[Elecraft] In training for K2...

[Bill Coleman]

On 3/17/02 12:53 PM, Ron D' Eau Claire at rondec@easystreet.com wrote:

>Unless you have completely forgotten how to solder, you'll find the K2
>EASIER than those Heathkits you built those years ago.

That may be a stretch.

>No wiring harnesses. No complicated mechanical assemblies with shafts, cams,
>etc. to make work. 

Elecraft certainly has an elegant design in this respect. Of course, the 
thing that made Heathkits economically feasible were the presence of all 
these detailed hand-assembled parts in the electronics of the era. The 
age of automated assembly brought an end to the economic advantage of the 
kit.

>Good assembly instructions - even better than Heath's.

That's too far. The Elecraft instructions are quite good. There are only 
a few problems in the current manual. The instructions are relatively 
detailed. The manual does indicate a learning curve. In the early stages 
-- you are instructed exactly when to solder components. In the later 
stages, you have to guess for yourself.

But, for Heath manuals -- there's a ways to go to meet that standard. A 
Heath manual would have small pictograms of various parts of the circuit 
board, with callouts for each component in a table, one component per 
line. There would be fold-out exploded diagrams of each assembly.

No, the Elecraft manual is quite good, but it doesn't compare to a Heath 
manual. Then again, a Heath-like manual would be about 3 times thicker, 
and would cost a lot more, so you begin to understand why Heath is no 
longer in the kit business, whereas Elecraft is.

>All you have to do is put common components with leads (No surface-mount
>stuff) in the right holes and solder them in place.

It does take time. I'm a very experienced builder and have about 23 hours 
into my K2. I'm almost finished with the assembly.

>You can even pick up a pre-wound set of toroids if you don't want to deal
>with them. Just drop 'em in the board and solder them in place. 

You know, WINDING the toroids ain't all that bad. It's TINNING the 
doggone leads that drives me crazy....

>There are comprehensive in-process tests to ensure that your build is
>successful. They are right in the assembly instructions as you go.

I've been through Alignment and Test II and everything has worked 
flawlessly.

>The ONLY issue with building a K2 is the number of parts. There are a lot of
>them. 

It's about 30-50 hours of work, depending on your level of experience.

>That does NOT make it any harder, just longer. Take your time and it will go
>perfectly. All you have to do is insert the part and solder the leads,
>insert the part and solder the leads, insert... you get the idea. When you
>are done, you plug the boards together and turn it on.

The hardest part is dressing the component leads -- you have to make sure 
you have a good solder joint, and clip them off appropriately, and make 
sure you don't have any solder or lead bridges. Take this part slow and 
be careful.

>Frankly, most "small" kits out there are much harder to get working properly
>than a K2.

The K2 has a lot of built-in testing. If you can get the control panel 
and front panel up, then you have a voltmeter and a frequency counter 
built-in that can be used for the rest of the alignment and/or 
troubleshooting.


Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901