Beogram 4002 – arm sometimes lifts with long delay

[Paul]

Hello everyone

I am new to the community, as I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a very nice Beogram 4002 (Type 5511), that I have been able to restore mechanically so that everything runs smoothly again. The beogram operates fine, but there is one electrical issue that puzzles me, and I hope someone in the community is able to help with?

Sometimes (but not always), it takes several seconds for the solenoid to engage and lift the arm. This occurs if I press the up/down button, or at the end of the record. The solenoid will engage ultimately, but sometimes it just takes a while (which at the end of the record is of course scary as the arm will start to move back to the starting position, but it takes a while for the arm to then lift !)

Could this perhaps be related to some transistors/capacitors not functioning properly anymore (like the BC142/143s)? I should be able to replace them, but not so good at troubleshooting, so just hoping someone can point me in the right direction!

Many thanks

Paul

[Mark-sf]

It can be several items, depending on what you are specifically observing. Most of the time, if you hear the muting relay immediately but not the normal solenoid sound, it can be the horizontal or vertical pivots for the cueing mechanism gumming up and not moving easily. It can also be a residual magnetic buildup in the solenoid. This can be handled with a tapehead demagnetizer. If you hear the solenoid but the arm is lagging, this can be because the return spring has weakened, the damper cylinder is not moving smoothly or adjusted properly, or the vertical pivot is gummed up.

[hcraig244]

As I recall the solenoid de-energises to lift the tone arm same as the BG4000, my guess would be the return spring is sticking due to old grease/lubricant……give it a clean and if nothing else it will remove the spring from the investigation, check the Beolovers you tube blog below for a detailed account.

Regards Craig

[Paul]

Thank you both! The tone arm mechanism itself works very smoothly, I had actually cleaned it according the Beolover instructions. The muting relay is a helpful hint; that is also delayed. The problem is that it is a normal (and snappy) tone arm lift, just with a few second delay after the request. It is also more prone to occur if the arm hasn’t been lifted for a while (e.g. end of record).

I will try to demagnetize and see if that helps.

Thanks again

Paul

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