New Build K2/100

[alanchilds]

I just received my new K2/100 with all the bells and whistles.  I ordered
all
the necessary tools to help put it together i.e.: solder station, etc.  I
haven't built a kit since the days of Heathkit and that was many years ago.
If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate helpful comments.  Thanks and
73 de Alan, K6IPM

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[n6wg]

Congratulations, Alan.  You're in for a fun journey through the building
of your K2.

One suggestion that many of us have used is this.
Take an old cardboard box, around the size your K2 came in.
Cut it horizontally so that all the ends of the little corrugations are
exposed.
Now, when you are inventorying and building, you can place your parts
where they are visible, and grouped together.  Say you have 10 .01uF disk
caps.  Place them side by side with one lead in the corrugation holes.  Now
as you need one you can just reach out for it and its there.  Plus, you can
quickly see how many reamin, and whether this agrees with the inventory.

Good luck and ask questions whenever you need to.
73, Bob N6WG

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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

In my experience the K2 is actually easier to build than most Heathkits -
especially the older vacuum tube jobs.

Where most people have trouble is in putting the wrong part in the wrong
place. Putting in parts oriented wrong (IC's backwards, etc.) and in bad
solder joints (cold or missed solder joints).

Be especially careful with the toroid leads to be sure they are stripped and
tinned up ABOVE where the lead comes out of the PC board so they are
actually soldered. You can fill the PC board hole with solder, trapping the
lead, but it the enamel isn't gone from that point it doesn't make contact.
They have been dubbed "PTTL" for "poorly tinned toroid leads" by kit builder
rescuer extraordinaire, Gary Surrency ([hidden email]).

Take your time. Don't hurry. Make it a Zen exercise in deliberate thought,
deliberate motion, deliberate acts. Double check your work.

When you are done, it'll be as much of a thrill as your first Heathkit - and
work a whole lot better!

Ron AC7AC
 

-----Original Message-----
I just received my new K2/100 with all the bells and whistles.  I ordered
all
the necessary tools to help put it together i.e.: solder station, etc.  I
haven't built a kit since the days of Heathkit and that was many years ago.
If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate helpful comments.  Thanks and
73 de Alan, K6IPM


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[Douglas Westover]

Hi Alan,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Elecraft! I was glad to demo
my K2 for you and you really shouldn't have any serious problems
putting it together. As has been mentioned many times, this reflector
is a great problem solving resource and Wayne, Eric and Gary are
just an email away. Gary has bailed me out of some stupid mistakes
several times..there is no better customer service anywhere!

Big thing is to take your time, don't rush it and don't work on it when
you're tired. And remember I'm near by so if you need help or an
on air test, just let me know.

73,
Doug
W6JD

----- Original Message -----
From: <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 11:11 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] New Build K2/100


> I just received my new K2/100 with all the bells and whistles.  I ordered
> all
> the necessary tools to help put it together i.e.: solder station, etc.  I
> haven't built a kit since the days of Heathkit and that was many years
ago.
> If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate helpful comments.  Thanks
and
> 73 de Alan, K6IPM
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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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[Tom Althoff]

May I offer a word of advice.  Don't get into a Zen like state as you put
the caps in etc.   Read and check EVERY step.   Don't think to yourself
"Ok..I'm running .047 caps right now".

As per the 2nd step on Pg 2 of the KPA-100 manual Elecraft's insertion order
is  left to right and front edge to back edge.   In the old Heathkit days I
had the habit of putting all the same value caps/resistors in at once like
an assembly line.   That got me burned as I Zenned out doing the cap
insertions on Pg 15 of the KPA-100 manual.

.1 .1 .1 .1 now .047 .047 .047 now .001 .001 back to .047 .047 .047 .047
.047 [jump to .033] back to .047.

Everyone here who put a .047 in C31's positon raise their
hand.....oops...looks like I may be alone in that.  But it goes to show you
need to pay attention at every step.

Good luck.   Its fun to build.   Its almost a let down to operate the radio
when its finished.   I suspect that is why so many guys keep building more
for others.   The building is addicting.

73 de Tom K2TA




----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] New Build K2/100


In my experience the K2 is actually easier to build than most Heathkits -
especially the older vacuum tube jobs.

Where most people have trouble is in putting the wrong part in the wrong
place. Putting in parts oriented wrong (IC's backwards, etc.) and in bad
solder joints (cold or missed solder joints).

Be especially careful with the toroid leads to be sure they are stripped and
tinned up ABOVE where the lead comes out of the PC board so they are
actually soldered. You can fill the PC board hole with solder, trapping the
lead, but it the enamel isn't gone from that point it doesn't make contact.
They have been dubbed "PTTL" for "poorly tinned toroid leads" by kit builder
rescuer extraordinaire, Gary Surrency ([hidden email]).

Take your time. Don't hurry. Make it a Zen exercise in deliberate thought,
deliberate motion, deliberate acts. Double check your work.

When you are done, it'll be as much of a thrill as your first Heathkit - and
work a whole lot better!

Ron AC7AC


-----Original Message-----
I just received my new K2/100 with all the bells and whistles.  I ordered
all
the necessary tools to help put it together i.e.: solder station, etc.  I
haven't built a kit since the days of Heathkit and that was many years ago.
If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate helpful comments.  Thanks and
73 de Alan, K6IPM


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[Don Wilhelm-3]

Tom is correct on checking everything as you go.  Even after building many
K2s, I still do it the same way - I sort the components and place them in
order for easy 'part picking' (I use the corrugated cardboard edge of a slit
USPS shipping box).  Then as I insert each part, I read its value.  This
gives me 2 checks; 1) I selected from the proper component location, and 2)
I have verified the value on the part I have in my hand.  Yes, I even do
this with the resistors even though they are correctly mounted in insertion
order on the strip - I did find an incorrect value in one kit I built (but
only one incorrect out of approximately 800 resistors - pretty good quality
control there at Elecraft).

Unsoldered component leads are another frequent cause of failure.  There are
folks who choose to put in one component, solder it and go on to the next,
but I stuff components in groups (sometimes large groups), and almost never
miss soldering a component - I achieve that by following my own rule 'NEVER
TRIM AN UNSOLDERED CONNECTION'  I do a thorough inspection of each solder
joint at the same time I am trimming its lead.  If I spot one unsoldered, I
finish trimming the others and go back to solder any that are still sticking
above the board.  If a component (like ICs) have short legs, I put one in
and solder it (one at a time).  These are the 'rules' I have developed for
myself, and they work for me, but I do suggest that any builder develop his
own method of 'orderliness' to help prevent construction errors.

73,
Don W3FPR

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

> May I offer a word of advice.  Don't get into a Zen like state as you put
> the caps in etc.   Read and check EVERY step.   Don't think to yourself
> "Ok..I'm running .047 caps right now".
>


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[Brian Mury-3]

On Thu, 2004-02-12 at 11:16 -0800, Bob Tellefsen wrote:
> Take an old cardboard box, around the size your K2 came in.
> Cut it horizontally so that all the ends of the little corrugations
> are exposed.
> Now, when you are inventorying and building, you can place your parts
> where they are visible, and grouped together.

I use old cardboard egg cartons with the top cut off.

--
73, Brian
VE7NGR

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