[Elecraft] Construction Tips Requested

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Welcome Carl!

Like you, I am a builder of kits for over half a century from E.F.
Johnson Viking rigs to countless Heathkits to all sorts of stuff. The
design of the K2 and the documentation for the basic rig are fantastic!
My K2 is much older, so you may have more errata, but the process was
flawless and straightforward.

With all that history you list, you want to be sure to have a proper
soldering iron. I use a 20 watt non-regulated iron with a GROUNDED tip.
A soldering station is a good investment. I built a Viking Ranger with a
brand new Weller 220 watt soldering gun in 1954. The soldering gun is
still on the workbench and it still works, but I had no use for it in
the K2 <G>. 

Over the years I have largely given up depending upon being able to read
color codes with certainty, given the coatings they put over them and
the ever-smaller parts. So I checked all resistors and, for good
measure, capacitors as I installed them for the proper value. Gone
forever are the days of resistors the size of your finger with three or
four bright bands of color to give you the value. But then again, K2
won't take up a whole desktop and weigh 200 pounds. 

A wrist strap or a grounded work pad are NOT necessary, but you will
need to be sure that you aren't carrying a static charge when handling
many of the IC's and MOSFETs. Be sure you can easily "ground" yourself
from time to time as you handle static-sensitive parts. 

Considering how long you have been building, I'm guessing that you are
wearing reading glasses unless you are like my Brother, near-sighted! If
so a good magnifier is great. I use a binocular "Opti-Visor" that fits
over my reading glasses. It's great! 

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289


Now my question is this:  Are 
there any special problem areas that a person with this background 
should be aware of before he turns on the soldering iron?....Carl N8VZ