if you lift off the plattor you should be able to see the string that controls the arm,

it should go round a pulley on the left side and secure to a white piece of plastic bellow the arm,

if its all intact and tight then chances are its  the belt on the motor that's come off ( located to the left) or where it attaches to the arm

but chances are that the part that both ends of the string attach to on the arm has snapped off, both ends should be over a small piece of plastic sticking up to the left side of the white plastic arm mount

its very common as the plastic gets brittle over time, so nothing to do with the transit screws!

if it is the plastic part pm me and i should have one about, and yes there not to difficult to fit.

Will the platter simply lift off?

OK this looks a little more complex than I initially figured..

It looks straightforward enough to remove the lid, but a little awkward. My main concerns are

1) do I need to remove the platter base section?

2) is there a rige way to wind the thread, i.e. the tone arm must have a start and a finish point?

3) what bits do I need to take off?

Last....

4) if I upgrade my membership can I get the answers in printable format?

link

link

link

Maybe you didn't look at the german forum. There I was able to help a guy locating the fault. There are a lot of fotos attached, so it should be a little help and with google translator you might understand a little more. And you mentioned before: you have a bit of technical ability.

/forum/imported-unmapped/beogram-9500-probleme#post-2184307

Btw: all the record decks from 5005 to 9500 have the same mechanic so don't mind if the heading is about a different type. It can be opened very easily: unscrew the 2 screws down on the right side, slide the arm to the left side (by hand), now you can open the cabinet like a book. Near the hinge is a little stand hidden in a slot of the top cover to hold the cover in place.

Chris