[Elecraft] extremely silly K1 LED mod (flush mount)

[Wallace, Andy]

I was bugged by the fact my RIT and ATTN LEDs were not
evenly spaced behind the front panel holes. I wondered
if I could stick them through the front panel... Ordered
a pair of new ones (570000 and 570001 respectively) and
experimented...

Yes, they will fit through the front panel holes. I
thought about just putting them up against the panel,
with the lip on the base of the LED against the back
of the sheetmetal. Well, that sticks out pretty far
and looks a little silly.

How about flush mount? Hmm, does anyone make flat
front LEDs? Web search yields....nope, not for bicolor
ones anyhow.

OK, bench grinder time -- ground the pair flat and
the same size. Basically, I took off just a little bit
more than the curved front. (Tried this on a junk LED
first.) Not bad! You should touch up the front with
steel wool or a fiberglass burnishing brush to even
up the surface and remove grinder scratches. 

To get them flush to the panel, I removed the old LEDs
and wicked all the solder out of the holes. Then I stuck
the flat LEDs in the holes, and mounted the front panel board
to the front panel sheetmetal with the flat-head screw. 
I carefully laid (gently) a piece of adhesive tape over each
hole, and fed the LEDs through the hole and flush up against
the tape. Then I soldered them. 

Perfect! I added some shrink tubing around the LED body
so the light from the LED dial light mod wouldn't interfere,
and so pair wouldn't affect each other. 

Reassembled - looks good. Shaving off the lens means the
LEDs aren't as diffused, nor as bright, it seems. What you
see is a bright center spot and a halo. Not bad, though.
I like it. 

Silly, though.
Andy