Beogram 4002 (5513): New Wood Plinth, Dust Cover, Keypad and Installation of a Commander Remote Control System

I recently functionally restored a Beogram 4002 (Type 5513) for a customer in Virginia. He decided to also get its cosmetics upgraded with a new walnut 4000c style wood plinth, hood and keypad, and also get a Beolover Commander remote control system installed.

This shows the final condition of the unit:

Beolovely! Almost like new!

My first project was replacing the cracked wood plinth:

Its left front corner had taken a hit at some point:

I put the frame into the oven at 250F. After baking it for 30 min I took it out and with a carpet knife cut the wood panels from the metal fixtures. The glue gets weakened by the heat treatment and the metal parts are easily liberated when hot. The more difficult task is the removal of the hardened old glue remnants. I usually soak the parts in Goo Gone for 24 hrs. I spray the product on and then wrap the parts in plastic foil to prevent drying out:

After 24 hrs the glue can be rubbed off with a bit of effort. This shows the cleaned parts after washing them with dish detergent:

I use 3M 300LSE double sided tape for glueing the parts into the new frame. This shows the tape backed parts together with the new 4000c style walnut frame:

I use two small Beogram 400x aluminum cover plates as alignment help for gluing the metal frame pieces at the right height into the wood frame:

I also use a strip of parchment paper on one side of the metal parts for keeping it from sticking while pushing it into the corner on the other end. The aluminum plates have a thickness that matches the machined recess in the wood frame perfectly, which makes it easy to glue the metal parts at the proper level. This shows the nice alignment achieved with this method:

Her a shot of a corner:

Beolovely! On to the keypad.

This shows the original keypad with finger smudges (on the right) together with the restored keypad that I installed:

The first step was replacing the cracked original plastic brackets that hold the RPM panel in place. They often crack when people pry out the RPM panel in an off angle:

Luckily there are perfectly reproduced replacements available at the DKsoundparts store in Denmark. This shows the two new replacements together with the extracted original parts:

All one needs to do is transferring the metal springs to the new parts:

This pictures shows them installed:

And here bolted into the new keypad:

The new brackets need to be adjusted that the RPM panel is flush with the left keypad side:

Before I put in the new keypad I installed the Beolover Commander remote control receiver board:

It plugs directly into the keypad jack of the main PCB. This shows the keypad installed with the Commander auto-repeat indicator LED bolted in under the keypad screw:

My customer also wanted a new Beolover Carriage Motor for Beogram 4000, 4002, and 4004 installed. This upgrade makes the carriage run more quietly while drawing less current, which protects the H-bridge transistors. This shows the original motor still in place:

I unsoldered the leads and took it out. This shows the original motor still in the enclosure together with the new replacement:

The new replacement fits perfectly into the space with the two provided rubber rings for damping its vibrations:

This shows it bolted in with the leads soldered back on:

The final upgrade was a new hood. This shows the new hood together with a new aluminum trim strip:

The first step of the transfer is unbolting the old hood from the metal hinge. The screws are easily accessed after prying off the aluminum trim on the sides of the hood. This reveals the mounting screws:

The centered alignment of the new strip is a snap when using the Beolover alignment aides (orange):

I usually use a blue tape strip for making a pencil alignment mark:

Once the alignment has been marked, the hinge can be bolted into the new hood and the trim can be installed:

A crucial moment is the bending of the side parts. The Beolover bending block that is included with our trims helps getting a precise corner fold:

This shows one of the corners:

Beolovely! And here a picture of the completed hood assembly:

This Beogram was now not only perfectly restored on the inside, but also in perfect cosmetic condition on the outside! Here a few pictures showing off its lovely looks:

Beogram 4002 (Type 5513): Full Upgrade with SyncDrive Platter Motor, Commander Remote Control and Internal RIAA Pre-Amplifier

My customer from Kentucky decided to give his Beogram 4002 the 'full treatment' and asked me to install all three Beolover upgrades that are currently available for the DC platter motor Beogram types:

1. SyncDrive synchronous platter motor: The SyncDrive improves RPM stability and consistency and levels DC motor Beograms up to AC motor performance.
2. Commander remote control system: The Commander is the perfect addition to 4002 and 4004 Beograms for protecting their fragile keypad coatings. It uses an Apple remote for controlling all functions of the Beogram. In addition the Commander adds auto-repeat functionality and an improved << >> scanning function.
3. Internal RIAA pre-amplifier: The Beolover RIAA replaces the original output board and allows directly connecting the Beogram to any high-level input of modern amplifiers, like CD, DVD or AUX.

All three upgrades are plug and play, i.e. there is no soldering required for their installation. I started with the SyncDrive. This shows the original DC platter motor still installed:

The SyncDrive bolts to the same mounting posts and it only needs one cable connection to the main PCB:

Then I removed the keypad to get to the output board. This shows the original board still in place:

The Beolover RIAA pre-amplifier has the same form factor like the original board. Simply plug the wire harnesses into matching board headers on the RIAA board. At the same time I also plugged the Commander remote control board into the keypad header on the main board:

The final step was putting the keypad back in, plugging its connector into the Commander board and bolting the auto-repeat indicator in with the keypad screw:

And then it was time to play this lovely updated Beogram 4002 a bit more. I selected another great Milt Jackson vinyl, "Olinga", which was recorded in 1974 on the CTI label (CTI 6046). Before play, this record was ultrasonically refreshed using a CleanerVinyl ProXL setup reducing clicks and pops to a minimum. 

Beolovely!

I will now play this deck for another week or so and then it should be time for sending this upgraded Beogram 4002 back to its owner in Kentucky!

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?!?!...;-)