Re: [Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[donovanf]

Hi Ray, 


This is probably unrelated to your capacitor failure, but your 
"big hulking linear supply" is underrated for the K3 unless you 
run your K3 at less than full output power. The RS-20A might 
be okay for SSB, but certainly not for RTTY or digital modes at 
K3 full rated output power. 

The Astron RS-20A specification: "amperage (continuous) 16 A, intermittent 20A" 


www.astrondistributors.com/astron-rs-20a-1667.html 


The K3 manual recommends " 13.8VDC @ 25A continuous duty" 
and specifies: "13.8 V nominal (11 V min, 15 V max). 17-22 A typical" 


ftp.elecraft.com/K3S/Manuals%20Downloads/K3S%20Owner's%20man%20A1.pdf 


73 
Frank 
W3LPL 















- Original Message -

From: "Ray Albers"  
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 7:31:23 PM 
Subject: [Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure 

I could use some knowledge and/or opinions on this subject (Radio/Elecraft 
related only because it deals with a power supply that powers a K3!) 

The other day I was about to initiate a call, and as soon as I touched the 
"dah" paddle the K3 instantly shut off. The cause was that the power 
supply voltage dropped too low when the radio demanded more current. 

The power supply is an Astron RS-20A, a big hulking linear supply that I 
really like. Huge heavy transformer and two series-pass transistors mounted 
on big heat sinks - thus, quiet acoustically (no cooling fan) and 
electrically (no RF hash from switching). I have two of these - one that I 
bought for my new radio when I got back into ham radio after a long 
absence and the other because I was at a hamfest where someone had a pile 
of them that he was selling for only $20 each - who could resist? So I 
trotted out the spare supply and got back on the air. Now to troubleshoot 
the bad supply. 

I had trouble with this one about five years ago. The output transistors 
are plugged into sockets, and on one socket the contacts for the emitter 
pin had gotten loose, and there was a vicious spiral of heat causing more 
resistance causing more heat until eventually it actually melted the 
transistor pin and left a black char on the socket. When I replaced the 
socket that time, I decided to solder the emitter pins on both transistors. 

It took me a long time to find the problem this time. Various tests told me 
the transformer, the full-wave rectifier diodes and the pass transistors 
were fine. Finally - with some help from hints in a great article about 
Astron supplies on repeaterbuilder dot com - I figured out that the supply 
voltage to the regulator board was too low, so there was not enough "oomph" 
available to drive the output transistors when high current was demanded. 

This supply voltage comes from a center tapped transformer secondary 
feeding two small diodes (both of which checked OK) to a 1000uF 35 V 
electrolytic. Turns out the capacitor was bad. It's a typical aluminum case 
with blue plastic covering (which I assume to be heat-shrink plastic 
because of the way it is completely molded around the capacitor.) 
Replacing it brought the supply voltage up to spec, and now everything 
works fine. 

But I was surprised about the capacitor failure. Absolutely no visible 
signs of anything wrong - no bulging, leaking, etc. And the soldering to 
the PC board is perfect. So here's my question for the group: What do we 
know about electrolytic capacitor failures? I know that anyone restoring 
an old ham transmitter or receiver or BC receiver almost always has to 
re-cap it, because the ancient electrolytics, which are usually wet 
electrolytics in chassis-mounted cans, will have gone bad. But this is the 
first time I've ever had a failure of the more modern type electrolytics. A 
quick search of capacitor failure on Google shocked me when I read claims 
in several places that these capacitors are only expected to have a two to 
five year life!! Can that be? I know I've got lots of radio gear that's 
way older than that and still working fine. To do this repair, I replaced a 
capacitor that might only be 5 years old with one that is probably twenty 
years old! 

Words of wisdom and enlightenment would be most welcome! 

