[Elecraft] K3 Assembly issue with bottom Heat Sink cover!

[williamsonr at pbtcomm.net]

Hey gang,

Just spent 4 hours assembling K3 s/n 1318 and all went well except for one slight but potentially serious hardware problem.  When installing the bottom heat sink cover over the LPA I noticed that the required 4-40 x 1/4" screws bottomed out in the standoffs under the TO-220 LPA transistors before they would compress the cover to the transistors (and yes I can measure screw lengths).  This will leave a gap between the transistor and the heatsink and not provide proper heat sinking!  It is strange to note that one of the Manual Errata changes was to point out that the heat sink cover was "slightly" thicker than the other bottom cover.  Wonder if this part has changed?  Any way, I added 3 #4 stainless steel flat washers under the screw heads and that allows the screws to fully compress the heat sink against the transistors.  For a belts and suspenders fix I also added a dab of heat sink compound to the transistors as well.  I did not check the screws coming from the top side of t!
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he LPA assy to see if the factory may have used the wrong/longer screws taking up extra standoff threads.  A #4 split washer could have also been left off of this top side screw and create the same issue or tol. stack up of the parts?

Any way HEADS UP!

73,

Rodger
N4NRW