[Elecraft] Re: PCBs & hard o get parts

[wayne burdick]

Hi Matt,

These are reasonable questions that we debated on and off for months 
before committing to a no-soldering approach for the K3.

Matt Osborn wrote:

> For those to whom the challenge is to build the radio, will there be
> available the PCBs, chassis, connectors and hard to get parts?

No, sorry -- this would be impossible for us to support. While a few 
customers might be capable of installing fine-pitch surface-mount parts 
(like 100-pin TQFPs) and small discretes (including some with 20-mil 
pitch, and hundreds of 0602s), the number of kits sold this way would 
simply not justify the engineering effort needed to create the assembly 
documentation. We have assembly docs, but they're written for our 
3rd-party fabricators, not for traditional kit builders.


>
>
> This may be blasphemy in some quarters, but I earned my HAM license so
> I could use the things I build, not so I could use the things I buy.

Well, the best answer I have for this is "K2". We will continue to 
offer *all* of our traditional, full (i.e. soldering-required) kits.


>
> The switch to SMD need not be the end of home construction; indeed,
> after overcoming my initial intrepidation to small sizes and closely
> packed components, I found that I actually enjoyed constructing SMD
> style.  I've not mastered 04 sizes, but 08 and above are easily (and
> enjoyably) accomplished.

This is quite true, but the K3 has *hundreds* of SMD parts. This is not 
in the "fun" category anymore, as any of my staff can attest :)

So, in the case of the K3 we've raised the level of integration to 
"module," rather than "part." And there are about a dozen modules in a 
basic K3. I'm sure you don't need the theory about how they work if 
you're a master builder, but the manual provides it. I'm guessing it'll 
still take 4 to 8 hours to put the kit together, assuming you follow 
our standard procedure, which includes a lot of check-out and alignment 
steps.

We still plan to offer smaller SMD-based kits in the future.


>
> I guess what I'm asking for is waiver of responsibility and a kit of
> parts that I can succeed or fail with upon my own recognizance.

I wish we could accommodate this. But I think we'd end up providing way 
more support for units built this way, even though I'm sure you (and a 
few others) might have the confidence to tackle it. Just pulling and 
kitting the parts would be a huge operation for a K3.


>
> I love having built my K2....

Good to hear.

>
> Same price, no warranty, what do you say?

I appreciate your request, and admire your desire to do a project of 
this density all on your own, but for now I just don't think we can go 
there. Ask us again in six months.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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http://www.elecraft.com