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
Hello All! I have been a lurker for a while, Love this site, and I recently scored a Beocord 8004. I picked it up for a song at a local garage sale as the owner said it didn't work. Got it home, plugged it in, lights! I pressed play and (forgive ALL my terminology) the lower deck that makes contact with the tape rose and dropped, and made normal tape deck engaging sounds.
As per your awesome posts and photos, I opened it up and saw the belts were completely disintegrated and the motor fuse was blown. I ordered a few fuses (to have a few extra in case they immediately blew again) and a belt kit off ebay. The old belts has disintegrated into a black tar goop that stained everything it touched. What a foul substance. I cleaned it up pretty nice, and waited for parts.
Fuses arrived as did the belt kit. I also acquired some sewing machine oil and some silicone grease for my Beogram 4002 (separate acquisition). I replaced the fuse first and looked at the motor. It spins! I then replaced the belts and put the unit back together. Put a tape in and pressed play.....
The tape started for a split second and theeeeennnn sloooowwwwwwwed stop! I pressed play again and engage, disengage. I tried rewinding and it started slowly then went! then slowed and stopped.
I took the tape out and spun the two ...tape nubs... the guys that actually turn the tape (where you stick a pencil to rewind a tape).. and they feel gummed up. I turn them and they totally turn but not easily. like they're clogged up if they could be. My Beogram 4002 would not drop its tone arm because it was so gummed up I had to scrub the old stuff off a rotation point, and re-lube it. I'm assuming something like that needs to be done here.
So! Does anyone have a lubrication guide or a path for me to follow on how to un-gum the two tape post nubs? I feel I'm close to a working unit. I'm curious why the belts died in the manor they did and why the fuse blew. Probably tried to play over and over and over on the gummed up unit and blew the fuse for the motor, and then it sat and the belts melted.
Thoughts?! I'd love to hear your input. Thank you for reading!
Excellent! Thank you for the response! Do you know of a lubrication guide?
NuclearDeLorean: Excellent! Thank you for the response! Do you know of a lubrication guide?
The BC8004 doesn't have its own, stand-alone service manual (that I have ever found). It has its own, specific information as an addendum to the Beocord 8002 manual. With a Beoworld Silver Membership you can get access to the service manuals.
Section 5-3 of the service manual shows the lubrication chart. The various grease and oils are often hard to find. As mentioned, the TriFlow product line has some nice, modern substitutes. I use them quite frequently but there are other good brands of course. From thin synthetic oil to dry lubricant, silicone grease and red grease. It is important to not over lubricate the Beocord units (or Beogram units for that matter).
-sonavor
All sinter-bronze bearings need oil with the right additives infused into their pores under vacuum.That's the motor and capstan bearings etc.
The tape spools could have a small amount of white lithium grease to their spindles and around their bases.
The rest is not particularly critical, just stay away from the cheap "House-hold"/"Everyday" etc. oils, thatevaporate in days rather than years and leaves a mess behind.And never use WD40, which does exactly that.
Martin
Ok! I was a machinist for a few years, and yes, I totally understand the difference between cutting oils and lubricant. I am a little spoiled by my Beogram 4002 color service guide I downloaded from this amazing site! I have white lithium grease, sewing machine oil, silicone grease as well as standard high and low viscosity oils etc.
I wish I knew why the two "tape nubs" are sluggish and gummy. I also wish I knew if I could apply lubricant directly to them from the top and not mess anything up later or below in the mechanism. or if the problem lies deeper in the mechanism and disassembly is necessary.
On every Beocord 800x-9000 I restore I start with taking the mechanical assembly apart to clean it. A bunch of them have black gunk from the deteriorated, original belts. After that I lubricate the necessary parts and install Martin's rubber wheel set. That is a must. I also add the fix for the plastic clutch assembly that is usually cracked. There are a couple of brass bearings in that assembly that I believe Martin was referring to as needing re-infusing. I hadn't thought about that so that is an added step for me. Since all of the above tasks are in the same set of mechanical parts it is best to do all of them at one time.