Re: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install
Thanks Bruce: If that capacitor is no longer an issue we don’t want to be asking builders to look for it, Hi! I’ll look into the TO-220 issue. As long as it’s tightly clamped by the screw, it should provide good heat transfer to the case. 73, Ron AC7AC From: Bruce Nourish [mailto:w0...@w0mbt.net] Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 8:55 PM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; Elecraft Reflector Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install Yes, sorry, C180, not C120. Not that I'm complaining, its absence made assembly easier. Re: TO-220. If you look at Fig 24 (bottom of p28) in the instructions, you'll see TO-220 "leaning back" inwards from the side of the case, loosely held by the nylon screw. My TO-220 looked like that before I inserted the module -- so far so good. When I inserted the module, the transistor heat sink went into the gap between the top of TO-220 and the case. I wiggled it a bit until the hole in the heat sink, and the top hole of TO-220 approximately lined up. I was able to screw in the metal Phillips screw fine, so the heat sink should have a good connection to the case. But TO-220 was still "leaning back", meaning that the bottom hole of TO-220 was still at an angle. I tried unscrewing both screws, but the heatsink had wedged TO-220 firmly at that angle. Bruce On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:17 PM Ron D'Eau Claire <r...@cobi.biz> wrote: Hi Bruce: Are talking about C180 near J4? I'll check into it. It won't be the first time the engineers made a change and didn't realize it impacted the assembly instructions (I'm 600 miles from Watsonville, but only milliseconds by voice and e-mail. Still that can be "light years" at times, Hi!) I'm not sure what could put the TO-220 screw at an angle. The TO-220 heat sink simply slips in between the retainer, which is then pulled tightly against the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. That's the critical part - good mechanical and thermal contact between the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. Have you tried loosening both screws and then re-tightening them? What comes to mind is that in tightening the top screw, the retainer might have turned slightly, misaligning the bottom screw in the hole. With everything in place. Loosen both screws a bit, then retighten the bottom (nylon) screw to hold the retainer, then tighten the top screw and see if things line up better. I'd appreciate hearing if that works either at my address on this message or r...@elecraft.com. 73. Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Nourish Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:37 PM To: Elecraft Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install Hi folks, Last night I installed and configured a KX3 2m module following the current instructions on the website (Rev C). My KX3 is a recent factory build. Everything seems to be working fine; I haven't actually tried it on-air yet (need to finish my 2m Moxon), but at least I didn't blow my rig up. I encountered one difference with the instructions: When installing the LO coax on J4, I could not find any capacitor C120 to avoid. My KX3 simply doesn't have C120 or R81 on that PCB. Has something changed in recent KX3s? The only hard part was the final installation, specifically clamping the heatsink lug properly with retainer TO-220. It seems like the clamping arrangement unavoidably puts the nylon bottom screw at a weird angle. I double-checked the orientation of TO-220 and redid these steps over several times, and couldn't figure out any other way to make it work. Is this right? If so, a clarification in the instructions would help. Bruce __ 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 r...@elecraft.com __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install
Yes, sorry, C180, not C120. Not that I'm complaining, its absence made assembly easier. Re: TO-220. If you look at Fig 24 (bottom of p28) in the instructions, you'll see TO-220 "leaning back" inwards from the side of the case, loosely held by the nylon screw. My TO-220 looked like that before I inserted the module -- so far so good. When I inserted the module, the transistor heat sink went into the gap between the top of TO-220 and the case. I wiggled it a bit until the hole in the heat sink, and the top hole of TO-220 approximately lined up. I was able to screw in the metal Phillips screw fine, so the heat sink should have a good connection to the case. But TO-220 was still "leaning back", meaning that the bottom hole of TO-220 was still at an angle. I tried unscrewing both screws, but the heatsink had wedged TO-220 firmly at that angle. Bruce On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:17 PM Ron D'Eau Claire <r...