73 
Ray K2HYD 
(K3 #8240, KX-3 #6827) 
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[Elecraft] Effect of KPA1500 Antenna Selection

[Dauer, Edward]

Does anyone know whether the antenna output not selected is shorted somewhere 
near the output itself, or just left open while the selected output socket is 
active?  I haven't ever seen a schematic; the "Theory of Operation" in the 
Manual is too oversimplified to answer the question; and although I could 
measure the resistance across the unselected output, it wouldn't tell me if the 
connection to ground is near the socket or way upstream past some 
low-resistance inductor.  And a related question, what happens to the two 
antenna outputs when the power to the amp is off?  Are they latching relays or 
does everything get de-energized and fall to a default open?

TIA,

Ted, KN1CBR
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Re: [Elecraft] display scratches

[Bob McGraw K4TAX]

A wet finger and Ipana toothpaste was always my approach and solution.  

Bob, K4TAX


Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 15, 2020, at 5:47 PM, Tom & Barb Valosin  wrote:
> 
> Back in the "olden days" of my Ham experience, licensed 1963, on a high 
> school students nearly non-existent budget, we used gentle pressure of a 
> clean soft bristled tooth brush and Ipana toothpaste. Sometimes several 
> applications were needed but it did work pretty well on the EICO, HeathKit, 
> RadioShack and my Hammarlund HQ-180A. GENTLE-GENTLE PRESSURE.
> 
> Tom, WB2KLD
> 
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Re: [Elecraft] scratchs on display

[Mark Goldberg]

It was about $24 with tax last summer, but I was able to pick it up, so
tax, but no shipping.

73,

Mark
W7MLG

On Wed, Apr 15, 2020, 2:12 PM Richard Perry  wrote:

>
> ... and that ALL having been said, I'll bet you that the cost of a
> replacement cover from Elecraft is cheaper still :)
>
> 


>
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[Elecraft] display scratches

[Tom & Barb Valosin]

Back in the "olden days" of my Ham experience, licensed 1963, on a high 
school students nearly non-existent budget, we used gentle pressure of a 
clean soft bristled tooth brush and Ipana toothpaste. Sometimes several 
applications were needed but it did work pretty well on the EICO, 
HeathKit, RadioShack and my Hammarlund HQ-180A. GENTLE-GENTLE PRESSURE.


Tom, WB2KLD

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Re: [Elecraft] scratchs on display

[Richard Perry]

Wow - something I know something about!

In real life I'm an A&P (aircraft) mechanic, and this sort of scratching is
not uncommon on small unpressurized aircraft. Novus is great stuff
particularly for painted surfaces, but if you have the time and really want
to do clear acrylic "right", get a Micromesh kit.

For example, I've used this kit (
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Mesh-NC-78-1-Acrylic-Restoral-Kit/dp/B00EKLU5QY )
professionally more times than I can count. That said, I'd recommend this
for a onetime use (
https://www.amazon.com/SANDING-SHEETS-INTRODUCTORY-Peachtree-Woodworking/dp/B000H6HIK2
)
it's a lot cheaper, but it has all the same grits.

Instructions are here:
http://micro-surface.com/images/products/inst_88STPinstr.pdf

The key to using Micromesh, however, is commitment. When you use the first
grit (use a small amount of water and a back and forth motion) it will
scare the living bejezzeus out of you, as the whole surface will now be
scratched, but just keep going until the original scratches are gone (the
surface is uniformly scratched up), then repeat 8 more times with smaller
grits. About the third or next to last grit, it will really look good, and
by the 9th, it will be optically clear.

Anyway, I've found that to work better than Novus for acrylic - the price
is about a wash, but MM takes more time. But when you charge by the hour

... and that ALL having been said, I'll bet you that the cost of a
replacement cover from Elecraft is cheaper still :)

Good luck, let me know if I can help.

73 DE AJ0V/Richard


>Sorry, I forgot to sign the first post.
>
>Novus plastic polish, comes in three grits/coarseness levels. You
>probably need their #1, or 2 followed by 1.
>
>https://www.novuspolish.com/
>
>
>Ron
>
>WA2EIO
>
>
>
>On 4/14/2020 8:07 PM, Wayne Suite wrote:
>> I heard that you can use brasso and a soft cloth and lightly apply it by
>> massaging to remove light scratches I would try it on something else 1st
to
>> be sure.
>>
>> Wayne
>> Kd5spx

-- 
Regards -

Richard T Perry
perr...@gmail.com
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Re: [Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[Josh Fiden]

Very short unless that was a design goal! It’s all about temperature. Operate 
an 85c electrolytic near 85c and it’s not going to be around long. 

