[Elecraft] K2 RF board - components on bottom?

[Stan Rife]

Jim,
	HMC Electronics carries these. I ordered two of them, one for 1/8
watt and one for 1/4 watt, a few weeks back. They are just as you described.
2 or 3 bucks apiece.

Stan Rife
W5EWA
Houston, TX
K2 S/N 4216
 

-----Original Message-----
 On Behalf Of Jim Harris
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 11:05 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] K2 RF board - components on bottom?

This may be too late to help you much.  But, I'll give
it a spin.  This might be more useful to future
builders.

Many years ago in manufacturing we used a small
plastic device that was about eight inches long and
about a quarter inch high and tapered from one end at
about a quarter inch to about an inch on the other
end.  It had a cutout down the middle that the
components were placed into.  Along the raised plastic
parts on either side of the cutout were indentations
for the componet leads.  There were something like
25-30 different positions along the tool depending on
the spacing needed for the leads on the pc board. 
Narrow spacings obviously were at the narrow end and
wider at the opposite end.

After selecting the right spacing and placing the
component in the tool a thumb was placed over the
component and thumb and first finger of the other hand
was used to gentle bend the leads down to 90 degrees. 
If needed, then the leads could be further formed to
fit special situations usually without stressing the
lead to body bond.

We got the tool from places like Jameco, Digi-key etc.
 don't know if anyone carries them anymore.  While
building my K2 I wished numerous times I had one of
those little gizmo's.  Sure would have made life
simplier.

Enjoy your new toy and have a great day.

Jim, AB0UK