Welcome to Beoworld.

As nobody has answered yet, I wil try - at least I can answer 2 of your questions.

1) Yes - you can use sewing machine oil.

4) As far as I recall, you can use both SP10, SP12 and SP14 cartridges.

Kind regards
Steffen

As Steffen says, sewing machine oil, and use silicone grease. If the motor is turning lightly, it should be OK.

SP10,12,14 are OK

If you want to use the 1202 instead, and change the tonearm (are they exactly the same).

If you are a little handy with a solder iron, unsolder the small wires coming out of the tonearm shaft onto the PCB. make notes where the wires goes, the colors should be the same in the 2 BG types. Then loosen the Allen screw, shown in the pic and lift up and off, the tonearm, taking care the the wires comes out without damage. Place the new tonearm exactly where the old one was, solder back the wires, and you are ready to go. Check the set down points.

On the 1202 as on the 1200 I recommend to take the drive mechanism apart and clean and oil it. I f you will need a new belt you will have to get it from Axel in Germany.

Thanks Steffen,Soren,

I have decided to focus on the 1200 as the 1202 has too many cosmetic challenges to make it worthwhile.Do either of you know whether the 1200 and 1202 belts are the same? I presume that they should be...the 1202 has a good serviceable belt, whereas the 1200 has nothing...not even fragments to compare.

Soren - do you perhaps know if the mechanics in these two are similar enough that I would be able to work from your 50hz -> 60hz conversion thread?

Thanks again for your help and insight

I have never seen a BG1200 in the flesh, but as you have both, take off the bottom cover of the 1200 and take a good picture and post it here. And I dont know if the belts are the same, but try it out, if the belt has the same tension on both decks it should work OK.

Apart from the pic mentioned above, post more pics, upside complete, upside without platter, detail pic of the motor and drive mechanism and detail of the tonearm mechanism from below, this will give us a better change of helping you if needed

Thanks Soren,

I have started work - will post pictures on the weekend. In the meantime, I have two quick questions. I've stripped the bearings for the motor, and need advice on the felt that sits in the bearing. Should this be soaked with sewing machine oil, or are a few spots of oil sufficient? The felts are also really hard - should I try and find replacements?

Many thanks,

Ryan

Quick update...

Stripped the motor and idler assembly, cleaned and oiled everything, replaced the belt. Hooked everything up and the old girl spun up to speed straight away, showing us her best tunes for a couple of hours until 30 minutes ago.

However, for no reason, the last lp had finished playing, and now she won't come to life again...any suggestions? The belt is still in place, looks fine - for some reason the motor's stopped spinning again.

Any help or advice appreciated - I'm feeling a bit bummed now as it was all going so well!

Does the motor get power ?, if yes did you align the rotor correctly

Hi Soren,

Yep - the motor has power. When I reassembled, the rotor spun very freely by hand in the bottom bearing...becomes slightly stiffer once the top plate holding the top bearing is on.

i removed everything again and the rotor was very tight, so re oiled the bottom bearing generously with a bit more sewing machine oil, and oiled the top again. It runs again now, but seems a little noisier than it was the first time. I took a lot of care positioning the rotor in the bottom bearing to make sure it spun freely. Should it spin as easily when the top bearing goes on?

Many thanks,

Ryan

The problem is the alignment of the rotor and the bronze bushings, take it apart again, using a strip of 400 grain sand paper, rolled around a small shaft or screwdriver, rotate the sandpaper inside the bushings until clean, then clean carefully with IPA, oil again.

When assembling you will have to center the rotor. Insert acetate strips through the openings in the bottom cover, 3-4 strips, ad strips, until you have the same contact all around, pulling and pushing the strips with a light resistance.

Do not overdo the sanding. Do you have a manual ?