Ekco AC77 - any tips on restoration?

[David G4EBT]

I've had an Ekco AC77 in my garage loft for years, which I'd fogotten about but have unearthed, with a view to restoration. I suspect that they're a bit unloved comared to the circular Ekcos, or the AC97 ("Cyclops") or AC86 ("Dougal?").

It looks unmolested - just the usual accumulation of dirt.

But I can foresee a few problems.

All the valves are in place, but whether they're still good is a different matter. The line-up is: Mullard FC4, VP4B, 2D4A, and PenA4. I've no idea what the likelihood of replacements is, if needed, or at what cost, even if they can be had.

The three electrolytic smoothing/reservoir caps are in a box, presumably encased in pitch, so I can see tears and tantrums before bedtime if the won't re-form! (6+8+8 uF, so three 8 uFs will do the trick, but is the box salvageable I wonder?)

It has a mains energised speaker.

Do I feel a re-wind of the field coil coming on?

A complete rewire I can cope with, but the other possible problems I can foresee, make me wonder whether this would be time and money well spent. But it has its back and knobs, and the cabinet and dial seem undamaged, needing only some careful TLC, so I must take a closer look - check out the field coil and valve filaments for starters.

Anyone any experience of these?

Any tips?

(Other than the Municipal tip that is

Regards,

David,
G4EBT

[Lloyd 1985]

Hi
i haven't had the pleasure of one of these sets yet, but if any of the other Ekco's I've worked on are anything to go by, then it'll be a great set, well worth the effort! as for the boxed caps, they are fairly easy to unbox, inside will be a big block of that wax that they use on most wax covered caps (the yellow/orange stuff!) with the 3 caps encased in it. all the mains energised speakers I've come across have been fine, so I don't think there will be a problem with it. I find my replacement valves on ebay, I have an AC86 which had all but 1 valve missing, and I managed to find all the replacements and some spare ones on there. they were not all that expensive either.
should be a nice set!

regards,
Lloyd.

[ajs37]

I did some work on one of these last year for a friend - great sets - well worth the effort! I don't think getting valves will be a problem (if they are needed) - hopefully you won't need to rewind the energised speaker! If I recall correctly, aren't there just 2 caps in the block? the other one is a wet cap, mounted next to the block? - anyway - shouldn't be a problem re-stuffing them.
If you ever feel like letting it go - I'd be in the market!
good luck
Cheers
Andy

[Radio_Dave]

IMHO I find pre war radios nicer work on than post war. Valves are normally Ok, the only one which I always seem to have problems with is the frequency changer, especially TH4B's, but there's plenty about.

I can't see why you expect to encounter problems with the field coils either. Even if it is O/C it's got to be the easiest coil in a radio to rewind.

Paper boxed caps are also far easier to re-stuff, compared to post war metal cans.

Even pre war wiring is normally serviceable, as long as it's not rubber!

David

[David G4EBT]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading my posting and for your encouraging replies!

I left one of the valves off the list - V5, the rectifier, which is a 1WA/350.

Like most of us, I prefer unmolested sets to work on, as this one is.

The power supply is a separate unit with ten connectors, so that can be restored as a single unit. (It does have the three el caps in the one box, which is I think, metal).

One little oddity I didn't mention, is that the "scale lamp" is 200V, and tapped off the primary of the mains transformer. (Probably easier to get hold of than 3.15 V DAC90A bulbs!)

The IF is 126.7 KHz

Altogether, quite a whimsical design!

Regards,

David.
G4EBT