@cobi.biz> wrote: > Hi Bruce: > > Are talking about C180 near J4? I'll check into it. It won't be the first > time the engineers made a change and didn't realize it impacted the > assembly > instructions (I'm 600 miles from Watsonville, but only milliseconds by > voice > and e-mail. Still that can be "light years" at times, Hi!) > > I'm not sure what could put the TO-220 screw at an angle. The TO-220 heat > sink simply slips in between the retainer, which is then pulled tightly > against the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. That's the critical > part - good mechanical and thermal contact between the TO-220 heat sink and > the side of the case. > > Have you tried loosening both screws and then re-tightening them? What > comes > to mind is that in tightening the top screw, the retainer might have turned > slightly, misaligning the bottom screw in the hole. With everything in > place. Loosen both screws a bit, then retighten the bottom (nylon) screw to > hold the retainer, then tighten the top screw and see if things line up > better. > > I'd appreciate hearing if that works either at my address on this message > or > r...@elecraft.com. > > 73. Ron AC7AC > > -Original Message- > From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of > Bruce > Nourish > Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:37 PM > To: Elecraft Reflector > Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install > > Hi folks, > > Last night I installed and configured a KX3 2m module following the current > instructions on the website (Rev C). My KX3 is a recent factory build. > Everything seems to be working fine; I haven't actually tried it on-air yet > (need to finish my 2m Moxon), but at least I didn't blow my rig up. > > I encountered one difference with the instructions: When installing the LO > coax on J4, I could not find any capacitor C120 to avoid. My KX3 simply > doesn't have C120 or R81 on that PCB. Has something changed in recent KX3s? > > The only hard part was the final installation, specifically clamping the > heatsink lug properly with retainer TO-220. It seems like the clamping > arrangement unavoidably puts the nylon bottom screw at a weird angle. I > double-checked the orientation of TO-220 and redid these steps over several > times, and couldn't figure out any other way to make it work. Is this > right? > If so, a clarification in the instructions would help. > > Bruce > __ > 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 r...@elecraft.com > > __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install
Hi Bruce: Are talking about C180 near J4? I'll check into it. It won't be the first time the engineers made a change and didn't realize it impacted the assembly instructions (I'm 600 miles from Watsonville, but only milliseconds by voice and e-mail. Still that can be "light years" at times, Hi!) I'm not sure what could put the TO-220 screw at an angle. The TO-220 heat sink simply slips in between the retainer, which is then pulled tightly against the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. That's the critical part - good mechanical and thermal contact between the TO-220 heat sink and the side of the case. Have you tried loosening both screws and then re-tightening them? What comes to mind is that in tightening the top screw, the retainer might have turned slightly, misaligning the bottom screw in the hole. With everything in place. Loosen both screws a bit, then retighten the bottom (nylon) screw to hold the retainer, then tighten the top screw and see if things line up better. I'd appreciate hearing if that works either at my address on this message or r...@elecraft.com. 73. Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Nourish Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 5:37 PM To: Elecraft Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 2m Install Hi folks, Last night I installed and configured a KX3 2m module following the current instructions on the website (Rev C). My KX3 is a recent factory build. Everything seems to be working fine; I haven't actually tried it on-air yet (need to finish my 2m Moxon), but at least I didn't blow my rig up. I encountered one difference with the instructions: When installing the LO coax on J4, I could not find any capacitor C120 to avoid. My KX3 simply doesn't have C120 or R81 on that PCB. Has something changed in recent KX3s? The only hard part was the final installation, specifically clamping the heatsink lug properly with retainer TO-220. It seems like the clamping arrangement unavoidably puts the nylon bottom screw at a weird angle. I double-checked the orientation of TO-220 and redid these steps over several times, and couldn't figure out any other way to make it work. Is this right? If so, a clarification in the instructions would help. Bruce __ 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 r...@elecraft.com __ 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
[Elecraft] KX3 2m Install
Hi folks, Last night I installed and configured a KX3 2m module following the current instructions on the website (Rev C). My KX3 is a recent factory build. Everything seems to be working fine; I haven't actually tried it on-air yet (need to finish my 2m Moxon), but at least I didn't blow my rig up. I encountered one difference with the instructions: When installing the LO coax on J4, I could not find any capacitor C120 to avoid. My KX3 simply doesn't have C120 or R81 on that PCB. Has something changed in recent KX3s? The only hard part was the final installation, specifically clamping the heatsink lug properly with retainer TO-220. It seems like the clamping arrangement unavoidably puts the nylon bottom screw at a weird angle. I double-checked the orientation of TO-220 and redid these steps over several times, and couldn't figure out any other way to make it work. Is this right? If so, a clarification in the instructions would help. Bruce __ 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
