Seems like unsoldered pins are a popular problem these days. One of the things I do to avoid this is count as I solder. I expect an 8-pin IC to have 8 pins to solder so I count them off as I do them. If I stick 14 resistors in, I expect 28 solder joints when I flip the board over. In the case of 2-leaded parts I solder one side at a time to avoid heat build-up. So I'd count off 14 on the first pass and another 14 on the second. If's fairly normal to get off by one either because I really missed a lead or I get distracted. That just prompts me to re-count to confirm I've got them all. The other thing I do is a systematic visual inspection at each of the testing stages. It was during one of these that I found an unsoldered pin on my K1, and that's what led me to start counting as I solder. As I started the K2 last month we were discussing the need for a thorough inventory prior to building, with me arguing against. I simply divided the parts by type (resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc.). I didn't sort by value, nor did I check everything off on the parts list before starting. I found that the building process went pretty smoothly. There are a couple points in the instructions where you're told to sort the remaining parts of a certain type. Those instructions were sufficient to keep me on track. I did have to refer to the parts list to identify some of the parts but didn't have any other problems from not sorting everything by value prior to building. This assumes that you're onto the Elecraft trick of putting some parts in odd places. The thermal pads in the serial number kit is the classic case. The other one is to say in the parts list that a cap might be 2, 2.2, or 2.7 but in the instructions call for only a 2.7 without mentioning the other possibilities. If your kit has a 2.2 this will throw you for a while. Craig NZ0R K1 #1966 K2 #4941 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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