[Elecraft] Tips on safely Soldering X7 - X11 Grounding wires on K2 RF Board

[Martin AC6RM]

Mike;

Here's what I did to ground these.  Construct a picture in your mind of
how this is going to go before you actually do it:

1.  Install the crystals as instructed in the manual;

2.  Select ten of your best excess snipped-off component leads.  You need
them to be at least a little longer than the crystals are tall. 
Straighten them out so there are no kinks and no excess solder blobs on
them, etc.

3.  Turn the RF board upside down and rest it on a non-flammable table or
bench top.  If you are using a vise to hold the board during this
kit-building process, you'll need to remove the RF board from the vise and
get it flat on to the non-flammable surface (such as glass, or a flat
baking tin, etc.).

4.  Drop the snip-offs into the ground holes next to the crystals.  Get
them as verticle as possible, and then solder them in to place.  The
non-flammable surface is needed because the hot wires will mark up your
mother's oak dining room table, or melt through your anti-static mat
(this, from experience).

4.  Turn the board back over.

5.  Clip off these new ground wires about half-way up the crystal cans. 
Use a pair of small needle-nose pliers to bend each wire such that it
makes contact with the crystal about a quarter of an inch up the crystal
can.  (I sorta "dog-legged" the bends so that about 1/8th of an inch of
the ground wire layed flat against the side of the crystal can).

6.  Using your vise, or some other mechanical means, rest and secure the
RF board on its left edge, such that -- now, as you look DOWN at the
crystals and the outside five new ground wires, the wires are oriented
ABOVE the crystal can.

7.  Following earlier precautions regarding overheating the cans, solder
the wires to the cans.

8.  Flip the board on to its other edge and then solder the other five.

   I am sure there are other creative ways to accomplish this task.  This
worked for me.

   73 ES GL,
   Martin AC6RM  K2 #3021
   ("It's Shake'n'Bake and Ahh Healped!")

> Hi,
>
> I am a first time K2 builer, and just joined the list. I am greatly
> enjoying my kitbuilding experience so far, but I have a little
> trepidation in performing the crystal grounding steps for the 5 crystals
<...snip...>
> So I was wondering at what techniques people had found for this that had
>  produced good results.
<...snip...>
> Tnx es 73 de KE0MF
> Mike
>