[Elecraft] [K2] MAB - anyone picking this up?

[David Woolley (E.L)]

I'd just noticed the MAB on the LA3ZA modifications page and was doing 
initial research, although my feeling is that the component sourcing 
costs are going to be too high to justify, especially if one has to buy 
the extender and pay customs clearance fees on it as well as multiple 
lots of international shipping (Mouser is OK if one can bulk up the 
order with other things that only they can supply, as they have special 
arrangements to pay UK taxes up front).

I don't have the capabilities for cutting up the boards and I'm not sure 
if I could sell them on anyway (also there may also be consequences of 
becoming a manufacturer in terms of legal responsibilities).  However, I 
did have a look at the ExpressPCB site and I noted:

1) they advise against cutting up four layer boards because of the risk 
of shorting power and ground planes.  That suggests yields from the 
separation process could be low.

2) they do do large runs much more cheaply, so creating industry 
standard CAD files may not be necessary.

3) it is difficult to understand why the setup costs are so high and I 
wonder why they can't give a discount on re-orders from the same CAD file.

-- 
David Woolley
Owner K2 06123

On 27/05/14 19:42, Dave KW4M wrote:
> Each panel contains three MAB boards.  So the cost per MAB board would be
> $11.98.
>
> I used a shear to cut out the individual boards.  I believe Tom used a band
> saw.
>
> If there was sufficient demand it would make sense to convert the layout to
> use industry-standard Gerbers and place a larger order from a regular board
> house.  The cost would then be very low.