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
Hi everyone,
I posted this earlier to Peter, since he's quite knowledgeable. I also thought it might be useful to post it in the main section so that others might see it & comment. I suspect what happened is a common issue, however I still feel pretty foolish re. what happened.
Cheers,
Duncan
Hi Peter,
It's been quite awhile since I have spoken to you and posted comments in Beoworld. If you remember me, I'd be impressed!
I had a small disaster this afternoon, here in California, & I thought you'd be the right person to consult. If I need to be berated, I think that's just fine, as I am a bit disappointed in myself at the moment!
After quite a while of non use, I decided to play my Beogram 4002 5513, on one side of one of my favourite albums from when I was a kid, Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits. The cartridge took quite a while to lower itself down to the vinyl. I thought "okay, no problem, I'm patient". The album played beautifully, and I was thinking why even mess with cd's or mp3???. The problem occurred at the end of that side of vinyl. The cartridge didn't pick up, & the arm returned to it's base position, dragging the cartridge, or bouncing along the vinyl, which is, or was in good shape. You can imagine my horror. Also, the cartridge is a MMC20CL, with low hours.
I inspected the vinyl, and I can't see any damage to it. I guess my question is, how much damage did I do to the cartridge??? Are these things tougher than I might have imagined, or am I now due for a re-tip from that gent in Germany?
You must be rolling your eyes, but anyway, that's an accurate account of what happened.It just didn't occur to me that it "might" take forever for the needle to rise, just as it lowered.
Sincerely,
I suspect that the problem is lack of lubricant.
There is a train of levers concerned with lift/lower and the pivots need a little sewing machine oil. NOT WD40!
Don't forget the one that is hidden under the arm!
Regards Graham
Hi Duncan!
I did it on my Beogram 4000 and 4002, which were completely stuck.
Basically, you have to remove the lid, then open the deck (see here), remove the arm cap and unscrew the left part (two screws), which bears the arm lift along with the detector arm. Be careful, the wires are kind of fragile!
Then you need to remove the circlip (you'll need a special tool, not expensive), pull out the moving arm (careful, it's hard and can come out all of a sudden, plus there's a spring which always wants to jump somewhere and live its own life... never to be seen again!), clean everything and put the thing back into place after a drop of fresh oil!
Do the same thing with the horizontal lever, at the base of the arm (circlip, etc.).
Not for the faint-hearted but provided you can handle mechanics I'm sure it'll be fine. Make sure you re-align the detector arm correctly.
Good luck!
Jacques
Hi Chartz,
Thank you very much for the advance warning! Luckily I am pretty good with tiny things since I have narrow fingers & good hand-eye coordination.
Do you know offhand what sort of tool is needed to perform this job? Also is re-aligning the arm at the end something that I could just use my best judgement & "eyeball" it or does it need to be more precise?
Lastly, I am hoping, praying actually, that I have not done extensive damage to the needle. A B&o serviceman in Toronto went to a lot of trouble to find that cartridge. Do you reckon there has been damage done to it?
I will have to turn my desk into a worktable
Hi Graham,
Thank you very much for getting in touch with me. Do you know what type of oil is needed to perform this job? Is it just a few drops that is typically needed?
Utterly fantastic with the link! I think I can do this
The pictures are very clear indeed.
Best,
Duncan: Thank you very much for getting in touch with me. Do you know what type of oil is needed to perform this job? Is it just a few drops that is typically needed?
A few drops is all that is required.
I doubt if you have done any damage to the stylus as the stylus weight on it is so low at 1.0g
I suggest that you remove the cartridge and put it somewhere safe while the engineering work is going on!!
Everything needs to go back accurately, as the parallelism of the detector arm effects the tone arm, maybe not in play so much but certainly at rest - if far enough out it could easily effect the tone arm in play. There was a special tool that sat on the runners to rejig but as these are now unobtainable I use a combination of straight edge and set square to line things up as per the service manual, and a set of callipers to ensure the detector assembly is the correct distance from the bearing hub. I would love to make a jig up but I think it would be overkill!
I think lots of people attempt to relube this particular lever without pulling the sensor arm off, as reassembly is not for the feint of heart as Jacques pointed out. But really the best option is to give it a proper clean!
Olly
I never got the message but am delighted to see that you have received a better answer than I would have given!
Peter
Good to hear from you! There seems to be a pretty knowledgeable crew here to walk me through the process fortunately! I just need to map this out correctly, before I disassemble things. I tend to be very, very careful, possibly to a fault, since I don't really like surprises.
I reckon you've done this job before many times, which is why I tried to send you a private message, but that seems to a feature that has been removed.
Is your Beogram 4000 still doing its job?
Hope you're doing well.
I have three of which two are relatively active!! The 4000 is fine and the '4001' can play LPs fine. It doesn't like 45s but as I never use them, I have not got around to correcting the fault! I do have a 4004 but to be honest I am not sure where I have put it! That is the one I have had from new!
Best wishes,