[Elecraft] Stripping enamel from toroid wires

[David Powell]

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> For example, in the KXB3080
> installation, there's a small daughter board with two toroids on it and the
> solder pads are very close together. One wire runs very, very close to
> another wire's solder pad as it loops around the edge of the daughter board
> to its own solder pad behind it. We tell the builder to leave 1/8" of enamel
> on that wire just to avoid the possibility of a short circuit in case it
> gets pushed against the solder pad. 
>
> There are been a number of builders who didn't read the procedure and tinned
> the wire all the way to the core. Then they had to troubleshoot the KXB3080
> assembly to locate the short. It's an easy fix: just pull the wire away from
> the pad, but it underscores the importance of reading the procedures. Even
> highly-experienced builders need to read each step and note the critical
> information even if their method of doing the job is a little different from
> what is described. 
Thanks for a well timed comment, Ron.

I was just putting my KXB3080 together - and things weren't working - 
when I read it. Over enthusiastic enamel stripping turned out to be the 
problem here; in my case I've solved it in a rather inelegant fashion by 
putting two (very) short lengths of insulation from some hook up wire 
onto the end of L2-1 and L1-1.

It would have been much better to get it right first time, of course, 
but it all works now - I've just had my first 80m QSO on the KX1.

So - thanks again.

David - G3XLW