I'm in the process of replacing the four encoders to the left of the main VFO knob and wonder if anyone has any advice or pep talks to offer.
The encoders in my summer 2008 vintage K3 degraded to the point where they often count backwards, making adjustment of CW speed or power out difficult. I've purchased four replacements from Elecraft and have been working up my courage and taking deep breaths. Getting to the board is a fairly complicated first phase. I had an Elecraft document on installation of an audio LPF on the DSP board and found it to be very useful in this process. Of course the original assembly manual is also useful. Now I've got the K3 apart to the point of allowing access. The upper two encoders have terminals located beneath an LED mounting board and are almost impossible to access from the top. I may stop after replacing the lower two, assuming I'm successful with them. My usual method involves solder wick plus flux. Sometimes I find ChipQuik to be very helpful in allowing me to remove a part without getting rid of all the solder. In this case though, using ChipQuik would require heating seven joints simultaneously which I haven't been able to do. There's also an issue with mounting the encoder at the correct height so the shaft switch can be operated. So I'll try to match the height of the new shaft end to that of the existing encoders. I found one website which is somewhat helpful discussing this task: https://www.n5na.net/s9y/index.php?/archives/26-Replacing-Elecraft-K3-Push-Button-Encoders.html I'm keeping a lot of notes. Anyone planning to attempt this job is welcome to them. 73 Nick, WA5BDU ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com