[Elecraft] K3 #6150

[NZ8J]

K3/100 kit sn 6150 arrived yesterday just in time for the weekend.  Took
my time today and it went together in about 8 hours, with no significant
issues. Everything worked according to the manual as I expected. There
is one issue that is somewhat irritating though.  The AF and RF knobs
cannot be "nested" as they should be to fit properly. In order to be
able to turn the AF gain or RF gain without having them catch on the
larger respective SUB knobs they have to be pulled out so they won't
catch. They are visibly out of alignment.

A quick search of the archives revealed a rather long 2 /1/2 year old
thread about some defective knobs.  The gist of the thread was not so
much about them cracking or breaking as some had experienced, it was
because they were "off center" and would not allow for a proper
installation. Apparently whatever the issue was, it is still there 2 1/2
years later as the one I received yesterday has the same problem.  

It's hard to understand how a product can be so well designed and the
manufacturing tolerances so close (take the cabinet parts and pieces as
one example) but yet something as seemingly simple as a plastic knob
some 2 1/2 years after an in-depth discussion that Elecraft was part of
are still being manufactured and delivered out of tolerance. I don't
have a problem with the intended look or feel of the knobs, I think they
are fine, just the fact they turn out so badly in many cases and detract
from the end product.

I was having a lot of fun putting this together today until I got to the
part where I installed the knobs, big disappointment!

I have a set of the Mouser  machined aluminum knobs and although they
are smooth and have a nice feel they just don't match the rest of the
knobs to my liking, I wonder if anyone has come up with an alternative
to the Mouser knobs?

Tim
NZ8J

K3 - 6150
P3- 1775
KPA500 - 618