[Elecraft] Surface Mount tech; Orion; and K2/100

[Morrow, Michael A.]

Tony wrote:

> ... the obvious question is - what would be gained by using SMT?

Quite an aweful *lot*, actually, but only if the surface mount parts are =
pre-assembled
to the printed circuit boards by the kit manufacturer. =20

(1)  A lot of individual parts become a single big part.  Inventory of =
the affected
     parts becomes much simpler for both the manufacturer and the =
customer.
(2)  The overall opportunity for error in kit assembly by the customer =
can be
     greatly reduced, with an attendant reduction in the amount of =
resources
     that the kit manufacturer has to devote to customer problems.
(3)  The time required for kit assembly by the customer can be greatly =
reduced.
(4)  The reliability of the completed kit would likely be higher.
(5)  If the economy of scale is large enough, the overall cost of kit =
production
     could be lower.
(6)  If the supply of the older non-SM components becomes more =
problematic,
     the use of SM design could allow continued kit production, or allow =
the
     use of components of more recent design.

Many parts in such a kit would still require assembly (larger =
transistors, toroids,
ICs with internal firmware, controls with moving parts, etc).  Alignment =
would still
be required.  Most of the intellectually significant skills for current =
kit building
would still be required for such a kit.  But significant advantages as =
detailed above
are likely outcomes of pre-assembled SM/PCB assemblies in a kit.

For those unfamiliar with them, the SWL DSW-series mono-band QRP rig =
used several
SM components and a SM AD9835 DDS chip pre-assembled on the kit PCB.  I =
believe that
DSW production was only about 600 unit total (so, economy of scale???).  =
The MFJ Cub
monoband QRP rig extensively uses pre-assembled SM components, at least =
halving
the build time.  Yet, one still gets nearly all the sense of =
accomplishment after
completing one as if all components had been discrete.

I, for one, would be much more inclined to purchase a kit that used =
pre-assembled
SM components as described above.

73,
Mike / KK5F