I recently purchased a BeoGram 4000 from an ebay seller here in Australia.

I would describe it as being in quite poor overall condition but I am nonetheless hoping to resuscitate it. They are quite rare here and I may not see another one for quite a while.

The good news is that I only paid $113 AUD (our dollar is a little better than parity with USD). For that price, I received the BG 4000 and a MMC 20 CL cartridge that appears to be in good condition. In addition the motor is working well and silent, the bearing appears to be in good condition, the bulb in the detector arm works and even the strobe light works. The light in the control panel is out however.

The immediate problems:

1. The worm screw pulley that drives the arm is missing the screw that obviously locks it to the shaft. The result is that the pulley wobbles around on the arm and eventually jams. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement? (I have looked in the bottom of the deck but cannot locate it.) Funnily enough the metal washer and plastic washer are still with the pulley.)

2. When I turn the deck on it starts the platter spinning and I cannot turn it off using the control panel. The leaf springs are quite flat so adjusting these might improve this if the micro switches work. Any advice would be appreciated.

3. Can anyone confirm that the control panels just sit loose? Mine are just flopping around and lift straight off. The leaf springs that actuate the micro switches are quite flat though.

4. Can I fit a BeoGram 4002 wooden plinth to a BeoGram 4000? The one the came with the BG 4000 is badly chipped and I have a nice one on a BG 4002.

5. What can I do about the flaking black paint on the metalwork? This appears to be quite a common problem with BeoGrams of this age in Australia at least.

Here is a photo of the whole calamity, courtesy of the ebay seller:

Welcome to the forum. Lots of people here love these decks so there will be plently of help, and by the sound of things there will be no serious problems with your deck!

Telecine:

1. The worm screw pulley that drives the arm is missing the screw that obviously locks it to the shaft. The result is that the pulley wobbles around on the arm and eventually jams. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement? (I have looked in the bottom of the deck but cannot locate it.) Funnily enough the metal washer and plastic washer are still with the pulley.)

Ok first make sure the pulley hasn't split. This might be why the screw came loose and fell out. Remove the pully and check around the locking collar Worth trying to glue and reinforce IMO. The grub screw should not be a problem might even have something myself. Better if a fellow Australian can help. Failing that take the thing to a model shop or similar?

Telecine:

2. When I turn the deck on it starts the platter spinning and I cannot turn it off using the control panel. The leaf springs are quite flat so adjusting these might improve this if the micro switches work. Any advice would be appreciated.

I think you should wait till you get the above sorted first. I would advise adjusting the leaf springs to optimum though in the mean time. Download the service manual for guidance on this, available to all silver members.

Telecine:

3. Can anyone confirm that the control panels just sit loose? Mine are just flopping around and lift straight off. The leaf springs that actuate the micro switches are quite flat though.

They will need relocating. It is quite an easy process of removing all the panels and platter and sliding the switch plates on from the left of their respective bronze springs (The big fat bits of metal). Looks like the outer switches might be still attached so remove by lifting ever so slightly, and sliding to the left.

Now make sure the vertical pieces are resting against the plastic panel. If they rest in a lifted position they may need rebending to get things just right.

Reattaching can be done with absolute minimal bending although it may need a couple of goes to get right - Basically the piece is offered into place and the spring lifted up to catch in the lips that fold under the switch plate. Start with the right hand plate. Clip in the top, centre the switch then lift the bottom spring and locate. It might jump out your first couple of tries but be patient! Then carefully slide the switch to the right and you may have to slightly lift if I remember correctly. When correct it will click in place and site quite securely! With the middle piece only worry about the top bottom springs NOT left and right! Hope that makes sense!

Telecine:

4. Can I fit a BeoGram 4002 wooden plinth to a BeoGram 4000? The one the came with the BG 4000 is badly chipped and I have a nice one on a BG 4002.

Not actually sure and I intend to try swapping a plinth around myself, so I will let you know if successfull!

Telecine:

5. What can I do about the flaking black paint on the metalwork? This appears to be quite a common problem with BeoGrams of this age in Australia at least.

Yes they do seem to flake a bit. I guess some auto paint but make sure to mask the original print or labels etc!

Belts are available from member Dillen on the forums.

Thanks Olly.

I have checked the pulley and it is not split. I will check out a hobby store or jeweller if one doesn't materialise elsewhere.

I intend to update my membership shortly so I will get the service manual then.

Now that you have described the process, I can see how the control panels attach. Thanks so much for that.

Let me know how you go with you plinth changeover. It looks like a case of removing four screws and sliding it forward to me but I might be wrong about that.

The auto paint suggestion seems reasonable. I guess it needs to be something that will bind to aluminium.

I will certainly be contacting Dillen about a few parts for this and a couple of other projects that I have going. I am just trying to work out what parts I need first. A new belt is certainly on the list. The one I have has definitely seen better days I think.

