[Elecraft] Elecraft K3s, etc. bonding

[Dave Cole]

Hi Randy,

I rebuilt my shack six years ago, and documented a bit of that.  One 
part was connecting grounds to the back of the rigs.  See:

https://www.nk7z.net/rebuilding-the-shack/

Look at a few of the photos.  One shows a large copper ring terminal, 
which will fit a K3, etc., and how it was connected to 3/4 inch braid.

Basically I folded the braid, inserted it and some solder cut to length 
into the ring terminal solder bucket.  I then held it in place with a 
set of pliers, and hit the ring terminal with a Burns-O-Matic torch. 
You can see the jig I had set up on the top of the glass jar.

Yes...  I know grounds are not supposed to be soldered...

I am sure there are better ways...  This is just what I did.

73, and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
https://www.nk7z.net
ARRL Volunteer Examiner
ARRL Technical Specialist
ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources

On 4/23/20 5:37 AM, Randy Farmer wrote:
> I'm currently in the process of wiring up my new station and I happen to 
> be working on the equipment bonding phase for my pair of K3s SO2R 
> station. I'm doing my best to get decent connectivity between the 
> station components, but can't really figure out how to terminate large 
> (AWG 10) wire to the teeny 6-32 ground screws on the back of the K3, 
> especially since something like six bond wires need to be attached to 
> the transceivers. There appear to be no available ring terminals that 
> will fit these small screws; the smallest I can find are for #10 studs. 
> Even by using a threaded standoff installed in the K3 ground nut and a 
> longer screw to stand the rings off, stacking a bunch of these huge 
> terminals is extremely difficult. Providing some means of reasonably 
> quick disconnect for servicing purposes is equally difficult. Exactly 
> how can I go about connecting big wires to little ground posts?
> 
> 73...
> Randy, W8FN
> 
> On 4/20/2020 10:22 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
>> On 4/20/2020 6:08 PM, Tom Norris NB5Q wrote:
>>> I'm asking what method and
>>> attachment point, to each piece of equipment, you experienced K-Line 
>>> owners
>>> use to bond the K3s, P3, SP3, etc. and then on to the station ground.
>>
>> I use wires soldered to screw lugs, making sure that the attachment 
>> point is not insulated from the chassis by paint. Some of the 
>> equipment has a dedicated grounding screw. Shells of DB connectors 
>> SHOULD be bonded to the equipment chassis, but not always -- some mfrs 
>> screw up and fail to do that.
>>
>> Some of my equipment goes out in the field from time to time, so I use 
>> single circuit Power Pole connectors to make that easy. I'll use 2-6" 
>> between the lug and the PowerPole, then make a loop soldered to a 
>> PowerPoles that connect to each piece of gear in the string (so each 
>> connector has two wires). There are lots of suitable variations on 
>> this, depending on how the shack is laid out.
>>
>> These are the slides for my talks on station power, grounding, and 
>> bonding. http://k9yc.com/GroundingAndAudio.pdf
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
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