[Elecraft] K2 price increase, RoHS

[John A. Ross [Ecraft]]

Eric

So are you saying that all Kx kits are now RoHS compliant? 

Except the solder preference of the builder? 

As soon as Lead based solder is used on the Kx kit it will automatically
loose its compliant status. Should probably ass that to the manual ;-)

Sorry I cut out all the other post you made, it’s the only point of interest
to me as I don't see any RoHS statement in the box or on your web site.

Is RoHS compliance really an issue for you? Other than the cost? 

All my surplus inventory, especially semiconductors are being gobbled up
left, right & centre by US sales agents, passives are starting to interest
them also, especially chip inductors.

As you are based in US and that’s where the products are placed on the
market, it’s the EU importer (customer) who is actually responsible for
compliance. As the importer is not actually taking the product to
manufacture for commercial gain I am not sure how that goes, or if the
legislation even applies.

At the end of the day you are selling parts, with instructions, not a
consumer product as such.

But if you want to talk about solder issues, a typical hike in solder costs
(lead based, say £5 UKP/Kg) is now hiked to £15 UKP/Kg (SAC305) and that’s
based on 100Kg+/Month usage and as the majority of it is tin & copper you
can guess where the demand has come from on the tin.

But I have not seen any significant increase in parts costs, in UK anyway.

Sorry for OT and straying a bit here, I avoided the money issue as I still
thing your products are good value for money even if you increase the cost
again.

John