The final piece for my 8000 system will hopefully be this Beocord 9000. It appeared to be working except for fast forward. Opening it up though, I found a broken leaf spring for the cassette mechanism on the left side. Without the leaf spring the Beocord is still able to play a cassette and rewind. On fast forward I can hear the click of the solenoid but nothing happens.
This will be the first tape deck I have worked on so I hope there are experts out there that can guide me. I do have a hard copy of the service manual and have started to read through it. I don't know if the broken part has anything to do with the fast forward not working but even if it doesn't, it will need fixing. One problem I see is that the broken part is supposed to be pressing down on a small bearing. That bearing is long gone. I have Beocords 8000 and 8004 that I can salvage parts from. I have one 8004 that does work but has some display segments out so I won't use that one as I would like to repair it as well.
Here is a picture of the broken leaf spring. You can see the grease where the bearing is supposed to go.
Here is the Beocord 9000 cassette assembly showing where the broken leaf spring came from.
Here is my working Beocord 8004 HX-Pro cassette assembly and what the leaf spring should look like (when it is not broken).The leaf springs appear to be the same between the 8004 and 9000 but the tape heads and wiring are different.
I am concerned now that even if I am able to pull a spare part for the broken assembly, installing it will require taking off the tape heads. That means having to deal with alignments during the re-install.
I just realized that my broken spring on this Beocord 9000 is the same spring shown on the thread "Beocord 8002 mechanism, mysterious spring" by Beoworld member, hamacbleu. Martin said the part can be glued back in place. I will need to steal a bearing for it from another deck I guess.
What kind of stress does that piece that holds the spring take though? For it to break like that, something with a lot of force must be hitting it.
I opened up and checked my other two Beocords, the BC8000 and the other 8004 HX-Pro. The 8000 has the leaf springs intact but the second 8004 has the same left side broken off. So my 9000, one of my 8004 decks and 8002 (of hamacbleu) all have the same break. Same problem across three model numbers. If I glue it back in place I wonder how long it will last and, again, what is the source of the problem? I would like to do some preventative maintenance on my 8004 deck that works and steal the display from the 8004 that doesn't work.
On the 9000, I am thinking of either going with the glue fix or stealing the unbroken pieces out of the 8000. The latter would be preferable as long as I could be sure the head alignment wouldn't get fouled up.
I think I know what might be causing the left leaf spring assembly to break.
Looking at the 8004 HX-Pro that is still intact. This is a picture of the cassette assembly with the heads disengaged. I have marked the direction of travel the head assembly will travel when they do engage.
Here is the 8004 with the heads engaged. You can see where I have marked "contact point". There is not contact there but it is very close. I think that if the bearing fell out or some other mechanical issue happens that can skew the head assembly's motion, that point could come into contact. If there was contact there, the metal head assembly hitting the plastic leaf spring mount could weaken and eventually break it.
That being the case, I think gluing the leaf spring mount back in place should hold up as nothing should come into contact with it (under working conditions).
sonavor: I just realized that my broken spring on this Beocord 9000 is the same spring shown on the thread "Beocord 8002 mechanism, mysterious spring" by Beoworld member, hamacbleu. Martin said the part can be glued back in place. I will need to steal a bearing for it from another deck I guess. What kind of stress does that piece that holds the spring take though? For it to break like that, something with a lot of force must be hitting it.
Find a small ball bearing, cover it with inside a rag, crash it with a hammer, you will now have balls for more decks
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
I found this nice picture another Beoworld member had emailed me while back. This picture shows the Beocord 800x, 9000 cassette assembly stripped. I have marked the break points on the left leaf spring mount.
I was left with a big washer and never knew where it belongs: I just saw on your photos where it was suppose to be fixed... Thanks!!
I fixed the leaf spring with Krazy glue and I was really surprised how well it was holding (You can't imagine the amount of "play stop play stop". it has endured during my investigation...) However It probably won't be forever... I just realized: could it have been fixed from the bottom of the deck, with a washer and a smaller screw? then, with the space remaining above, you could fix the metal spring with another small screw?
By the way, I have found every lost bearings inside the machine... be careful if you dismantle the transport, you might find them inside...
I'm glad this thread pops up: I'm really curious to see how complicated that mysterious 9000 model is... thanks for sharing
Guillaume
hamacbleu: I fixed the leaf spring with Krazy glue and I was really surprised how well it was holding (You can't imagine the amount of "play stop play stop". it has endured during my investigation...) However It will probably won't be forever... I just realized: could it have been fixed from the bottom of the deck, with a washer and a smaller screw? then, with the space remaining above, you could fix the metal spring with another small screw? Guillaume
I fixed the leaf spring with Krazy glue and I was really surprised how well it was holding (You can't imagine the amount of "play stop play stop". it has endured during my investigation...) However It will probably won't be forever... I just realized: could it have been fixed from the bottom of the deck, with a washer and a smaller screw? then, with the space remaining above, you could fix the metal spring with another small screw?
I'm not sure I follow fixing it from the bottom of the assembly. Do you mean running a screw/bolt from the leaf spring through the broken plastic mount to the bottom?I think gluing it in place will be fine. The head assembly shouldn't hit it. The key will be making sure the moving parts are lubricated and slide evenly as they should. Since this problem is prevalent in several versions of this design (8000,8002, 8004 and 9000), it would be nice to come up with a permanent fix.
sonavor: I found this nice picture another Beoworld member had emailed me while back. This picture shows the Beocord 800x, 9000 cassette assembly stripped. I have marked the break points on the left leaf spring mount.
Remove the bottom piece from the base plate, unscrew the steel spring from the broken off top piece, drill a hole through the broken top piece, use a threaded bolt (M3) with nut and washer to fasten it all
I found the email with the Beocord 9000 repair information. It was provided courtesy of Geoff Randall. Thanks, Geoff-sonavor