[Elecraft] K3 Broken AF knob and bad service to geta replacement.

[Radio Amateur N5GE]

On Thu, 3 Dec 2009 13:36:04 -0800, Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>
wrote:

The broken knobs can also be caused by tightening the set screw too
tight.  If one has a tendency to tighten everything until they get
blisters on there fingers they will eventually crack one of those
knobs.  I'm not suggesting that is the problem in this case, but it's
a good idea to only tighten set screws in plastic knobs until only
tight enough to hold them on the shaft.


>I may be biased (I designed the K3's knobs, switches, LCD, and  
>packaging with intent to have everything match, aesthetically), but I  
>strongly recommend *not* changing the knobs to anything else.
>
>If you're only doing it because you have one that's defective, please  
>request a replacement from Elecraft. We had a batch manufactured with  
>the wrong material, and I thought we had sent replacements to all  
>affected K3 owners, but perhaps not.
>
>If you're doing it because you'd like machined aluminum knobs rather  
>than plastic, send me a private email telling me how much you'd be  
>willing to pay for a complete set of them :)  It is certainly possible  
>to have them made from aluminum, but the cost would be dramatically  
>higher. Off the top of my head I'm guessing it would have added  
>$150-200 to the cost of the radio.
>
>Mouser aluminum knobs (or any other off-the-shelf knobs) will not  
>match the K3. I'd rather design new ones from scratch.
>
>But I personally like the molded plastic knobs, which are easy on the  
>fingers.
>
>73,
>Wayne
>N6KR
>
[snip]