K2 Crystal Grounding Leads

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K2 Crystal Grounding Leads

Jim Stephens
Building a K2.  (Having great fun doing so!)  Working on the RF board.  At
the point of installing crystals X1-X11.  These have one or two ground leads
each.  Any reason not to solder the ground leads on the cases first and then
install the crystals?  This would involve routing three or four leads per
crystal through the PC board.  Particularly I am thinking of X7-X11 which
sit right next to RP4 and RP5.  These are close quarters for me.  Thanks and
72!

Jim Stephens, NX8Z
Hurricane, West Virginia, USA
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Re: K2 Crystal Grounding Leads

Don Wilhelm-4
Jim,

That will work, and I have heard of some who did it that way.

I find it is easy (even in the close quarters with the R-Paks) to solder
the wires to the crystal cans after the crystals are mounted.
My technique is to solder in the ground wires (don't trim the leads on
the bottom of the board yet)  Above the board, cut the wires to about
1/4 inch, then use a small flat screwdriver to force the wire in contact
with the crystal quite close to the base.
Tilt the board so the ground wires so bent are facing sort-of upward -
place the length of the solder tip alongside the wire and crystal and
apply a bit of solder to the junction.  Then hold the end of the rest of
the solder on the crystal case slightly away from the wire.  When that
solder melts, add a bit more to the wire/can junction and move on to the
next crystal.

I ground all the K2 crystals near the base.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/20/2011 7:39 PM, Jim Stephens wrote:
> Building a K2.  (Having great fun doing so!)  Working on the RF board.  At
> the point of installing crystals X1-X11.  These have one or two ground leads
> each.  Any reason not to solder the ground leads on the cases first and then
> install the crystals?  This would involve routing three or four leads per
> crystal through the PC board.  Particularly I am thinking of X7-X11 which
> sit right next to RP4 and RP5.  These are close quarters for me.  Thanks and
> 72!
>
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Re: K2 Crystal Grounding Leads

K1FFX
In reply to this post by Jim Stephens
You might also have a look at my comments/pic at the blog I kept during K2 construction:

http://build-k2.blogspot.com/2010/09/grounding-crystals.html

Cheers -

Bruce
Bruce Rosen
K1FFX
K2/100 6982 KSB2 KAT100-1 KAF2 KIO2
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Re: K2 Crystal Grounding Leads

David Pratt
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4
FWIW, I have always found it useful to scratch the surface of the
crystals and tin them prior to mounting them on the board.  It clears
any tarnishing of the cans between time of manufacture and assembly and
makes soldering easier.

73 De David G4DMP

In a recent message, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> writes
>I find it is easy (even in the close quarters with the R-Paks) to solder
>the wires to the crystal cans after the crystals are mounted.
--
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
 | David M Pratt, Kippax, Leeds.   |
 | Website: http://www.g4dmp.co.uk |
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +



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