Beogram 6500 arm stuck in position

8 replies
Here I am again! Earlier this year I bought a full Beosystem 6500 in white.  The Beocord needed new belts which I replaced myself, but the Beomaster had more complex issues, so I have had that repaired by John at Merlin.  I've just got it back and it's fully working (thanks John!). I had only tested the Beogram turntable briefly before, but now that I have the Beomaster back from repair, I set up the whole system and I think for the first time played a whole album (or side 1, anyway).  It played fine, but then when it finished playing, I heard an unpleasant clicking noise, and when I lifted the lid, the arm was raised but stuck in position above the record - it appears to have tried to return to the right, but had only moved a centimetre or so, and stuck there. With some difficulty I remove the record and removed the platter and wheel.  When I removed the wheel and belt that sit below the platter, the motor was spinning constantly as though stuck in play mode.  I have disconnected it from the mains, but if I reconnect, that motor starts spinning. On the inside, I notice that the raise/lower cog is in the wrong place and I cannot turn it manually more than a few mm either way.  The main cogs that drive the arm however are completely stuck - no movement at all.  If you try to move the arm left or right, it is also completely stuck in place.  Obviously, I don't want to force anything for fear of causing damage.  I've managed to fix a Beogram 9500 before (the wire drive had come loose) but I'm stuck here. I have attached photos of what I see inside, in the hope that one of the experts here might recognise the problem.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-9000.png Beosound-9000.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-4.png Beosound-4.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-EX.png Beoplay-EX.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beoplay-A2.png Beoplay-A2.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Old enough to have gazed at classic B&O HiFi in Plumbs shop windows in the 80s...
Minor update - I have managed to get the raise/lower cog (part 1636 in the service manual) back to it's correct position.  The start/stop cog (part 1604) is still stuck firstly in position and will not move at all. I am unable to unscrew and lift the top panel to get a better look inside as the arm is stuck in a position that doesn't give clearance for that.  I suppose I could disconnect the wire drive from the sliding chassis in order to move the arm and then lift the lid, but I'm reluctant to do that, especially since I am really not sure if it will help. I have looked inside my Beogram 9500 for comparison and the raise/lower cog 1636 is now in the same position as the 9500.  In the 9500 the arm can easily be moved by pushing it, and the start/stop cog 1604 can be moved easily (if reluctantly!), but on the 6500, both of those the arm and the start/stop 1605 cog are stuck very firmly and will not move at all.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-9000.png Beosound-9000.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-4.png Beosound-4.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-EX.png Beoplay-EX.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beoplay-A2.png Beoplay-A2.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Old enough to have gazed at classic B&O HiFi in Plumbs shop windows in the 80s...
Today I plucked up the courage to disconnect the wire drive that moves the tonearm.  With that disconnected the tonearm moves smoothly, but it made no difference to the start/stop cog (part 1604) - still completely stuck in position.  I can see nothing broken so I'm sure it's something out of place in the mechanism, but I'm buggered if I can find it.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-9000.png Beosound-9000.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-4.png Beosound-4.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-EX.png Beoplay-EX.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beoplay-A2.png Beoplay-A2.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Old enough to have gazed at classic B&O HiFi in Plumbs shop windows in the 80s...
This is very hard to triage remotely. Are you saying that if you attempt the “In/Out travel of the pickup arm” instructions that cam wheel Z (1604) does not rotate? Is Swingring Y frozen as well?
I realise it's not easy to triage remotely, so thanks yery much for trying. Yes, exactly as you have said.  Cam Wheel Z (1604) is frozen in place.  So is Swingring Y.  As a result of those being frozen Wire Pulley A is also frozen, even if I remove the wire. If I do remove the wire from Wire Pulley A, the tonearm moves smoothly, so the only thing that I can gather so far is that the tonearm is not the cause of the problem.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-9000.png Beosound-9000.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-4.png Beosound-4.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-EX.png Beoplay-EX.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beoplay-A2.png Beoplay-A2.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Old enough to have gazed at classic B&O HiFi in Plumbs shop windows in the 80s...
My approach would be to start disassembling the mechanism to determine when it frees up.
Yes I'm sure you're right.  I don't think I'm confident enough to do that myself.  I'll take another look at it tonight but it seems likely I'll need to get a professional to look at it. I know Multicare will be able to fix it, but I was just hoping to avoid a long drive to Leeds!

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-9000.png Beosound-9000.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-4.png Beosound-4.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-EX.png Beoplay-EX.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beoplay-A2.png Beoplay-A2.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Old enough to have gazed at classic B&O HiFi in Plumbs shop windows in the 80s...
You have pictures so as long as you don’t break tabs you should be fine.
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