73
Josh W6XU

Sent from my mobile device

> On Apr 15, 2020, at 1:09 PM, John Kosko  wrote:
> 
> Two to five year life span sounds a little short to me.

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Re: [Elecraft] Kpa500 lcd display issue

[Jack Brindle via Elecraft]

I believe the answer to be yes. It would overwrite the parameters, so any 
problems in the saved configuration would be restored. Of course, so would all 
the valid parameters.

73!
Jack, W6FB


> On Apr 14, 2020, at 4:40 PM, Andy Durbin  wrote:
> 
> Hi Jack,
> 
> Just for future reference -  Does loading a previously saved config file 
> restore all settings that were reset by powering up with EDIT pressed?
> 
> Thanks and 73,
> Andy, k3wyc

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[Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[John Kosko]

Two to five year life span sounds a little short to me.  I’ve been earning my 
primary income in electronics for over 60 years and my experience shows that 
most electrolytic capacitors last between ten and twenty years.  But, usually 
they will show leakage around seals before they fail.  I guess it was just your 
turn to have an odd situation.  Expert help on electrolytic capacitors is 
available on YouTube.  Search on “mr carlsons lab” (without the quote marks).  
He restores a lot of antique equipment and videos the whole thing.  No, I don’t 
have any monetary connection with Mr. Carlson or his lab.  He’s a worthy Elmer 
in regard to maintaining older equipment.

Regards,
John Kosko K8TCT
(K3S 11718 powered by a 35 year old Sorenson HPD 15-20 switcher set for 13.6VDC 
with the DC power cable running through 5 turns around a toroid core)

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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Re: [Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[Harlan Sherriff via Elecraft]

I retired in 2016 after 34 years as the metrology supervisor at a commercial 
nuclear power plant. I couldn’t count the number of equipment failures due to 
electrolytic capacitors, WAY TOO MANY.  Some brands of equipment had high 
percentage failures while other brands had low. Seems the manufacture of the 
CAPACITOR was a better indicator of failure rate. Many equipment manufacturers 
used capacitors that carried brands from Japan, others used Sprague (which is 
probably made in Japan as well, but seemed to hold up much better). Leakage 
current and capacitance value change seemed to be the culprits most of the 
time. 

For our “standards” we added a step to our calibration procedures to check all 
power supply ripple voltages to insure they were in spec. 

For all other test equipment, we would do the ripple checks any time the 
equipment was in the lab for repair. 

