[Elecraft] Simple assembly of K2 Tilt Bail

[dking at vcn.com]

I am in the process of assembling my K2 #6049, and as I came to the  
job of attaching the tilt bail to the bottom, I remembered the recent  
discussions here about the on-going problem this creates for many.

I had seen the "loop wire around it and twist till it compresses both  
sides enough to insert the screws" along with the "use longer screws  
and then replace them one at a time".....and was dreading this portion  
of the project.

However, as I assembled the tilt bail, the two nylon fasteners, the 4  
bolts/lock washers/nuts, and the bottom panel...I noticed the Irwin  
brand bar-clamp I had at the side of the bench...and the proverbial  
light bulb lit up!

The bar-clamp is one of those tools that make life much easier when  
you remember to use it..and that was the case tonight.   The one I  
used only opens to about 8 inches...it's one of those with the  
pistol-grip type handles that creeps down the bar when you squeeze the  
handle until whatever your clamping is squeezed between the handle end  
and the fixed clamp face at the end of the bar.  Mine was about 10  
bucks at home-depot...and a quick Google search will show a multitude  
of makers of these, from Stanley to Craftsman.

I simply put the bail between the two jaws...pumped the handle till it  
bowed enough to fit between the first nylon fastener which I had  
pre-attached to the board and the other fastener, which I dropped the  
first screw through the hole, dropped an extra nut on top of the  
recessed head as a spacer to keep the head pushed to the bottom of the  
hole so the threads pushed all the way through the bottom and  
protruded through the board...placed a finger on top of the extra nut  
to keep the threads protruding...turned things over, added the lock  
nut and finger-tightened the nut over the lock nut......then repeated  
the process on the second screw/locknut/nut with the clamp still  
holding compression so the tilt-bail fit between the two nylon blocks  
and didn't spring the block past the screw holes.  Once things were  
finger-tight, I removed the clamp, got out the screw driver and  
tightened things up to final tightness.

I was done with the whole process in less than 5 minutes.

Hope this is of help to other builders.

David King
KE7EKA
Gillette, Wyoming

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