

To do that, three metal hangers for the suspension have to be detached from the three metal leaf springs.

With the floating chassis released, it can be slid to the right so the Beogram cabinet can clear the tonearm assembly.

Once the cabinet lid is tilted out of the way the inner components can be disconnected and removed.
It is easier and safer (for the health of the cabinet) to remove the inner components for the restoration tasks.

For the floating chassis removal the audio output assembly (rear, left in the cabinet) must be unscrewed and removed.  The wire harnesses from the floating chassis components to the main board (PCB 1)  also need to be disconnected.

The floating chassis metal hanger clips (to the leaf springs) should be collected and bagged up so they don't get lost.

After removing the floating chassis I discovered the missing lockdown screw.

That was a pleasant find.  I was hoping the static discharge spring might also show up...but no luck.

Here is the empty Beogram 8002 cabinet.  Ready to be stored away while work on the inner components is performed.

...and here are the removed Beogram 8002 turntable components.

This is where I discovered a couple of problems with this Beogram 8002.

Nothing unsurmountable but a couple of crucial things that will have to be repaired before this Beogram 8002 can function again.

The first problem is with the thin, plastic clip that holds one side of the tangential arm position sensors to the floating chassis.

The plastic piece is broken off.  Surprisingly, like the missing lockdown screw, the broken plastic piece was in the cabinet.

The bad thing about this broken piece is that it can't be glued back on. The edge of the position sensor board would just break the glue joint again.

The B&O molded plastic base is still there but I don't see any way to remove it without breaking it.

I will have to mull over that problem and decide what to do.
Worst case...I do have spare floating chassis assemblies.  However, I think I will try to come up with a 3D printed solution first.

The second crucial problem on this Beogram 8002 is with the spindle that moves the tangential arm assembly forward and back.

The plastic/nylon spindle nut has a broken edge.

That edge is required for the bracket that connects the arm assembly to the spindle nut.
As the servo motor turns the spindle nut travels along the spindle, taking the tangential arm assembly with it.  The Beogram 8002 will not work without a completely intact spindle nut.

There are a couple of solutions for the broken spindle nut.
I have some spare spindle nuts from other Beogram units and Beolover has made a 3D printed version of the spindle nut as well.

Other than the broken spindle nut and broken bracket for the arm position sensor, everything else looks fine.

Beogram 4002 (5513): Another Beogram from Houston

The Beogram 4002 Type 5513 is turning out to be a popular Beogram in Houston.
Here is the initial assessment of another one in need of restoration.

The dust cover is functional and can be kept for now as the supply of newly manufactured Beogram 400x dust covers have become scarce for the moment.

Cosmetically this Beogram clearly has a problem with the condition of the keypad buttons.

On the bright side...the wood trim on this unit is in great condition.
The deck panels, platter and tangential arm assembly also look good.

This keypad though, will need replacing.

The rim of the sub-platter has some sort of residue on it.  I will try to clean that off.

Inside the Beogram 4002 cabinet is pretty typical.
There is debris from the disintegrated transport lock bushings everywhere.

The photo shows the DC platter motor already removed.  I already extracted the platter motor and sent it to Beolover for restoration.

Here is a picture of the Beogram 4002 cabinet with most of the components removed.
I will vacuum the cabinet base out to get rid of all of the loose debris.

Here are the removed components.

The floating turntable chassis, boards, control panel and display panel.

The two boards (main board and output audio signal board) look normal...and ready for restoration.

I opened up the servo motor case to check what the damping material looked like.  Often the foam padding is deteriorated and crumbling into little pieces.
This one is still intact and fine.

I removed the arm lowering damper for cleaning.  It also looks it good shape.

Here is the tangential arm tracking detection sensor opened up.  It will be replaced with a Beolover replacement part.

The SO (stop) and ES (end stop) switches look to be in good physical condition.  They will be functionally tested later along with the arm position sensor and infrared lamp.

The tangential arm assembly itself appears to be in good condition too.

While I have everything apart I will clean and lubricate where necessary and perform some early service manual adjustments.

Other restoration tasks will be electronic restoration work on the two circuit boards, switch contact cleaning.