[klondike98]

On to the next adventure. On Facebook Marketplace I came across an AK 55C in a Kiel table that looked to be in reasonable shape and was being offered for free. Could not pass that up although I did give the fellow some cash as he is a fellow radio enthusiast and was primarily looking for a good home for it. It had been on Marketplace for a year when I saw it and messaged him. Just an hour before my message he had put the table on the curb marked "Free" and was going to bin the chassis. There's always a story with these things.

I have restored one of these before back in 2014 but felt it was a good project for summer (the cabinet) and winter (the chassis).

The chassis and speaker (voice coil 2 ohms and field coil 1048 ohms) were already out of the cabinet and the top of the cabinet and a small portion of the front door panel has been stripped already. The speaker does have some tears in the cone but those should repair easily.

   
   

As I go through and clean the cabinet (vacuum and then a damp cloth with detergent and water) I'll look for obvious problems. You notice immediately that someone has removed the Atwater Kent metal plate that goes underneath the top and also the Kiel Table metal plate on the front top of the rim that the top closes onto. Most of the time the Kiel label is a decal but I think some of the early tables had a rectangular metal plate. The RadioMuseum has a photo of one of the tables with a metal plate although you can't read it.

The top I think will come up nicely although there are some nasty spots on it that may not come out. I can not tell if they are ink or stain.

   

The base that the chassis sits on needs some regluing and reinforcement.
   


and the front panel door has an old repair for a split out screw that I think will need to be redone.

   

I've started taking the table apart so I can better clean and strip it but that's as far as I got today. More later...