[Elecraft] K3 no-soldering kit: response to several comments

[Doug Person]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased with the approach you've taken.  
While my soldering skills are excellent and I enjoy the building process 
very much, SMD's are out of the question for me.  In the case of the K3, 
I save a few hundred $ doing the mechanical assembly - which is great - 
glad that option is available. 

However, I'm drawn to the K3 not for the kit-building experience, but 
for its superb design and outstanding performance.  This is my chance to 
own a truly high-performance rig in a price range I can afford.

To me, the K2 and K3 are apples and oranges.  If you want to build - buy 
a K2.  You will have a great kit-building experience and a great rig 
when you're done.  If you want a radio with high-performance - and that 
is your purchase criteria - then the K3 is for you.  And oh by the way, 
you can save a few bucks if you do some of the mechanical assembly work 
yourself.  A bonus feature.

As I'm sure you've heard this over and over - great job on the K3.  
Can't wait to get mine.  I'm sure you guys feel a great deal of 
gratification and satisfaction from all of the positive feedback.  The 
K3 may very well become the benchmark by which other rigs are measured.

73 es tnx,

Doug -- K0DXV

wayne burdick wrote:
> We've had a few requests for a "full" K3 kit -- one where the builder 
> installs all of the parts, including the SMDs (surface mount devices). 
> Unfortunately this isn't practical for a project of this complexity. I 
> realize that many of our customers are quite capable of doing SMD 
> assembly, but many would have difficulty, too, since there are 
> hundreds of SMDs, many with very fine pitch leads.
>
> In order to support a "full" kit, we'd have to stock and kit all of 
> the SMDs for a small percentage of builders. This would represent a 
> huge amount of added overhead, since at present the SMDs are shipped 
> directly from vendors to our assembly facility. In addition, we'd need 
> a lot of additional documentation and support staff to help with 
> SMD-related assembly, testing, troubleshooting and repair. I consider 
> myself a very capable SMD builder, but I occasionally mis-install a 
> part or leave a joint unsoldered, and troubleshooting such problems 
> can be very tedious even for the designer!
>
> The other request has been for a version of the K3 where the builder 
> installs all the leaded parts. This, too, would create major 
> difficulties for a product like the K3. Even if we pre-installed the 
> SMDs, we wouldn't be able to fully test the PC boards if we didn't 
> also install the leaded parts, including connectors. Nodal testing 
> using custom fixtures for each board might get around this, but it 
> could take another year of engineering time to complete. And we'd 
> still have problems: a very expensive multilayer board with lots of 
> SMDs that was damaged during customer assembly would be a serious 
> liability both for us and the builder.
>
> The modular, no-soldering K3 kit will, we hope, be attractive to both 
> our current customers and to new builders who would never have 
> attempted to build their own transceiver before. With our 
> encouragement (and yours), these new builders may go on to try their 
> hand at our "full" kits. We plan to continue to offer all of our 
> present kits and will add new ones in the future.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
> ---
>
> http://www.elecraft.com
>
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