Replica Ekco A22T (A22 export model)

[Robert Darwent]

Good article Robert, you have done well.

Thank you Lawrence, appreciate your reply and kind comment.


Chassis Restoration

As mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the A22 chassis which forms the basis of this project was acquired semi-complete. Specifically; it was minus a dial, loudspeaker and a set of valves. Although the chassis was very dirty and the wiring had seen better days, it was otherwise complete. It even had a chunk of its original broken bakelite case still attached;

                   

Note; not shown in the above images, the chassis also came with the metal trivet that the speaker cloth is attached to and mounts on to the central spindle. Unfortunately, the bronze bezel that goes around the circumference of the cloth was missing.

I adopted the same approach that I outlined in my 'Ekco A22 rebuild' article (BVWS Bulletin, Vol.36 No.3, Autumn 2011 issue), which was to completely strip the chassis and undertake a full restoration.

All the important wiring connections were first labelled and marked for each of the major components before they were removed. Working steadily and methodically in this way, I quickly had the chassis completely stripped whilst being certain of exactly how everything was originally connected.

I could now begin the task of cleaning and painting the two major sections of the chassis. After a thorough clean and the removal of any flaking original paint, each part received a coat of silver or black smoothrite paint, as appropriate.

I also began the replacement of all resistors and the wax type capacitors used on the tag-board that attaches around the edge of the circular chassis. I used modern 2W carbon resistors because of their similar dimensions to the originals and yellow 630V rated polypropylene capacitors to replace the wax types.

The images below show the restored chassis and the start of the rebuild process;

                   

When I reattached the rebuilt coil-pack to the chassis and tried to reinsert the band switching spindle, I found that the medium wave oscillator coil (upper right in the image with the capacitor across it) was fouling the clean rotation of the spindle.

After a number of attempts at repositioning the coil and wiring, I eventually solved the problem by the inclusion of several small washers under the two mounting bolts that secure it. The washers raised the height of the coil a few millimetres which proved just enough to clear the spindle and cure the issue.

Next instalment: Chassis restoration continues.