K3/100 kit sn 6150 arrived yesterday just in time for the weekend. Took my time today and it went together in about 8 hours, with no significant issues. Everything worked according to the manual as I expected. There is one issue that is somewhat irritating though. The AF and RF knobs cannot be "nested" as they should be to fit properly. In order to be able to turn the AF gain or RF gain without having them catch on the larger respective SUB knobs they have to be pulled out so they won't catch. They are visibly out of alignment.
A quick search of the archives revealed a rather long 2 /1/2 year old thread about some defective knobs. The gist of the thread was not so much about them cracking or breaking as some had experienced, it was because they were "off center" and would not allow for a proper installation. Apparently whatever the issue was, it is still there 2 1/2 years later as the one I received yesterday has the same problem. It's hard to understand how a product can be so well designed and the manufacturing tolerances so close (take the cabinet parts and pieces as one example) but yet something as seemingly simple as a plastic knob some 2 1/2 years after an in-depth discussion that Elecraft was part of are still being manufactured and delivered out of tolerance. I don't have a problem with the intended look or feel of the knobs, I think they are fine, just the fact they turn out so badly in many cases and detract from the end product. I was having a lot of fun putting this together today until I got to the part where I installed the knobs, big disappointment! I have a set of the Mouser machined aluminum knobs and although they are smooth and have a nice feel they just don't match the rest of the knobs to my liking, I wonder if anyone has come up with an alternative to the Mouser knobs? Tim NZ8J K3 - 6150 P3- 1775 KPA500 - 618 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