A quick update.

I disconnected the drive belt for the arm until I obtain the grub screw to lock the pulley in place.

I have now fitted the control panels back in place thanks to Olly's instructions. I figured that I could always take them off again later if need be.

So I have made some progress. The deck does not start spinning straight away now when powered on. It will start spinning when I press the on button. Unfortunately, the motor for the arm starts spinning flat out without a belt making quite a racket. If I press the off button, the arm motor stops spinning but the turntable motor keeps going. This may be normal behaviour, I will see what happens once I have the arm motor hooked up correctly.

The speed change works correctly now too, so I am hopeful that I might get this going soon. The speeds seem to be fairly close to correct when viewing the stroboscope. On each speed the pattern very slowly rolls away from me towards the arm section of the deck. With a new belt or a bit of adjustment I should be able to get them spot on.

I have also received a bonus with the deck it seems. Nestled amongst the electronics underneath the plates, I found a 1970's vintage stylus brush.

The wooden plinth replaces easily. I have swapped mine around. The plastic washers that hold it are pretty fragile though - I replaced the ones on mine.

One of my decks had a particularly hard life - someone left it in a damp cellar and the metal corroded. It has however been reborn!

I would like to do something similar to one of my less than perfect examples Peter! The real trick would be to work out a solution for the platter! I am thinking about it....

@Telecine well done so far. Lets get that pulley sorted before moving on. There could still be a split that might only become evident when screwing it to the shaft btw.

BTW just really noticed your user name! Are you into cine stuff in general?

Step1:

I would like to do something similar to one of my less than perfect examples Peter! The real trick would be to work out a solution for the platter! I am thinking about it....

@Telecine well done so far. Lets get that pulley sorted before moving on. There could still be a split that might only become evident when screwing it to the shaft btw.

BTW just really noticed your user name! Are you into cine stuff in general?

Yes, my next step will be to re-attach the pulley. Don't jinx me by saying that it might split! I believe that they are in the "unobtanium" category. At least I have a template I guess. I am more worried that the thread will have been stripped by a previous owner. It would be difficult to fix that.

I have a strong interest in all things cinematic, extending to a reasonably sized film collection. I have many addictions. Bang & Olufsen equipment being a recently acquired one.

Doctor:

The wooden plinth replaces easily. I have swapped mine around. The plastic washers that hold it are pretty fragile though - I replaced the ones on mine.

One of my decks had a particularly hard life - someone left it in a damp cellar and the metal corroded. It has however been reborn!

Good to hear that the plinth swap is straight forward. I will try to be careful with the washers.

Great work on the BeoGram 4001. I wasn't aware that they existed. Did you repaint it? If so, how did you go about it and what did you use?

Telecine:

Doctor:

The wooden plinth replaces easily. I have swapped mine around. The plastic washers that hold it are pretty fragile though - I replaced the ones on mine.

One of my decks had a particularly hard life - someone left it in a damp cellar and the metal corroded. It has however been reborn!

 

Good to hear that the plinth swap is straight forward. I will try to be careful with the washers.

There are 5 screws holding the plinth. 4 are obvious plus one under the control panel.

Some further progress, I have obtained a grub screw and installed it. The drive pulley still wobbles around somewhat when driving the arm. It appears to have a round opening on one end and the D shaped opening on the other. I suspect that I need to position it so that the left hand side is on the round portion of the worm screw drive shaft and the right hand side with the locking component on the D shaped portion.

It might be the case that the end of the worm screw drive shaft is bent. Previous shipping damage? That is going to be harder to fix. Any suggestions?

In any event, the arm works, albeit that the worm screw drive shaft gets jammed at a couple of points as it travels across the platter. I suspect that it needs cleaning as it is coated in a layer of old blackened oil or grease. The platter motor does an auto shut off when the arm returns to the starting position.

Next steps, clean the worm screw drive shaft, re-position the pulley and check that the shaft is straight.

I have confirmed that the worm screw drive shaft for the arm mechanism is bent. Any suggestions as to how to straighten it?

I don't think there's any better way than to simply remove it and bend it back. It seems to be brass and should be bendable with no problems, but if you try to do it in place you might damage something else.

Screw some suitable nuts (M4?) on it if you grab it in a vise or something so you don't damage the threads.

Thanks Mika. I don't think that there is any other way either. I will give the approach to straightening it a bit of thought.

Does anyone know whether or not a BG 4002 worm drive shaft will fit in a BG 4000? It would appear to solve a few problems for a number of people if it did.

The shaft has the same part number (2830049) in both service manuals, so I suppose they would be identical...

I don't think it would be very difficult to manufacture a replacement from generic threaded brass either, perhaps using the pulley end of the old shaft.