Also, the plant itself had preventative maintenance procedures to energize 
certain (safety critical) electrolytic capacitors in our warehouse once a year. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 15, 2020, at 3:33 PM, Ray Albers  wrote:
> 
> I could use some knowledge and/or opinions on this subject (Radio/Elecraft
> related only because it deals with a power supply that powers a K3!)
> 
> The other day I was about to initiate a call, and as soon as I touched the
> "dah" paddle the K3 instantly shut off.  The cause was that the power
> supply voltage dropped too low when the radio demanded more current.
> 
> The power supply is an Astron RS-20A, a big hulking linear supply that I
> really like. Huge heavy transformer and two series-pass transistors mounted
> on big heat sinks - thus, quiet acoustically (no cooling fan) and
> electrically (no RF hash from switching). I have two of these - one that I
> bought  for my new radio when I got back into ham radio after a long
> absence and the other because I was at a hamfest where someone had a pile
> of them that he was selling for only $20 each - who could resist?  So I
> trotted out the spare supply and got back on the air. Now to troubleshoot
> the bad supply.
> 
> I had trouble with this one about five years ago. The output transistors
> are plugged into sockets, and on one socket the contacts for the emitter
> pin had gotten loose, and there was a vicious spiral of heat causing more
> resistance causing more heat until eventually it actually melted the
> transistor pin and left a black char on the socket. When I replaced the
> socket that time, I decided to solder the emitter pins on both transistors.
> 
> It took me a long time to find the problem this time. Various tests told me
> the transformer, the full-wave rectifier diodes and the pass transistors
> were fine.  Finally - with some help from hints in a great article about
> Astron supplies on repeaterbuilder dot com - I figured out that the supply
> voltage to the regulator board was too low, so there was not enough "oomph"
> available to drive the output transistors when high current was demanded.
> 
> This supply voltage comes from a center tapped transformer secondary
> feeding two small diodes (both of which checked OK) to a 1000uF 35 V
> electrolytic. Turns out the capacitor was bad. It's a typical aluminum case
> with blue plastic covering (which I assume to be heat-shrink plastic
> because of the way it is completely molded around the capacitor.)
> Replacing it brought the supply voltage up to spec, and now everything
> works fine.
> 
> But I was surprised about the capacitor failure. Absolutely no visible
> signs of anything wrong - no bulging, leaking, etc. And the soldering to
> the PC board is perfect.  So here's my question for the group:  What do we
> know about electrolytic capacitor failures?  I know that anyone restoring
> an old ham transmitter or receiver or BC receiver almost always has to
> re-cap it, because the ancient electrolytics, which are usually wet
> electrolytics in chassis-mounted cans, will have gone bad. But this is the
> first time I've ever had a failure of the more modern type electrolytics. A
> quick search of capacitor failure on Google shocked me when I read claims
> in several places that these capacitors are only expected to have a two to
> five year life!! Can that be?  I know I've got lots of radio gear that's
> way older than that and still working fine. To do this repair, I replaced a
> capacitor that might only be 5 years old with one that is probably twenty
> years old!
> 
> Words of wisdom and enlightenment would be most welcome!
> 
> 73
> Ray K2HYD
> (K3 #8240, KX-3 #6827)
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Re: [Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[Buck]

I don't know that I would run a K3 off a 20A power supply.  You're 
stressing both.  Did you mean to say 30A?


Buck, k4ia
Honor Roll
8BDXCC
EasyWayHamBooks.com

On 4/15/2020 3:31 PM, Ray Albers wrote:

I could use some knowledge and/or opinions on this subject (Radio/Elecraft
related only because it deals with a power supply that powers a K3!)

The other day I was about to initiate a call, and as soon as I touched the
"dah" paddle the K3 instantly shut off.  The cause was that the power
supply voltage dropped too low when the radio demanded more current.

The power supply is an Astron RS-20A, a big hulking linear supply that I
really like. Huge heavy transformer and two series-pass transistors mounted
on big heat sinks - thus, quiet acoustically (no cooling fan) and
electrically (no RF hash from switching). I have two of these - one that I
bought  for my new radio when I got back into ham radio after a long
absence and the other because I was at a hamfest where someone had a pile
of them that he was selling for only $20 each - who could resist?  So I
trotted out the spare supply and got back on the air. Now to troubleshoot
the bad supply.

I had trouble with this one about five years ago. The output transistors
are plugged into sockets, and on one socket the contacts for the emitter
pin had gotten loose, and there was a vicious spiral of heat causing more
resistance causing more heat until eventually it actually melted the
transistor pin and left a black char on the socket. When I replaced the
socket that time, I decided to solder the emitter pins on both transistors.

It took me a long time to find the problem this time. Various tests told me
the transformer, the full-wave rectifier diodes and the pass transistors
were fine.  Finally - with some help from hints in a great article about
Astron supplies on repeaterbuilder dot com - I figured out that the supply
voltage to the regulator board was too low, so there was not enough "oomph"
available to drive the output transistors when high current was demanded.

  This supply voltage comes from a center tapped transformer secondary
feeding two small diodes (both of which checked OK) to a 1000uF 35 V
electrolytic. Turns out the capacitor was bad. It's a typical aluminum case
with blue plastic covering (which I assume to be heat-shrink plastic
because of the way it is completely molded around the capacitor.)
Replacing it brought the supply voltage up to spec, and now everything
works fine.

