I got a beocenter 3500, it works great except for the turntable does not spin fast enough. I called up Bang and Olufsen and they said that it was a motor problem and it couldn't be fixed. It is a great product, the radio picks up better then my modern one, it seems like a waste to throw it away. Any ideas on what to do? Is it worth any thing?

Welcome to Beoworld !

The Beocenter 3500 is a wonderful machine and definitely worth fixing.

When B&O tells you that it cannot be fixed, they are merely telling you that
- They can no longer supply the motor
- They have no tech guys at their authorized repairshops capable of taking the motor apart, clean and lubricate.

It's the old lubricants that has dried in the sintered bronze bearings. It will have to be removed and fresh oil
pressed in. Not the easiest task but it can be done.

Martin

thank you so much what type of lube do you recomend?  

That would be mineral SAE30 since it contains the additives needed but do a google search on
pre-oiled sintered bronze bearings and how to re-oil them.
It's not just a matter of adding a couple of drops, the process involves boiling and the best
results are achieved if you have a vacuum chamber but there are other ways.
The bearings should be re-oiled before becoming worn. When the oil dries and no longer
flows out from the pores of the material, the bearing and motor spindle will run metal against
metal and that will wear the bearings quickly.

Martin

I have a beocenter 3500 too, but my engine spins the exact speed. Does that mean I don't have to relubricate those bearings?

Yes but I wouldn't expect every Beocenter 3500 to run forever without fresh oil.
The problem with the bearings is that when the oil has hardened (or been used up),
the bearings and spindle will begin to run metal against metal. That will cause a drastic increase in friction
and the bearings will be worn very quickly (a few hours playing time).
The delicate poreus surface of the bearings will start to smear out and the bearings (or bushings as they
really are) will have to be replaced rather than re-oiled.
This is the cause for many motors showing good repair signs at first try but the next day
they are running slow again. Bearings like these often cannot be saved.
The spindle will normally run on a very thin film of oil inside the bearing, never in metallic contact
and the extremely low friction this provides is essential for maintaining correct speed on these
one-phase AC motors, who theoretically have no serious torque (but will theoretically never wear out if
oiled correctly).
Along with many other projects, I am currently working on having these bushings re-produced,
they are non-standard sizes so cannot be found anywhere.
If the motor is still working fine, the bearings will not have started to wear yet and that would be
the ideal time for re-lubricating.

Martin

I'm glad of what I hear from you on the one side, but not so happy on the other side. I think it's a masive undertaking to relubricate them, especially as I am not very fond of screwing these machines open and do a bit of 'trial and error'. I don't even know how the machine looks from the inside (sorry guys, but I've only found this one on the attic a month a go or so). So if someone has got some instructions and/or photo's on how to do this it would help a lot.

The machine was serviced about 15 years ago and didn't run since then. It was kept in a dry and cool room so It didn't suffer a lot of wear. 

Noone can help me?

Lennaert,

I just had a look around and the service manual is available on site if you upgrade your membership to the Silver/Gold level.

I do have the service manual at the moment. It just shows circuitboards and such and I'm totally non-technic in the case of circuitboards.

I don't own the BC3500 but I do have the similar BeoMaster 3000-2, but have never been inside it so I cannot give any specific direction on what to look out for exactly. Just be methodical about what you are doing and all will be fine. Take digital pictures as you go so you know what goes where when you are ready to put it all back together. For nuts, bolts and screws, I often put them back in they're proper place so I do not lose them or mix them up.

If Jaff would only answer:p. He said he had a BC3500:).

Thanks for your advice evman140.

Lennaert:

If Jaff would only answer:p. He said he had a BC3500:).

Hmmm... it sounds like you are looking for instructions regarding disassembly?

Anything more specific besides that?

burantek:

Lennaert:

If Jaff would only answer:p. He said he had a BC3500:).

Hmmm... it sounds like you are looking for instructions regarding disassembly?

Anything more specific besides that?

Offcourse Jaff. I would like to use your neverending knowledge about B&O products, o thy grand master.

:) Could you tell me how te relube the bearings of the TT-motor. It's even an undertaking for me to unscrew the tank-like BC3500 (the weight confirms that).

Grand master? I've been called a lot of things... but that may be the least fitting, ever!

Sorry for the delay, my offline life was the definition of chaos the last few days.

OK...

Everything is accomplished from the BACK of the BC.

1.) (2) small phillips-head screws just below the TT plane. This will remove a small black trim piece that spans the BC. It will allow the rearward removal of the dust cover/hinge mechanism. Be careful that the cover doesn't spring and possibly crack the hinges.

2.) (2) medium phillips-head screws on either of side of the cage. This will remove the cage.

3.) (1) Captive grey DIN lead from TT to socket Q1 -pull.

4.) Carefully rotate the BC upwards so that you can locate (2) medium flat-head screws. This will release the complete TT assembly. Carefully rotate the rear of the TT assembly up and pull backwards. Rotate the entire assembly ~90D and release a lead that heads back into the BC (caveat: my BC clearly has been "serviced" and it appears there were changes to the wiring at this point -yours may differ slightly). The entire TT assembly is now able to be benched and serviced. I will recuse to others for motor service/lube. There are also quite a few threads on here regarding this. If I am not mistaken this TT is very similar, if not identical, to the 3000.

Notes: This is actually a pretty slick piece w/ the way that the TT assembly is one complete extractable unit.

Hope that helps!

Jaff,

I believe you when you say that there are some topics here that discuss relubricating the bearings of the TT-motor. The only problem is that I simply can't find them after searching for a reasonable amount of time.

Thereby my question will be if someone can lead me in the good direction to any of the topics that discuss this problem. Please mind that I am not a native English-speaker so I do not understand 90% of the technical jargon that is used in these topics (my head starts to hurt when I read the technical topics).