Starting on Ron's AK10-A - Printable Version

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-21-2026

Rich,

Thanks, yes, turned out nice, I do like the color, and it looks better in daylight (I have a linear bright white right over the table).



MrFixr,

Thanks, this should help. I will have to re0check my E speaker, first making sure it is alive, and then I will se if I could match it. I am yet to receive the ARBE. It's been since Jan 7, that I ordered it.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-22-2026

I could not get myself to go to the basement yesterday and had excuses in order not to, but today, after having cooked a meal for the family, I wentdown and assembled the parts to the board. No connections restored yet.
Here it is.

   
   
   

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - RodB - 03-22-2026

Looking good, Mike.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - radiorich - 03-23-2026

Hello mike,
that is looking great so far !!
Yes, this weekend was tough for me too I caught virus aka new FlU strain at work darn sinus cold .

Sincerely Richard

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-23-2026

If it was just sinus cold, and it is indeed the FIU, you are lucky. This things is said to incapacitaed with 103-14F fever and all classic flue things like aches etc.
Get better soon.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - MrFixr55 - 03-23-2026


NICE!!!  Now you gotta polish the Bakelite and brass to match that sweet, sweet board and build a nice glass or plexi cover to protect that beautiful radio.  Ron would be proud and grateful for what you did with it!!

Next, a set of Cunningham 301A BBTs and a 300 BBT. (Or RCA BBT UV200 and UV201A Radiotrons)  1923-24 versions have paper labels and no glass etching.  Older versions have GE etched on one side of the globe or the older RC intertwined RCA logo (prior to the "meatball) or the Cunningham "C".  The 201 "A" thorated versions with lower filament current (0.25A vs 1.0A for the UV201s) were popular by 1923.  I had a great history of RCA and Cunningham 201s and 200s by year but I can't find it.  Looking.

Attached below is an instruction booklet for installing  A-K "Open Mount" sets.  It is interesting that the booklet specifies only 1/4 amp tubes and specifies a UV200A for a detector.  Problem is that the UV200A was not introduced until 1926 when 200 and 200A was practically obsolete and 201As were more commonly used as detectors.  This tells me that this booklet was produced in 1926 or later or that the 200A was announced (or expected) long before actual release.

 

You probably have the schematic but form others following the thread, I am attaching here, from W3LNB, much clearer than the one in Rider's.   


Can't wait for your description of how it plays.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-23-2026

MrFixr

Thanks for the documents; very much needed info.

As for polishing and the plastic case and brass...the backelite has been cleaned, but I do not think I will be polishing it, as polished backelite takes way too much effort only to show all the fingerprints. Which calls for the aforementioned plexiglass case. With the "Keep yer cotton-pickin' paws off my radio!" sign (or for polite people just "No touching").
I don't listen to my radios often but do make the point of the fact that I do restore them to be listened to. Which means touching. Which means fingerprints on polished backelite and that dirt in the knurled knobs.
Oh...have i mentioned the inductors with some visible signs of wire splicing? Maybe one day I'll learn how to dye the wire green (if I buy the wire) and rewind them. Should be easy, they have very low number of turns.

Plus the cases of the tuning caps are not ideal (clean but not ideal) and the labels could look better (and I am not sure if I tried to work on them, I would make them look any better), so...I will go for clean vs "museum".

I think, short of me noticing any egregious-looking muck, I'll let it be the cleaned-up version.

Now what I do think I need is a nice horny speaker. I will have to use my "E" for a while before I get the horn (you know what I mean, being 65), but eventually I will get it. Nice cast iron type. Will go well with my Griswold / Erie pans collection (I also use them in cooking instead of letting them be shelf queens. I specifically bought the heavy ones so my wife could not efficiently use them as a weapon).

But it is all far away: lots of work is ahead, starting with soldering stuff back.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - RadioSvit - 03-23-2026

Michael hello. What a wonderful and interesting topic. I wonder how I could have missed it. I still don't understand what you decided to do with the missing radio tubes with a bayonet mount. Are you going to look for them or do you want to replace them with analogues with adapter blocks? Why do I ask? I also need three bayonet radio tubes for my RCA Radiola 26 radio, which I plan to start restoring this summer and I plan to replace them with 3V4 valves in triode connection and adapter blocks. At least in the stages of the audio amplifier they should work well.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - Eliot Ness - 03-23-2026

It looks great Mike! I would have been inclined to leave it as-is, but I think you made the right decision. Ron is smiling down at his beautiful radio.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-23-2026

John,

Were it hopeless electrically, I would leave it as is as well. But it looked restorable, and since I had to take evrything off to service the parts, and after having attempted some cleaning and seeing the amount of accumulated grime (well, you saw the photos of the paper towels with Goop on them after I wiped it off), I decided I wanted it refinished. With this amount of work going into it, might as well.
I really want this radio to sing. And to look good while doing it


Peter,

The tubes I have work fine with the bayonet sockets. I wrote of it here also. I somehow totally missed the pin on the tubes and misjudged the depth of the base. When inserted, it went in just fine.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - Joe Rossi - 03-24-2026

Morzh, This looks marvellicious! Great woork. Joe

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-24-2026

Thanks, Joe.


Marvellicious...I'll have to remember this one.

Kinda like the Russian "Апофигительно"

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - MrFixr55 - 03-27-2026

Mike, I'm sure that you are gonna get this thing playing as good as you got it looking!!! Fortunately, these things are very simple. If you have some strong local stations, just the 3 tube Island, cap and coil are sufficient to pick up strong stations, albeit with no selectivity. Prior to superhets, the more RF stages, the better the selectivity.

On my 10C, I just had to replace the open audio transformers, replace the grid leak, fix an unwound secondary on one of the RF coils and repair the Bakelite on the 3 tube Island caused by horribly poor packaging by the seller, who packaged a Model E speaker with the radio without securing it or providing enough bubble wrap. It crashed right into the most expensive part of the radio. I paid $600 for the set, $50 for the shipping, at a time when these things started at $1200. The fact that the breadboard is for a Pooley cabinet and does not have the beveled edges is a bit of a downer, as I don't have the Pooley cabinet nor the room for one.

This thing plays quite loud, as loud as the Model 20 Big Box that I also have. Unfortunately, not into the Model E speaker as the driver is open.

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - Arran - 03-27-2026

Mike;
I think that a bit of Goop on the wrinkle painted parts, with a rag, should clean up the paint, and the badges without damaging anything. I'm a little more aggressive on the 1940s version of wrinkle paint, using laundry soap and water, with a toothbrush, but it's a type of oil based enamel paint, and I'm not sure what A.K used.
Regards
Arran

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RE: Starting on Ron's AK10-A - morzh - 03-28-2026

Arran,

No it won't. How do I know? I think I went through half a tub of Goop with this thing and no small part of it went to the crinkled paint, backelite and the labels.
They are not dirty, it is just the condition of the gold/red enamel vs black base.

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