But I was surprised about the capacitor failure. Absolutely no visible
signs of anything wrong - no bulging, leaking, etc. And the soldering to
the PC board is perfect.  So here's my question for the group:  What do we
know about electrolytic capacitor failures?  I know that anyone restoring
an old ham transmitter or receiver or BC receiver almost always has to
re-cap it, because the ancient electrolytics, which are usually wet
electrolytics in chassis-mounted cans, will have gone bad. But this is the
first time I've ever had a failure of the more modern type electrolytics. A
quick search of capacitor failure on Google shocked me when I read claims
in several places that these capacitors are only expected to have a two to
five year life!! Can that be?  I know I've got lots of radio gear that's
way older than that and still working fine. To do this repair, I replaced a
capacitor that might only be 5 years old with one that is probably twenty
years old!

Words of wisdom and enlightenment would be most welcome!

73
Ray K2HYD
(K3 #8240, KX-3 #6827)
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[Elecraft] Electrolytic Capacitor failure

[Ray Albers]

I could use some knowledge and/or opinions on this subject (Radio/Elecraft
related only because it deals with a power supply that powers a K3!)

The other day I was about to initiate a call, and as soon as I touched the
"dah" paddle the K3 instantly shut off.  The cause was that the power
supply voltage dropped too low when the radio demanded more current.

The power supply is an Astron RS-20A, a big hulking linear supply that I
really like. Huge heavy transformer and two series-pass transistors mounted
on big heat sinks - thus, quiet acoustically (no cooling fan) and
electrically (no RF hash from switching). I have two of these - one that I
bought  for my new radio when I got back into ham radio after a long
absence and the other because I was at a hamfest where someone had a pile
of them that he was selling for only $20 each - who could resist?  So I
trotted out the spare supply and got back on the air. Now to troubleshoot
the bad supply.

I had trouble with this one about five years ago. The output transistors
are plugged into sockets, and on one socket the contacts for the emitter
pin had gotten loose, and there was a vicious spiral of heat causing more
resistance causing more heat until eventually it actually melted the
transistor pin and left a black char on the socket. When I replaced the
socket that time, I decided to solder the emitter pins on both transistors.

It took me a long time to find the problem this time. Various tests told me
the transformer, the full-wave rectifier diodes and the pass transistors
were fine.  Finally - with some help from hints in a great article about
Astron supplies on repeaterbuilder dot com - I figured out that the supply
voltage to the regulator board was too low, so there was not enough "oomph"
available to drive the output transistors when high current was demanded.

 This supply voltage comes from a center tapped transformer secondary
feeding two small diodes (both of which checked OK) to a 1000uF 35 V
electrolytic. Turns out the capacitor was bad. It's a typical aluminum case
with blue plastic covering (which I assume to be heat-shrink plastic
because of the way it is completely molded around the capacitor.)
Replacing it brought the supply voltage up to spec, and now everything
works fine.

But I was surprised about the capacitor failure. Absolutely no visible
signs of anything wrong - no bulging, leaking, etc. And the soldering to
the PC board is perfect.  So here's my question for the group:  What do we
know about electrolytic capacitor failures?  I know that anyone restoring
an old ham transmitter or receiver or BC receiver almost always has to
re-cap it, because the ancient electrolytics, which are usually wet
electrolytics in chassis-mounted cans, will have gone bad. But this is the
first time I've ever had a failure of the more modern type electrolytics. A
quick search of capacitor failure on Google shocked me when I read claims
in several places that these capacitors are only expected to have a two to
five year life!! Can that be?  I know I've got lots of radio gear that's
way older than that and still working fine. To do this repair, I replaced a
capacitor that might only be 5 years old with one that is probably twenty
years old!

Words of wisdom and enlightenment would be most welcome!

