I had a problem installing the socket for U1. It would not go flat against
the board, because it was apparently pressing against the row of relays
next to it. I discovered the problem after 1 pin was soldered, per the
instructions, and I inspected it to see if it was flat. It took
significant pressure to hold the socket down on the relay side. Moving the
relays was not an option, so I squeezed the socket down and soldered
another pin. Now the socket looked a little warped when viewed from the
end, because it still pushed up some where there was no pin soldered.
I got past this point by squeezing and soldering my way down the
socket. The result was OK, and final assembly did not present a
problem. So far the tuner works, but I am concerned about the stress on
the relays. In the manual, there are admonitions about putting stress on
the relay leads or damaging the plastic covers, because this can cause
premature or outright failure. I sure hope I don't have to try to remove a
relay one day.
Perhaps a manual modification is in order? I think the relays must have
ended up positioned at the limit toward the socket due to the way that I
held and flipped the board prior to soldering. Has anyone else had this
problem? A remedy might be to install (or just tack solder) the socket
prior to installing the relays.
While we are talking about the manual, R1 and R2 in my kit were a bit too
large to mount flush on the board. They were not in the normal package
(with painted color code), but were blue ceramic-looking things. There
might be reason to give the kit builder some slack on flush-mounting these
parts. Bending the leads at extreme right angles at the end of the package
will stress the part. I left mine just above the board.
Rob
_______________________________________________
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
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
