[Elecraft] K3 Knobs

[James Sarte]

The first time I assembled my K3, I took care not to over tighten the
concentric knobs.  However, I had to take them off several times as I had to
troubleshoot a problem I thought I might have been having with the DSP
board.  The last time I reassembled the front panel, in haste and tiredness,
I cranked down the grub screws enough to indent the potentiometer shafts.
As a result, both sets of concentric knobs split in half.  

I called Elecraft the following day and ordered two replacement sets.  I
have since taken care to make sure that the grub screws are only tight
enough to prevent the knob from slipping on its shaft.  One thing I've
noticed though is that the holes drilled in all sets of knobs I received
weren't exactly centered; making alignment and prevention of binding between
knobs a difficult task.  In the end, I had to mix and match knobs until I
found pairs that worked well together without binding.

In the end, the knobs (especially the concentric knobs) are the K3's
cheapest feeling items.  They are poorly manufactured with spotty QC.  I
would rather pay a little extra to have quality machined knobs, or at least
resin knobs with metal ferrules in them.  Of course, whatever Elecraft comes
up with in future, I hope they check to make sure that the holes in the
knobs are perfectly centered.

73 de James K3JPS/2

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of rfenabled at gmail.com
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 11:25 AM
To: Elecraft
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Knobs

For the life of me I cannot imagine what is being done to the radio to cause
destruction of the original knobs.

I would not want to be the second owner of those radios as I shudder to
think what the rest of the radio has been subjected to.

Just my initial thought.

My K3 is well over one year old and exhibits no wear and tear, it has been
transported often, used in the field as well as numerous operators and still
looks and works just like it did on day one.

Gary
Sent via BlackBerryR from Telstra
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