73
Ray K2HYD
(K3 #8240, KX-3 #6827)
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 problem

[Rick Bates, NK7I]

It's not elegant but I just finished a rack/table using a butcher block 
top (Home Depot) and angle stock on the front inside of the 2x2 wooden 
legs to mount the p/s and a repeater I use for IRLP (duplexer later, one 
pieces at a time).  The table top is stained and matches the height of 
the desk so there is almost a continuous surface.   Five coats of poly 
should suffice to seal it.  More angle stock from the front to back legs 
will support/share the weight for each item, so it's not entirely held 
by the front.


The K3, P3 and KPA1500 will sit on the desk within reach, just below the 
50" monitor (4K TV) mounted to the wall (swing/tilt mount).  The KPA1500 
amp p/s will sit on the table top but may end up in the rack later.  The 
KAT500/KPA500 will be nearby as backup, easily added if needed.


The next step is to add copper pipe along the equipment space to behind 
the desk for equipment bonding to ground, then add a shelf on either 
side of the monitor to hang speakers, rotor and SteppIR controllers and 
the control head of a dual band with some books too.  (There is also a 
small frig and microwave next to the desk.)  Then put a 36x36" piece of 
plywood on the wall (that wide so it can be well anchored by the 16" on 
center studs) for dual band, 6M FM radio and perhaps more later.


The entire station (and network) is all going to run from a UPS, which 
only has to last long enough for the generator to kick in (about 40 
seconds) so nothing drops out during an outage (except the large amp, on 
240V).


Most of the wiring will be hidden by desk or monitor, except the space 
above the table, where they come in from the tower (large conduits, 
buried in ground).


The floor is industrial laminate, the rack and desk have sliders (easily 
moved when wanted, no wandering).  A computer manages each piece, then I 
can remote into that computer from the warm house or when traveling.


It's a simple station, the 80-6M SteppIR up 60' and an 80/160M Inverted 
L.  Simple ROCKS!


73,
Rick NK7I
North Idaho

On 4/15/2020 10:46 AM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
When I built my operating desk, I made the top a full 36 inches deep 
so the face of the equipment is about 24 inches from the front.  I 
also put the 2 pedestals on appliance dolly wheels so I can roll the 
desk out for access behind the equipment.  There are shelves in the 
back to hold power supplies and all the other stuff that I don't need 
to see on a day to day basis.


I am fortunate to have a fully equipped woodworking shop and can do 
that kind of custom furniture design.  I built the desk from good oak 
and it matches the custom trim and cabinets throughout the rest of the 
house.


73,
Don W3FPR

On 4/15/2020 1:21 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

On 4/14/2020 10:18 PM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP wrote:
I chose to place my operating desk two feet from the wall. I refer 
to the area behind it as the "cable vault." This solution is cheap 
in terms of money and effort, but very expensive of space.


Yes. I wish I had thought of doing something like this after seeing 
something similar in N6RO's superstation. My operating position is on 
shelves attached to the wall behind them, held away from the wall 
about 2 inches for cables to pass vertically between shelves. That 
works, but it's a real PITA getting to cables connected to the radios 
and other gear when something must be removed for service, 
replacement, or to go into the field for FD or county expeditions.



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Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 problem

[Mike Short]

I use a solid core door slab.

On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 12:47 Don Wilhelm  wrote:

> When I built my operating desk, I made the top a full 36 inches deep so
> the face of the equipment is about 24 inches from the front.  I also put
> the 2 pedestals on appliance dolly wheels so I can roll the desk out for
> access behind the equipment.  There are shelves in the back to hold
> power supplies and all the other stuff that I don't need to see on a day
> to day basis.
>
> I am fortunate to have a fully equipped woodworking shop and can do that
> kind of custom furniture design.  I built the desk from good oak and it
> matches the custom trim and cabinets throughout the rest of the house.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 4/15/2020 1:21 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> > On 4/14/2020 10:18 PM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP wrote:
> >> I chose to place my operating desk two feet from the wall. I refer to
> >> the area behind it as the "cable vault." This solution is cheap in
> >> terms of money and effort, but very expensive of space.
> >
> > Yes. I wish I had thought of doing something like this after seeing
> > something similar in N6RO's superstation. My operating position is on
> > shelves attached to the wall behind them, held away from the wall about
> > 2 inches for cables to pass vertically between shelves. That works, but
> > it's a real PITA getting to cables connected to the radios and other
> > gear when something must be removed for service, replacement, or to go
> > into the field for FD or county expeditions.
> >
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 problem

[Don Wilhelm]

When I built my operating desk, I made the top a full 36 inches deep so 
the face of the equipment is about 24 inches from the front.  I also put 
the 2 pedestals on appliance dolly wheels so I can roll the desk out for 
access behind the equipment.  There are shelves in the back to hold 
power supplies and all the other stuff that I don't need to see on a day 
to day basis.


