Hello everyone,

Have you spoken to Martin? One thing you might want to consider is... If you really struggle I think it is Joeyboygolf who wants an arm for a 4000 maybe the pair of you could wait for a battered 4000 on ebay. Then if that part is ok you could make a deal with him? However make sure you are not bidding agianst me first

BTW I am willing to bet the reviewer in that hifiworld article you showed me also had a hole in the 4000 bearing if noise is what you hear as a result!

Step1:

...you could wait for a battered 4000 on ebay. 

It will be battered anyway. We'll let you win it!

Step1:

Have you spoken to Martin?

Yes. I guess he's still thinking hard on this one!

Step1:

BTW I am willing to bet the reviewer in that hifiworld article you showed me also had a hole in the 4000 bearing if noise is what you hear as a result!

You can go ahead and write to the mag then.

Hi everyone,

So can anybody please have a look at the bottom of their bearings to see what it looks like?

Please?

Here is mine Jacques..

I seem to remember you mentioning a significant amount of platter wobble? I am not sure this is a good sign tbh. When I partially lift the sub platter up there is no more wobble than when down. You will notuce there are two bearings, top and bottom, and I am going to stick my neck out and suggest the nylon(?) disk would have originally been flat, its sole purpose just as a vertical stop and would have had no centering bevel or similar...

Oh dear, no bottom insert on my deck. My bearing is much like the one on later 4002-4004, then 8000-8002 decks, with only one sintered bronze bearing at the top. So I must have a different nylon disk too. It is pierced but not cracked. A small trough for grease? (there wasn't any left). The three setting screws are not here either. Adjustment is made via screws around the bearing. 

Mine looks exactly like this one  (thanks Mika):

An extract from the Beogram 6000 service manual:

So you have a different, possibly better and earlier one.

Can anyone confirm there are two versions? Mine was made in 1974. I guess I picked a bad one. 

Thanks for the great picture.

Jacques,

As I slowly climb back into the BeoSpirit... I will take a look at mine (I have a pair, for now ) this evening and report back.

I took a peek down there, and there indeed seems to be a nylon plate with a hole in the middle. And a small puddle of yellowish, mid-viscosity oil not unlike engine oil. The lower end of the bearing shaft is conical (with a very wide angle) and I believe it is supposed to keept it centered in the hole.

And yes, the bearing alone still wobbles, but not any more once the weight of the platter is on it and it's playing.

Okay; thank you both.

How do your bearings behave? Are they completely silent?

Why did B&O switch to these seemingly inferior bearings?

Over the one relatively quiet PC in the same room, I don't hear a thing from the BG6000 when the platter is running, even if I press my ear against the corner of the plinth.

I have two 4002 machines and one 4004 with the inferior to the inferior bearings so I will check when my bench is empty :)

@ Mika does yours have a second bearing sleave at the bottom like mine?

@Jacques yes my 4000 bearing completely silent and pretty sure the others are effectivly so!

I use light mineral oil for the bearings so that they hopefully soak some of it up and a drop of teflon oil at the bottom.

I have 2 X 6000, 1X 4000 at the moment and all absolutely silent. In fact, I have never had a 4000 series that was anything but silent.

Step1:

@ Mika does yours have a second bearing sleave at the bottom like mine?

Nope.

Jacques, I take that you have already tried just flipping the old bottom disc upside down in case the unused side would work better?

Thank you all.

Err... No! I haven't done that. Have you?

No - I'm far too lazy to do anything about problems that I don't have or don't bother me

I've never taken the disc out so I don't really know if it's possible at all, but it looked like it might be symmetrical and thus flippable...

Well I can't flip it, so I'm going to stick to my teflon film for now. Definitely something for Martin, this!

So let me ask the questions once more:

- why did B&O use the inferior bearings?

- does anybody know someone able to produce new discs, possibly better ones?

There must be a solution out there!

Both of my 4000's are identical to Olly's pic.

chartz:

- why did B&O use the inferior bearings?

Well, unless there was a rolling production change, perhaps your BG was "serviced" at some point and the bearing replaced -but I can't see much to go wrong in this department as they are very robust. So, I guess stocks must have dropped towards the end of the run and they used what they had inbound for the 4002/4?

chartz:

- does anybody know someone able to produce new discs, possibly better ones?

Short of extracting the existing disc, it would all be guessing. In my enginerding days, I had great success w/ a product called TIVAR, some of which was teflon/oil/lube impregnated. As I recall, you can source it in disc form (we called them poker chips) called "weld washer caps" or similar. It can be processed w/ metal working tools.

Before I keep blabbing on... I'll see if I can find a link.

OK... HERE YOU GO

You would probably have to make a heck of a lot of discs to break even. An old trick might be to find a local supplier and ask for some free samples!

Short of that... have your tried perhaps cutting something from old tupperware or similar?

burantek:

Both of my 4000's are identical to Olly's pic.

Crappy Beogram 4000 for sale!

With some plumber teflon at the bottom, it is silent. 

Even if I could find a suitable disc, I can't remove the old one at all. It seems to be gued in place.

Tivar seems indeed very interesting.

I have been using a product called Polyamid (also called Nylamid) for making small bushings and small gear wheels, there are 2 types of this product, white for lubricated positions, and black self lubricating, its easy to work with and comes in a lot of different shapes, cylindrical (shafts) and rectangular bars, in a lot of dimentions. As this bearing is lubricated I recommend the white type.

chartz:

Tivar seems indeed very interesting.

The French distributor is about 1/2 hour from you, outside LYON.

Call and ask for some engineering samples -they will *probably* send some off for free -and surely more than you will need.

Quadrant EPP France SAS

ZI Front de Bandière - BalanBP 80020, 01122 Dagneux Cedex

Phone +33 (0) 472 93 18 00

Ah yes, not far indeed. I know Balan and Dagneux. They are on the motorway to Lyon. Actually, the motorway is one and a half mile from where I live!

Thanks, I'll give them a ring.

What is the diameter and thickness of the nylon insert ?
I had some made for the Beogram 6006/8000/8002 where I've replaced many.
(It breaks when the Beogram is shipped with the platter mounted).
The idea of having some made for this one is not impossible.

Martin

Alright, they do have it, but it is not possible to have it machined (too soft). The smallest thickness is 1 mm. The guy advised Nylon instead, because it has to be pierced!

Dillen:

What is the diameter and thickness of the nylon insert ?

Martin, I can't get it out of the shaft. But it should be about 1 mm by 10 mm or thereabouts.