K2: Tilt Bail Installation Question

[MikeH-3]

Hello All,

I'm currently building my K2, and have come to the tilt bail installation part. I must be missing something, because the force required to compress the tilt bail between the two rubber feet seems very excessive. To make the bail fit between to feet will require A LOT of force.

Is this normal? Whenever I have to really force something when building, my first thought is that something is not right....although I really don't see how anything could be wrong here. I appreciate any feedback.

Mike Hagey/NR7F
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[Don Wilhelm-3]

Mike,

A goodly amount of force is normal.  It is often difficult to hold the bail
and foot still and straight enough to get the proper screws into the holes.
I temporarily use the longest black screws that you have in the K2 kit (the
ones that will be used to mount the final transistors) - use just the long
screw and a nut, you can put enough force on the bail and foot to insert the
long screw at an angle and start the nut on it.  Then that screw can be
tightened enough to get the foot at a better angle - once you have 2
temporary screws in that way, you can tighten them and then remove one at a
time and put the proper mounting screws in with their lockwashers.  It takes
more time to tell about it than to do it.

73,
Don W3FPR

----- Original Message -----

I'm currently building my K2, and have come to the tilt bail installation
part. I must be missing something, because the force required to compress
the tilt bail between the two rubber feet seems very excessive. To make the
bail fit between to feet will require A LOT of force.

Is this normal? Whenever I have to really force something when building, my
first thought is that something is not right....although I really don't see
how anything could be wrong here. I appreciate any feedback.

Mike Hagey/NR7F
_______________________________________________


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[Brian Broggie-2]

Or, you could try another more extreme approach like I did and BEND the bail
to reduce it's overall length and so make it install more easily.  It also
takes less pressure to raise/lower it.  Will this make the K2 subject to
falling down flat from it's raised position during normal use?  Dunno, as I
am not finished building mine, yet.

Brian - W6FVI

----- Original Message -----
From: "W3FPR - Don Wilhelm" <[hidden email]>
To: "MikeH" <[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2: Tilt Bail Installation Question

> Mike,
>
> A goodly amount of force is normal.  It is often difficult to hold the
> bail and foot still and straight enough to get the proper screws into the
> holes. I temporarily use the longest black screws that you have in the K2
> kit (the ones that will be used to mount the final transistors) - use just
> the long screw and a nut, you can put enough force on the bail and foot to
> insert the long screw at an angle and start the nut on it.  Then that
> screw can be tightened enough to get the foot at a better angle - once you
> have 2 temporary screws in that way, you can tighten them and then remove
> one at a time and put the proper mounting screws in with their
> lockwashers.  It takes more time to tell about it than to do it.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> I'm currently building my K2, and have come to the tilt bail installation
> part. I must be missing something, because the force required to compress
> the tilt bail between the two rubber feet seems very excessive. To make
> the bail fit between to feet will require A LOT of force.
>
> Is this normal? Whenever I have to really force something when building,
> my first thought is that something is not right....although I really don't
> see how anything could be wrong here. I appreciate any feedback.
>
> Mike Hagey/NR7F
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>

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[Bruce McLaughlin]

This had to be one of the most frustrating steps involved in building my
K2/100!  Even resort to uttering mighty oaths did not appreciably help,
although, that did scare the cat out from under the work bench.

I finally reported to using a Quickgrip hand vise BUT . . . be VERY
CAREFUL if you do that.  It is very easy to use too much force and bend
the bail to the point where it is too loose and then won't stay up.  If
you use this method, take it slowly, carefully and with only minimum
increments of pressure until the ends of the bail will slip into the
feet.  I'm not suggesting this is the best way of doing it but after
trying various other suggestions, it seemed to work best for me.

Good luck.

Bruce - W8FU

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of MikeH
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 9:11 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K2: Tilt Bail Installation Question

Hello All,

I'm currently building my K2, and have come to the tilt bail
installation part. I must be missing something, because the force
required to compress the tilt bail between the two rubber feet seems
very excessive. To make the bail fit between to feet will require A LOT
of force.

Is this normal? Whenever I have to really force something when building,
my first thought is that something is not right....although I really
don't see how anything could be wrong here. I appreciate any feedback.

Mike Hagey/NR7F
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9:09:18 PM ET - 1/21/2005


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[ac0h]

I just went through this with #4684.
I installed both feet on the bottom panel, stood the panel on edge,
installed the lower side of the tilt bail, and then "leaned on" the bail
till it was compressed enough to slide into place. I don't know how
anybody does it the way the manual says to do it without carving up the
bottom cover paint job while trying to hold the compressed bail and
start a screw.

--
R. Kevin Stover
AC0H

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[Rich Lentz]

I found it rather simple to use the method that has been provided here many
times.

Partially assembly the stand and the feet, with the stand extended.
 
Use the recommended screws to the front or closest to the notch the stand
fits in when extended.
Select the longest screws available (they will go in at an angle but will
fit) and chinch the stand and feet down.
Once firmly in place, One-at-a-time, remove the long screws and replace with
the Elecraft recommended screws.

This required very little effort.

Rich,
KE0X

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[Douglas Westover]

I used a piece of plumbers tape wraped around both legs
of the bail, cut so there was a gap of several inches between
the ends. I then inserted a bolt through holes in each end of
the tape and tighted it until the bail was sufficiently
compressed to fit in the feet. Leave the screws holding
the feet loose.

Doug
W6JD

----- Original Message -----
From: "MikeH" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 6:11 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] K2: Tilt Bail Installation Question


Hello All,

I'm currently building my K2, and have come to the tilt bail installation
part. I must be missing something, because the force required to compress
the tilt bail between the two rubber feet seems very excessive. To make the
bail fit between to feet will require A LOT of force.

Is this normal? Whenever I have to really force something when building, my
first thought is that something is not right....although I really don't see
how anything could be wrong here. I appreciate any feedback.

Mike Hagey/NR7F
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[Tom Hammond-3]

Hi Folks:

At 11:44 AM 1/22/05, Bruce McLaughlin wrote:

>This had to be one of the most frustrating steps involved in building my
>K2/100!  Even resort to uttering mighty oaths did not appreciably help,
>although, that did scare the cat out from under the work bench.
>
>I finally reported to using a Quickgrip hand vise BUT . . . be VERY
>CAREFUL if you do that.  It is very easy to use too much force and bend
>the bail to the point where it is too loose and then won't stay up.  If
>you use this method, take it slowly, carefully and with only minimum
>increments of pressure until the ends of the bail will slip into the
>feet.  I'm not suggesting this is the best way of doing it but after
>trying various other suggestions, it seemed to work best for me.

I guess I should relate the method I used (long ago) to get my tilt bail
installed... it still works today, and might make things a bit easy for
others...

The big problem I think we all seem to have is that the screws are too darn
short to allow easy installation... so... USE LONGER ONES... at least until
you get things tightened down the first time. Once you have the bail in
place and the screws tightened down, start replacing them, one-by-one, with
screws of the proper length!!! Even if you have to find a few 'spare' 3/4"
4-40 screws, it's worth the small added effort and NOT having to let loose
with all the invectives I first found when I was doing my K2... It wasn't
until I built my K1 that I realized how easy things became once I used the
longer screws at the start.

73,

Tom   N0SS

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