They should be all screwed anti clockwise until they are loose.
Are you game to go inside it Chris?
Whatever you do, DON'T undo the screws that hold the torsion spring which helps the lid open! It is a sheer b*****d to get back together!

Andy T.

I'll do anything to get it working, don't mind having a fiddle :) Just remember I don't know how any of it works so explanations will need to be as simple as my descripions of the problem!

 
edit: I think you were right about it being a lubrication problem, the arm does not seem to move freely up and down or left and right at all. This could be what is causing it to skip, as it is not free enough to be dragged inwards by the grooves in the record? Perhaps getting it to raise and lower is of more concern at this point though.

Chris, tomorrow (Friday) is Beoworld monthly prixe draw, so we will be busy on that thread.
Perhaps we can work through fixing it together over the wekend.
In the meantime, might I suggest you get some Isopropanol (from your chemist) and some sewing machine oil (not 3 in 1 too acidic) I use clock oil, and also some cotton buds (for cleaning ears out)
Let me know which evening you want to do this, and I'll give you my undivided attention.(Not Wednesdays©)

Andy T.

Chris,

        if you're still after some cheap & cheerful Beovox speakers I have a pair of MC35's in lovely rosewood you can have. All I'm asking is the price of postage which is likely to be around a tenner in the UK.

 

Chris.

OK I think I'm ready o get this thing working now, as I now have all the components for my system on the way :). By the way thanks for the offer Medogsfat but I have some speakers on their way now.

 What I would appreciate is a general outline of the procedures then more detailed help if possible, and I will outline any problems again if people need. You've all been really helpful so far so thank you!

The problems I can se at the moment are the arm not raising / lowering, and skipping towards the outside of the record every few seconds as if it is stuck in position. Could possibly be the same problem, as the arm feels a little sticky in its movement.

Thanks again everyone 
 

Ok Chris, the first thing you need to do, is get in it.
Take off the platter, cartidge and counter-weight.
There are six screws on the back that hold the lid on. Make sure you only undo the three that are not holding the torsion wire!
Once you have the lid off, you can then invert the Beogram.
It might be an idea to arrange some books or something to stand it on without the tone arm holding the weight.
There should be two screws that hold the plastic base on. These screws are captivated so they don't come all the way out (you won't be able to lose these)
Once you have the base off you should see all the workings>The problem lies in a little brass pin which is in a brass sleeve.
Dillen (Martin) has kindly posted a picture of the offending pin here

Jandyt:

The problem lies in a little brass pin which is in a brass sleeve.
Dillen (Martin) has kindly posted a picture of the offending pin here

Exactly the pin that was frozen completely solid in the BC2800 I got last summer! I needed penetrating oil and heavy pliers to get it to move at all. You have to disassemble the stuff connected to it before you can wiggle it around like I had to, but since the arm was moving a little already, I think a drop of oil and some workout will get it going. Be careful not to snap the tiny wires coming from the tone arm.

Mine has worked like a charm since that. The mechanism looks identical.

-mika

 

Mine was solid too. I managed to force the spring out of the long channel without damaging it. I then used this to rotate the pin back and fore, with a cotton bud soaked in Isopropanol held against it. It took about 3 minutes to get it totally loose. Three drops of quality clock oil, force the spring back into the channel thingy, and the job was done!

Andy T.

just quickly, have no opened up the beast and im trying to figure out it's inards. Lik you thought, once I'd removed the bent wire spring thing the brass pin was stuck solid. Does the pic actually come out of the sleeve or does it just rotate? What is it connected to?

Also, there are 3 black round cups with glue like grease on, looking very old and tired, what are these for?

 I'm just trying my best not to break any of it at the mo!

 

 

And, any other parts I can clean/oil while im in here? So much for  "superb" condition TT. Tghe emtal rods etc all look weathered and the grease looks ancient. But then I suppose it is!

 

edit: have put it back together to try itt, and now the arm seems to work as it should, staying in the raised position when at rest, then moving over the record and lowering. However, it does not lower enoguh to touch the record, it hovers less than a mm above not making contact. Is this the same problem? have I just not oiled the pin enough?

Thanks

CT 

ChristophStone:

 Does the pin actually come out of the sleeve or does it just rotate?

Seems like you are going the right way Chris. The pin does not come out or rotate in use. It just moves in and out by about two mm, I just rotated it to speed up the gunk dissolving process. Don't overdo the oil, you will only make a mess for dust to stick to. You may find that after 24 hrs, it will be even better, as the new oil soaks into the old.
Does the arm balance properly when set to zero grammes?

Andy T.

Jandyt:

Seems like you are going the right way Chris. The pin does not come out or rotate in use. It just moves in and out by about two mm, I just rotated it to speed up the gunk dissolving process. Don't overdo the oil, you will only make a mess for dust to stick to.

Second that. I actually used penetrating oil at first to get the part loose, and then another oil to keep it loose. Penetrating oils aren't too good lubricants, and vice versa. I recommend Break-Free gun oil, I've used it to repair a number of B&O mechanisms 

Isopropanol might work for initial cleaning, it has the nice property of evaporating completely. You'll have to wipe it off, along with any gunk it has dissolved, before that happens.

