[Elecraft] Can't wait!

[Thor, n9ik]

I am certainly no expert (I just built my first-ever kit), but I worked very
comfortably with much smaller space than you have.  As for tools, I'm lucky
and have a very good tool bag from my network/pc tech days - all I needed
were flush-cutting wire cutters, small needle-nose pliers, and yes, I'll
admit it, a desoldering tool (solder-sucker as I call it).

I did buy a Weller temperature-controlled, dial-adjustable, digital-readout
soldering station on e-Bay that I'm very satisfied with.  I too have a
decent standard soldering iron, but I found that this soldering station
really made my life easier.

Another item that I feel made my life much easier while building my K1 was a
PanaVise circuit board holder that I also bought on e-Bay.  This is made up
of the standard panavise base attached to a parts-tray base with some wells
around the outer edge to hold pieces/parts, and a spring-loaded
circuit-board holder.  It also came with a "solder station" comprised of a
soldering iron holder, spindle to hold reels of solder (both of which attach
to the parts-tray base) and a couple sponges, but I didn't use those.

After the first day, I went and bought a magnifying glass/lamp.  I won't do
another project without that again, let me tell you.  I do know that some
people prefer to use a smaller, hand-held magnifying glass.  Either way,
unless you have a microscope implant in your eye, you'll need it to read
some of the part numbers on some of the components.

I also found that one of the most important things is to have plenty of
light.  I ended up getting one of my shop lamps from my garage and hanging
it up above my work table.  That, along with the magnifier/lamp kept me from
going blind.

And lastly, the biggest lesson I learned -- PROPERLY STRIP AND TIN THE LEADS
ON YOUR TOROIDS!  Except for putting one diode in backwards (it was 1:00 am,
but I caught it right away) the one thing I did wrong was how I installed
the first three toroids.  I had to do those over while I was aligning the
transmitter at the end, because I got no transmitter power out two of the
bands.  Redoing those toroids solved the problem.  (Another admission -
those were the first three toroids I had ever done, but now they no longer
intimidate me.)

Congratulations, good luck, take your time, and most of all.... HAVE FUN!

73,

- Thor, N9IK