Hi, I will throw my 2 pennies into this. The decision whether to do all-at-once or one-at-a-time should depend a lot on your confidence level and your individual skills. Ask yourself: "If something goes wrong, what is my ability to find and correct it?" If that ability is not high on your list of skills, do things one at a time so any resulting problems can be isolated to the area you last modified, and even if you must ask for help, those whom you ask can be of greater assistance if you have only done one of the mods at a time.
As for the durability of the hardware, stripping out screwheads, etc., I can only say that one should use *good* tools. If your screwdriver does not grip the screwheads tightly, stop and purchase a new #1 phillips screwdriver of good quality - do not scrimp on the tool quality if you value your K3's appearance. Work carefully and place the panels on a soft surface out of your immediate work area so they are not accidentally bumped or pushed around while you are working. A little common sense here will go a long way. Using careful workmanship, the K3 can be assembled and disassembled many many times and still look like new, but if sloppy methods are used, it can be damaged the first time through. 73, Don W3FPR Matt Zilmer wrote: > I'm with Ron on this, although I did a set of 8 mods all at one > sitting. K3 #24 started life as a K3/10 kit and over time I've > nickel-and-dime loaded it up almost to maxed out configuration. It's > been apart almost as much time as it's been sitting in the shack > running. But probably no one beats Ron's 100-cycle record... > > The hardware (ELX) is very robust and overdesigned; same with the ME > hardware - panels, screws, etc. You won't gork anything up by > disassembling the K3 if you do it corectly - no matter how many times > you open 'er up. Disassembly and reassembly actually gets easier over > time. This is true both subjectively and objectively. > > Just be sure you have the proper tools and follow the take-apart and > put-together instructions. > > The idea someone had about doing only one mod at a time is a good one > because it lets you check the results before moving on to the next > mod. However, I'm not that patient... :) > > 73, > matt W6NIA > K3 #24 > K2 #2810 > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
