BeoLid: A new and improved dust lid for the Beogram 4000 series

Hi all. 

As many of us have experienced the original dust lids for the Beogram 4000 series are made of acrylic and after ~50 years in duty, they are prone to fail, especially where it's attached to the hinges.

I am in the process of figuring out if there’s a demand for a new dust lid created in polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is extremely strong, lightweight and less prone to scratches. It is also more UV resistant why it’s the obvious candidate. The only thing needed to replace the lid is to remove the old lid and, screw in the new and add a new aluminium strip.

I’ve created an exact copy of the lid as a 3D model and been in contact with multiple suppliers and it’s obvious that the custom tools needed to duplicate the original structure of the lid is very expensive (~$18000).

I don’t have any images of a prototype yet, I only have the renderings of the 3D model as seen below. The lid will be made in two colours if there’s a demand for it, namely the brown-ish coloured lid as seen on the 4000 and in a grey-smoke coloured variant as seen on the later 4002/4004.

I have to place an order with a minimum of 100 units for which the price will be $191 pr. lid excluded shipping. The price will drop with the number of units, so if there’s interest for e.g. 200 lids the price will drop to $99 USD and if there’s a demand for 1000 lids the price will be ~$30. 

Please note that this is a community price without any desires for private profit and that the price may change after the initial order is placed.

I’ve created a survey in which you can write your name, amount of lids you would like to buy and your choice of colour.
This survey will help me identify if there’s a demand for the lid and if that’s the case I’ll create a campaign on Kickstarter helping me do the funding. Your data will not be shared with anyone else than me.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or comments. All criticism is welcome but please be positive. This is all new to me :)

The link to the survey is right here: https://forms.gle/854mZLiUEXKRznTn9

Nice idea, but before you put a lot of money into this, - others before you have tried that:

https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/36787.aspx

Martin 

I think re-producing the lid is a great idea (I would buy one). However, I somewhat doubt that you will find enough people that are willing to buy one, sadly. I repaired my lid as good as possible, but it just does not look as good as a new one, and it is not a nice patina either. I asked various companies what reproducing the lid would cost, and the price was definitively higher than 200 dollar. I think building one yourself is an option, but getting the correct smoked acrylic and having it laser cut to the correct dimensions and then glueing it together without bubbles is difficult and expensive as well. Would you sell it with a new aluminium strip? 18k for the tooling is a big number....

Hi guys.

Thanks for the feedback. I am currently in contact with multiple suppliers regarding choice of material and price.

I'll let you know if it develops futher. The idea seems to be well received by B&O fans.

Hi Christian,

keep us updated if you decide to go further with this project. Have you asked B&O if they still have the original tool? I know it is far fetched, but if they still have it they might sell it to you, which would probably be cheaper than having one made.

Hi Christian,

do you have any news for us? I am still highly interested in this project.