Ekco AD75 knobs wanted

[Phil G4SPZ]

One of the small knobs from the Black Country Living Museum’s restored round Ekco AD75 has been lost or stolen. A matching knob, or a pair of something closely similar, is sought to return this exhibit to its proper appearance.

Reasonable payment is available, in cash or via a free admission ticket to the Museum.

Many thanks!

Phil

[Chrispy57]

Hi Phil,
just seen your posts about the bakelite knobs - yes, mine are still available if the Museum would like them and I shall send a PM with my details.

Answering Steve's more general point in post #28 of Dickie's "EKCO AD75 Restoration" thread, it was a Murphy A170 that provided these examples, but perhaps other Murphy models of that era also used them?

Photo attached for info.

Cheers
Chris

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Chrispy57

Hi Phil,
just seen your posts about the bakelite knobs - yes, mine are still available if the Museum would like them and I shall send a PM with my details.

Answering Steve's more general point in post #28 of Dickie's "EKCO AD75 Restoration" thread, it was a Murphy A170 that provided these examples, but perhaps other Murphy models of that era also used them?

Photo attached for info.

Cheers
Chris

Hi Chris, the knobs in the photo you provide there are not the same as the ones on the other quoted post. They may still be Murphy knobs - I don't know - but they're not those in your photo.

[Chrispy57]

Hi Steve,
how strange. I'm certainly no expert on Murphy sets and just grabbed a photo from the RadioMuseum.org website to quickly illustrate a model A170. I guess they used different knobs at different points in their production runs?

For the avoidance of doubt, I have attached a photo of the section of the rear panel from that Murphy A170 that I stripped and reused parts from, which ended up on a homebrew LT/HT PSU using its mains transformer and smoothing caps. Clearly an A170, and one of only two Murphy "woodies" I have ever owned - the other an A102 still has all its knobs fitted, which are fully fluted similar to the EKCO AD75 by coincidence.

Cheers
Chris

[Phil G4SPZ]

A quick glance in Gripton’s 1939 showroom this morning revealed that Ekco used the same knobs on their AD65, AC85 and AC74 models, and probably many others too.

Chris, I’m waiting for a call back from the Curator.

Phil

[Station X]

Interesting. The AD65 on the radio museum site has completely different outer knobs. Can we assume they're incorrect replacements?

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_ad65_ad_65.html

My own AD65 has a different set of knobs again, but I'm sure they're not original.

[Lloyd 1985]

That AD65 on RadioMuseum has completely the wrong knobs, and the cabinet looks to have been painted brown, and the dial is also missing it’s semi-circular bar (or whatever that bits called!).

[stevehertz]

Radiomuseum is a good site for sure, but we have to remember that the photos of radios are just ones uploaded by site members, and just like any vintage set that one happens upon you simply cannot assume that all the knobs and fitments are original. Again, not wanting to be disparaging of Radiomuseum I find that quite a few of the sets photographed there have been got at in one way or another. Saying that, it's a great site to identify sets and also for information, just be aware of the 'accuracy' of the photos in the same way that you would anywhere.

[Phil G4SPZ]

Chris, I have received the go-ahead. Will PM later re address and payment.

With grateful thanks,

[Ben_Dijkman]

We have made a very small badge Ekco knobs for you again.

https://www.bendijkman.nl/ekco-knobs?ipath=15

There is hope now

[greg_simons]

Cheap at the price, those really are superb replicas, pity I don't have an AD75 to put them on!.
Greg.

[Dickie]

There's always hope!

Since this is an AD75 knobs thread, I'd be interested to know beyond doubt what the size of the large central knob ought to be. I have attached two images, one with a 50mm knob borrowed from an AC76, and secondly one taken from the internet of what looks like an original. Clearly the supposed original is less than 50mm. Can anybody confirm?

[stevehertz]

The large knob on my AD75 and also AD36 are 43mm diameter 'exactly'. I have no reason to believe that these knobs have been changed. The large knob on my AD65, being unable to reach it at the moment, however it sits next to the above sets and is clearly bigger, 50mm I would say.

[Phil G4SPZ]

I’m glad this thread has created some interest! Thanks to Chris, my initial “want ad” has been satisfied.

I’ll pop a calliper across the large knob of the Museum’s AD75 when I’m there next Tuesday.

On a related note, in our case I need to prevent any future thefts of knobs from the radio, and I plan to drill a small dimple in the shafts and tighten the grub screws down into the dimples really well. I had considered using a thread-locking compound, but then it occurred to me to fill the grub screw-holes with pitch, wax or similar. I know that some manufacturers of AC/DC sets used to do this; does anyone know whether Ekco was one of them?

[stevehertz]

Yes, as a matter of fact Ekco did recommend that! Many moons ago I bought the entire service manual collection from an old guy/shop in my town who no longer used/needed them. Amongst them was a collection of Ekco 'service cards' and dealer notes/flyers that listed a number of sets that they no longer serviced, but as a reminder it also listed sets where if having been removed for servicing, control knobs' grub screws had to be filled/topped with wax to avoid electric shock in the rare event of someone touching mains and earth as a result. So yes, Ekco definitely recommended the use of wax in control knobs' grub screws.

Phil, I'm sure you'll find that the large knob on the museum's AD75 will be 43mm - unless it has been changed of course!

[Phil G4SPZ]

Excellent. Thanks, Steve. I use dark brown Liberon furniture repair wax melted into the screw holes; with care, the result can be almost invisible. It will also replicate what Ekco did!

[Phil G4SPZ]

All now resolved. The large knob does indeed measure 43mm.

Thanks have been sent to Chris in the Thanks Thread. This thread may now be closed, thanks Mods.