Beomaster 8000 From Canada: Packing for shipment home

The day finally arrived to ship the Beomaster 8000 from Canada back home. All tests have passed and loose end tasks completed.

This receiver is quite heavy. The packed shipping weight can be from 57 pounds to 65 pounds depending on packing materials. I was able to get this shipment prepared at 57 pounds in a 30 inch x 20.5 inch x 12 inch box.

I glue the bottom flaps of the cardboard box together with a common wood glue.
After that I lined the bottom and sides with 1 inch thick, 2.2 pound rated, polyethylene foam. Those pieces are attached using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. Polyethylene foam has some give to it but is sturdy enough to resist puncture. A good material for the first line of defense.

The old type styrofoam and styrofoam peanuts are the absolute worst packing material ever devised. They should never be used!
They generate a lot of static electricity and small pieces get into everything...especially the audio component you are shipping.

Bubble wrap is not very good either. It is okay for small, light things but heavy shipments can puncture the bubble wrap leaving no protection at all.

For this Beomaster 8000 my first step in wrapping it up for placement in the shipping box is to place it inside a clear plastic bag. That will protect against any liquid and keep packing materials from rubbing directly against the Beomaster.

Next I use 1½ inch thick eggcrate foam to wrap the Beomaster providing another layer of padded protection. This foam has more cushion than the polyethylene outer foam. I do one wrap lengthwise and one wrap crosswise.

The eggcrate foam wraps are taped and everything is placed into the shipping box. I use extra blocks of the polyethylene foam to fill in any gaps.

The last rectangular piece of polyethylene foam is the lid followed by taping shut the cardboard box.

This Beomaster 8000 receiver is now on its journey back home and I hope to hear happy results from the owner after it arrives.

Beogram 4004 Type 5526: Packing for Shipment

I know the owner of this nice Beogram 4004 is ready for it to come home so I went through the packing steps and have it ready to take to the shipper.

The first steps I do in packing a Beogram is to remove the cartridge and lock down the floating suspension. The Beogram 400x series of turntables have three locking screws that are accessible inside the case if you remove all of the deck panels or from underneath the turntable if you don't want to open it up. In this case I preferred the latter.

Note: Only use a hand screw driver and don't over torque the screws. They just need to gently reach their travel limit and stop.

Now on to protecting the deck and tonearm for travel. The suspension is locked but the top platter and sub-platter could come loose during shipment should the box be turned upside down (a very real scenario).

I remove the top platter and pack it in a nice vinyl record shipment box.

I leave the sub-platter in place and cut a matching platter circle from packing foam. I also cut out packing foam to take care of the deck and tangential arm assembly. After aligning everything I glue my foam circle to the deck protective foam and fit it into place.

As you can see the dust cover closes over the foam packing insert. Now I put the turntable into a plastic bag and seal it up with clear packing wrap.

The Beogram 4004 is now secure where nothing should be able to move during shipment no matter what side the box is set on.

For outside protection I double-wrap the turntable using eggshell crate type shipping foam.

That entire bundle is set into my double thick walled shipping box. Instead of two separate shipping boxes I have been opting for a single box that has two layers of cardboard instead of the usual single layer. I cut and glue white shipping foam to the bottom and sides of the cardboard box.  The Beogram and platter fit nicely inside. Cables and cartridge boxes fit in the little compartments I created with extra foam blocks (also glued to the sides of the box).

The last two pieces are another eggshell foam top piece and a shipping foam lid.

This type of Beogram packing has worked well for me. The resulting size of the box is a little smaller than my old double boxed container so it is easier for the shipping guys to handle. That will reduce the chances of a drop.

It is always sad to see a project unit go but there is already another turntable waiting for restoration. Here's to a safe journey home.

Beogram 8000: Returning Home

Today is the big day. It is time to pack up the Beogram 8000 and ship it home to its owner. The turntable has been playing beautifully the last few days with very heavy use and no signs of any intermittent behavior. It was definitely a good thing to install a brand new phono muting relay.

After all of that work it is important to properly pack units up for shipping. Especially turntables. A loose item here or there can cause extreme damage. Everything must be locked down and secure.

Bang & Olufsen has long been using a floating chassis for their turntables and provide a chassis lock down mechanism for transporting them. On the Beogram 8000 (and 8002) there are three lock down bolts under the main platter. The bolts are screwed down out of the way when the turntable is ready to be used. For transport the bolts are backed out and through a mounting plate. When through a hole in the mounting plate, the plate is slid over and the bolt is tightened against it so the floating chassis cannot move.

This lock down should be performed even if transporting the turntable in your vehicle to deliver it yourself.

The phono cartridge should also be removed from the tonearm at this point. To secure the tangential arm assembly and the top platter, B&O provided a special molded styro-foam piece. It holds the top platter securely and slides onto the deck of the Beogram with a tab to block the tangential arm assembly from moving.

The dust cover lowers on top of the platter packing to protect the dust cover and to hold the platter down so the sub-platter cannot move.

The outside of the Beogram is then protected with a soft, foam sleeve.

Finally, two molded styro-foam blocks slide over the front and back of the Beogram to lock all of the packing in place.

The Beogram and shipping material is placed into its original box which is inside an outer box that has thick foam protection on all sides.

It costs more of course but please don't ever skimp and not use an outer box. That is just asking for trouble. The only time to use just the original box by itself is if you are hand delivering the unit.

The final step is sealing the shipment and applying the shipping label. Then off it goes.