KC9EHQ New KSB2 revision issues

[David Dietrich]

Hi All!

I already E-mailed Wayne about this, but I thought I would share this with the rest of the group in case anyone got one of these recently and hasn't assembled it yet.  I bought the KSB2 with my K2...Unfortunately, when I bought the radio and options, the KSB2 was out of stock.  It took a few weeks to get this option because some components were no longer available, and Wayne and the Elecraft team had to perform some redesign work.  I got one of the new boards, and the assembly was going by swimmingly this afternoon until I hit a snag...ALL if the 1N4007 diodes will NOT fit into their holes because the leads are too thick.  This is more than a "tight fit"...They just plain don't want to go in at all.  I am not going to attempt to widen the holes on my own as there isn't much real estate to work around, and I don't want to damage traces.

Just an FYI, and no need for replies.

73,

David, KC9EHQ
K1 s/n 2051
K2 s/n 7164
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

David,

I will reply anyway, because a situation like that is of extreme
interest to me.

That is a a real mystery.

I did the pilot build on the new KSB2 board and encountered no problems
with those diodes.  Something may have changed since I did that build,
and the only two things I can think of are that the 1N4007 leads got
thicker or the holes got smaller at the board manufacturing house.  The
board I worked with was *not* pre-production since Wayne was quite
anxious to get this new board into production, he took the risk of
cutting the new board in before I received my field test kit.

The normal holes for the 1N4007 diodes are the same size as for
resistors and other components even though the 1N4007 leads are larger,
they will fit in most any hole designed for resistors - that is true for
all the K2 boards that I know about.  Do you have other unassembled
options for the K2?  If so, try the 1N4007 leads in a hole intended for
a resistor on any of your other boards.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/24/2011 9:02 PM, David Dietrich wrote:
> Hi All!
>
> I already E-mailed Wayne about this, but I thought I would share this with the rest of the group in case anyone got one of these recently and hasn't assembled it yet.  I bought the KSB2 with my K2...Unfortunately, when I bought the radio and options, the KSB2 was out of stock.  It took a few weeks to get this option because some components were no longer available, and Wayne and the Elecraft team had to perform some redesign work.  I got one of the new boards, and the assembly was going by swimmingly this afternoon until I hit a snag...ALL if the 1N4007 diodes will NOT fit into their holes because the leads are too thick.  This is more than a "tight fit"...They just plain don't want to go in at all.  I am not going to attempt to widen the holes on my own as there isn't much real estate to work around, and I don't want to damage traces.
>
> Just an FYI, and no need for replies.
>
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[W1SBY]

I had a similar problem with my main board on K2 6688. The board house
botched the plating process on one quadrant of the board. The closer you
got to the corner the tighter the holes were until they were all but
closed up.

I sent it in to Elecraft and they opened the holes, not sure what they
used (needle, drill?), but it worked.

I wonder if the same thing has happened again?

On 7/24/2011 8:55 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> David,
>
> I will reply anyway, because a situation like that is of extreme
> interest to me.
>
> That is a a real mystery.
>
>
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[R Thompson]

I'm just finishing my KSB2 board, and I did encounter this problem at
only one hole, the cathode for D1.  Otherwise it all went together as
per the instruction, and a bonus, somehow I ended up with a few
unexpected spare parts, such as a 2N3906, two extra 2.2mfd caps, and a
couple of resistors.

          Ron VE8RT

On Sun, 2011-07-24 at 21:55 -0400, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> David,
>
> I will reply anyway, because a situation like that is of extreme
> interest to me.
>
> That is a a real mystery.
>
> I did the pilot build on the new KSB2 board and encountered no problems
> with those diodes.  Something may have changed since I did that build,
> and the only two things I can think of are that the 1N4007 leads got
> thicker or the holes got smaller at the board manufacturing house.  The
> board I worked with was *not* pre-production since Wayne was quite
> anxious to get this new board into production, he took the risk of
> cutting the new board in before I received my field test kit.
>
> The normal holes for the 1N4007 diodes are the same size as for
> resistors and other components even though the 1N4007 leads are larger,
> they will fit in most any hole designed for resistors - that is true for
> all the K2 boards that I know about.  Do you have other unassembled
> options for the K2?  If so, try the 1N4007 leads in a hole intended for
> a resistor on any of your other boards.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 7/24/2011 9:02 PM, David Dietrich wrote:
> > Hi All!
> >
> > I already E-mailed Wayne about this, but I thought I would share this with the rest of the group in case anyone got one of these recently and hasn't assembled it yet.  I bought the KSB2 with my K2...Unfortunately, when I bought the radio and options, the KSB2 was out of stock.  It took a few weeks to get this option because some components were no longer available, and Wayne and the Elecraft team had to perform some redesign work.  I got one of the new boards, and the assembly was going by swimmingly this afternoon until I hit a snag...ALL if the 1N4007 diodes will NOT fit into their holes because the leads are too thick.  This is more than a "tight fit"...They just plain don't want to go in at all.  I am not going to attempt to widen the holes on my own as there isn't much real estate to work around, and I don't want to damage traces.
> >
> > Just an FYI, and no need for replies.
> >
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

That is a possibility, and if so, makes it an isolated case (I would
hope that is true).
It is *possible* to drill out the holes (but certainly not
recommended).  If that is done, it will be necessary to solder the lead
on both the top and bottom of the board (because the thru-plating will
be destroyed).  For the KSB2, that would mean mounting the diodes far
enough to solder between the board and the component body (the diodes on
the KSB2 board are mounted vertically).

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/24/2011 10:06 PM, Allen Wisbey, W1SBY wrote:

> I had a similar problem with my main board on K2 6688. The board house
> botched the plating process on one quadrant of the board. The closer you
> got to the corner the tighter the holes were until they were all but
> closed up.
>
> I sent it in to Elecraft and they opened the holes, not sure what they
> used (needle, drill?), but it worked.
>
> I wonder if the same thing has happened again?
>
>

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[David Dietrich]

All,

I misspoke when I said all the holes are too small.  I made an assumption based on one hole.  However, D2 on my board is too tight of a fit on the anode or cathode.  I just checked the other holes, per Don's suggestion, and they seem to accept the leads.  I assumed that if one was the case, the others would be the same as all the holes look alike in size. 


73,

David
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[David Pratt]

I have overcome a similar problem in the past by strapping a needle to
my soldering iron bit.  By using an high iron temperature it is possible
to insert the needle slowly into the hole and causing excess solder to
melt.

73 de David G4DMP

In a recent message, Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]> writes
>It is *possible* to drill out the holes (but certainly not
>recommended).  If that is done, it will be necessary to solder the lead
>on both the top and bottom of the board (because the thru-plating will
>be destroyed).
--
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
 | David M Pratt, Kippax, Leeds.   |
 | Website: http://www.g4dmp.co.uk |
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +



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