-mika 

How do I check that it is correctly balanced at zero ?

I'll give it another go tomorrow and clean off any remnants that are left, but will leave it to soak overnight.  Is there anything I can lubricate to aid the horizontal movement of the arm, as opposed to the vertical?

Edit: the arm doesn't drop to the height of the record because the pivot that it moves on under the cover with the weight and stuff in appears to be as gunked up as the brass pin and sleeve were, I can push the arm down further than it drops but the pivot seems sticky and notchy after this. How can I lubricate this part. Can I actually take the arm off somehow? Beyond my abilities?

Thanks

 

CT 

 

Chris,
This is a (bad) picture looking down the arm (blue arrow)
When the arm lowers, the black plastic piece (green arrow) should lower enough to leave a gap between itself and the screw (red arrow).
If it doesn't, then either the black bit isn't going down enough (most likely) or the screw needs adjusting (doubt it)
If the black bit isn't going down enough, the brass pin isn't free properly in it's sleeve and the arm will still be resting on it. You won't be able to test balance on zero, nor feel whether horizontal movement is free and easy.

Martin, how am I doing?

Andy T.

The black plastic part was going down as far as it could, but the arm still wasn't lowering enough. Looked insiade and teh crew was down as far as it would go, so simply wound it up  a few turns, pressed play, and voila!

 Any tips in terms of adjustments to get it sounding best?

Thanks everyone! 

Chris.
I am so happy you have got it sorted
I bet you feel a great sense of achievement. Glad I was of some help.
Enjoy!

Andy T.

Here is a picture of the little brass pin that needs freeing. as original picture is missing.
This photo' is actually from Martin, not me.
Good luck Craig

Thanks Andy, it is now working. All it needed was a bit of oil working in to it. No need to clean any of the old stuff out.

 

Craig

Thanks for this!!  Just brought a Beogram 1600 back to pristine life using this fix. 

The pin was reeally stuck down so for any others...just let the oil do it's work.  I let mine sit for about 30 minutes working with the pliers about every 5.

Great news.  Thanks for the feedback Oh, and welcome to Beoworld!

Andy T.

Hi All ! I am Rob from the Netherlands and also recently bought an older 1902. Now I've been reading this threat with much interest.

Mine Beogram played quite well right away but the acryl innerwork of the pitch control was a wreck ! I managed to fix it fortunately.

Also I gave the brass pin a drop of sowing machine oil, it was moving up and down a little heavy.  Also replaced the side panels (usually woodveneer this model originally white, but in misserable state) I still kept an old 1100 from 1976 that belonged to my father.

Now it played very nicely last two weeks on a almost new Cambridge phono preamp, also a second hand. I realy

 

 

Hi All ! I am Rob from the Netherlands and also recently bought an older 1902. Now I've been reading this threat with much interest.

Mine Beogram played quite well right away but the acryl innerwork of the pitch control was a wreck ! I managed to fix it fortunately.

Also I gave the brass pin a drop of sowing machine oil, it was moving up and down a little heavy.  Also replaced the side panels (usually woodveneer this model originally white, but in misserable state) I still kept an old 1100 from 1976 that belonged to my father.

Now it played very nicely last two weeks on a almost new Cambridge phono preamp, also a second hand. I realy love the vinyl sound !

Now a small problem becomes noticable, the arm works great, lowers and rises quickly, but at the end of the lp the stylus seems to drag (very little though) over the grooves of the lp. Is the arm returning to fast or is it the lifting that cause this ??

Hope to hear from the experts soon !

Best regards,

Rob

Btw Beovirus stikes again, bought an old 1900 and a newer 2000 beogram as well !

 

 

Hi there, it is quite silent here !

Robberth:

Now a small problem becomes noticable, the arm works great, lowers and rises quickly, but at the end of the lp the stylus seems to drag (very little though) over the grooves of the lp. Is the arm returning to fast or is it the lifting that cause this ??

What begun with a little drag is now a FULL DRAG across the record after it played !  

A quote from Andy T. earlier in this threat : 'When you first try it, put a rubbish LP on. A common fault with this model means that at the end of play, it doesn't lift the arm and drags it across the record. It's an easy fix though.'

How can I fix this ???

Thanks.

Rob

 

Problem is solved meanwhile ! I have again applied one drop of sewingmachine oil on the brass lever pin and sofar the mechanism is again working properly. The arm however returns a bit nervous to its resting position. Wonder how that could be solved.

I own also a type 1600, from 1979 (on the motor !) That model is clearly a lighter version, platter and chassis. It has however a better contact piece near the brass pin and modified spring under the arm base instead of under the long channel. Shame tthough that the stylus was vanished from the cantilever (mmc10e) !

 

Rob  

Thanks so much for the info posted here. I found a BeoGram 2400 with an almost brand new, still in case MMC4000, but the lift was stuck as well. With a little bit of prying, and some oil, I got it fixed without any dissasembly other than removing the bottom. The brass pin is a little scuffed up, but other than that, it seems to be working fine.