ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Happy 2015!
Unfortunately my year is starting with my 4002 not functioning. When I push the start button, the table spins, the light on the arm lights up, but if I release the button, everything stops. It will only spin if the start button is held down. There is no action from the tone arm at all. Sound like a switch problem? It had been in a high humidity area for some time prior to this problem. Any hints would be appreciated.
Do you hear the spindle motor when you press the Start button? I think the described phenomenon would be consistent with the loss of the drive belt for the tone arm carriage. In that case the everything would start, but since the carriage is not leaving its home position, the 'SO' switch is not released, i.e. once you stop overriding the switch with the Start button, everything turns off again.
Rudy
http://beolover.blogspot.com
http://beolover.com
Thanks for responding Rudy.The spindle belt was broken so I replaced it before posting. But not an exact match. Now I see that the spindle motor is turning, but it cannot turn the belt. That would be constant with what you describe.
So I will find an accurate belt and hopefully that will do it.
Thanks! I'd love to see this beauty back in action.
Gary
Try to operate the pulley by hand. If it feels very stiff, you may need to clean & lubricate the worm gear mechanism before even a correct belt will turn it.
Don't use a too tight belt either, it's not healthy for the motor. Correct belts (both platter & servo) should be available from member Dillen.
--mika
Thanks.
I have a 4004 spare for parts. It appears to have the same belt. I put it on and the tonearm moved over properly. First problem solved. Hooray!
Now, however, the arm moves over and drops onto the record, but then immediately lifts and the turntable goes into shut down mode with the arm retiring to the start position. This had been occurring previously to various degrees, but had been getting progressively worse.
Any thoughts on this problem? To repeat, the turntable starts, the arm moves over and lowers onto the record, but then immediately lifts and turns off.
From your original post it sounds like you have owned this turntable for a while and it had been working good for you. Now the turntable is starting to breakdown and require maintenance. It makes sense that a belt would wear and that was one of the problems needing fixing. There are some photo detection lamps that can go out in those turntables and need replacing. General cleaning and lubricating of moving parts are also required.I would check all of those things I mentioned then go through adjustment procedures in the service manual to verify everything is good. Since your turntable had been working fine I would expect most of the mechanical adjustments to be okay, but it is good to double-check them. It could be something as simple as the tonearm tracking force calibration or a burned out lamp.
Thanks sanovor. I like the idea of starting with the simple things first. I'll start with those. I see two lamps on (one on the arm and one on a control unit under the arm.) I'll do some searching and lubricate critical points.
I have replaced both belts and lubricated critical parts. Since I was in there and I had a spare bulb, I replaced the 33 rpm indicator light. Nice to see that working for the first time since I got it. I used your video for guidance Beolover. Thanks for sharing that.
I do still have the same problem, however. The turnable starts fine, but the tonearm movement is erratic. It either moves to the correct spot and drops, but then immediately rises and returns, or it returns before it even gets into position.
I have not adjusted the tonearm weight etc. Could that be it?
(PS really appreciate that you guys seem to be the leaders in vintage Beograms and that you take the time to help others)
I would definitely make sure the tonearm weight (tracking force) is calibrated. You will need an external scale for that. Nowadays they have little digital scales available on Ebay and Amazon. You can't go by the turntable gage as it is only a reference after it has been calibrated. The way I have been doing it lately is to install the cartridge I want, set the tracking force on the Beogram to 1 gram, check what the actual force is with the digital scale. Then adjust the calibration screw at the very back of the 400x tonearm until the digital scale measure 1.00 grams. After that, I still always use the digital scale when setting the selected tracking force on the tonearm dial but it should be pretty close.If your Beogram is still not tracking after that then you will need to check if something is hanging up the tonearm movement. There is an adjustment procedure for the 4002 where you disconnect the belt from the platter, then you drop the tonearm onto a vinyl LP and manually turn the platter (and record) slowly...while observing when the tonearm servo advances the arm. Go through the adjustments in section 3-5 of the service manual.
What about when no LP is on the platter and you let the tonearm move around? Does it travel smoothly or can you detect something interfering with any of the movement? You might study the lever that moves when the solenoid activates to let the tonearm drop. Make sure when that action happens that the tonearm is free to drop and move.