I am fortunate to have a fully equipped woodworking shop and can do that 
kind of custom furniture design.  I built the desk from good oak and it 
matches the custom trim and cabinets throughout the rest of the house.


73,
Don W3FPR

On 4/15/2020 1:21 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

On 4/14/2020 10:18 PM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP wrote:
I chose to place my operating desk two feet from the wall. I refer to 
the area behind it as the "cable vault." This solution is cheap in 
terms of money and effort, but very expensive of space.


Yes. I wish I had thought of doing something like this after seeing 
something similar in N6RO's superstation. My operating position is on 
shelves attached to the wall behind them, held away from the wall about 
2 inches for cables to pass vertically between shelves. That works, but 
it's a real PITA getting to cables connected to the radios and other 
gear when something must be removed for service, replacement, or to go 
into the field for FD or county expeditions.



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[Elecraft] Transverter wanted

[Keith Ennis via Elecraft]

432?
Keith, KV5J
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 problem

[Jim Brown]

On 4/14/2020 10:18 PM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP wrote:
I chose to place my operating desk two feet from the wall. I refer to 
the area behind it as the "cable vault." This solution is cheap in terms 
of money and effort, but very expensive of space.


Yes. I wish I had thought of doing something like this after seeing 
something similar in N6RO's superstation. My operating position is on 
shelves attached to the wall behind them, held away from the wall about 
2 inches for cables to pass vertically between shelves. That works, but 
it's a real PITA getting to cables connected to the radios and other 
gear when something must be removed for service, replacement, or to go 
into the field for FD or county expeditions.


73, Jim K9YC
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Re: [Elecraft] PX3 acrylic scratch removal

[David Windisch]

To all interested:
Plain old white tooth-polishing paste, mixed with a small amount of
dihydrous monoxide, and patiently rubbed into scratches with a decent
moistened chamois, has worked for me on bezels of many kinds, even some auto
windows and paint*. Auto polish and clear auto windshield scratch-filler may
work with, eg, irreplaceable antique bezels.
Hth, and ymmv, naturally. Practice on similar scrap materials first.
Brgds,
Dave, N3HE

* You know, I-don-wanna-do-this-over paint jobs like 50 coats of hand-rubbed
candy-apple red lacquer on a '32 Ford roadster or 3-window coupe show car
body.



-
Brgds,
Dave, N3HE
Cincinnati OH
--
Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
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Re: [Elecraft] scratchs on display

[David Wilcox via Elecraft]

Check out the various kits for polishing automobile headlamp lenses.  They are 
all made for this type of work.  The more expensive kits have more grades of 
grit.  I would start with tooth paste though as I have used it in the last on 
watch faces with good results, glass and plastic.

David J. Wilcox K8WPE’s iPad

> On Apr 14, 2020, at 10:17 PM, Grant Youngman  wrote:
> 
> i you have DEEP scratches, one or two grades of abrasive won’t do the job.  
> You risk ending up with a “divot” around the scratch, which can be worse than 
> the scratch.  The entire surface in the area of the defect, not just the 
> scratch, needs to be taken down.
> 
> For small jobs, this, in my opinion, is the best option — it can take many 
> layers of increasingly fine abrasive to get a smooth, flat, original finish.
> 
> https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/micromeshprof.php
> 
> Grant NQ5T
> 
> 
>>> 
>>> much softer.  Just my opinion.  If the scratches are deep, that may be
>>> the way to go, but you will need something less abrasive to polish it.
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