Ham Radio - truSDX part 2. Problems and solution.
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2022
- The takeaway from this is, if you pay someone to build a kit for you, inspect it after. I had an old ham tell me that many years ago and it's still a truism today.
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Please hold back the flames a bit until the follow up video is released a day or two after this one. I have good news regarding this event with the feedback I've received from both the builder and the designers.
Interesting video Kevin, I will wait until then before I comment. The quality of the follow up after a complaint sorts the good companies from the bad. 73 Jim M7BXT
Nothing wrong with your close look and analysis. Commercial production board work is picky. I suspect your response from them is it’s early production. Nothing there was “terrible” but not up to commercial standards I’ve seen in numerous manufacturing orgs I’ve worked for over the years. And no, I rarely “expect” that from ham kits or even “approved” assemblers. Hobby stuff is just kinda “like that”. My early soldering looked awful too, and another former manufacturing engineer taught me better as a ham Elmer, now he’s passed and I say the “old engineer” things. Ha.
I've watched the follow up video and it's good they are retraining everyone. One comment I would make is: to me, it would appear that there's plenty of solder on the joints, they were just cold joints. They needed more heat/flux. In fact some of the ones you said look good look like they had too much solder on them. I've been welding a soldering iron since I was 12 and my first job out of highschool was with BAE Systems building cables and PCBs for DoD applications, they trained us to MIL and NASA crimp and soldering standards, so maybe I have a more critical eye for these things. Glad they're addressing the concerns you have.
I'm not sure what to say aside from pointing out that we're in the hobbyist realm here, not NASA. :-) Anything can always be better though.
@@loughkb understood. Note I mixed your response about the patch cycle with the one about 5G.
(And agreed… 5G at these data rates is useless. Ha. Heck the way it was deployed here it has poor backhaul so it doesn’t change anything anyway… except maybe over in the big cow town!) grin.
As a beginner, I took some learning points from this. I realised just how important a good and clean solder technique is... I'm off to practice!
I wouldn't consider paying someone else to build such a simple kit as long as I could do the job. (I have a (tr)uSDX I bought as a kit and built.) But then, I would actually pay MORE for a kit than an assembled piece of the same electronics gear. I like to solder. I like to build. I like to put in the time to build things really well, and KNOW they are good stuff. And I like to modify gear, so kits are perfect for me. I started soldering in about 1960, and I've been soldering ever since. BTW, I received a NASA soldering certification, and one of the things we were taught in the class was that the balls of solder usually come from boards that had too much moisture in them when they were sent through the soldering machine. Water vapor in the through-holes creates little steam vents that pop up solder and it cools on the way down and becomes balls. The same thing can happen to through-hole connections when hand soldering. In any large, professional assembly plants, such as SONY's, boards are prebaked to remove moisture before they are assembled. But in small Chinese shops like those that are building the (tr)uSDX, there just isn't enough quality control and a sufficiently experienced labor force to ensure that everything is done right. I know Manuel had each supplier send him 2 assembled radios to review before he would certify their company. But you know those 2 units are going to represent the best the company can build, not necessarily their everyday production. A small Chinese company in the middle of supply-chain problems, a pandemic, and a war in Europe trying to produce a quality product doesn't stand a chance. I think the (tr)uSDX would have been better off as just a kit, but circumstances make that difficult to pull off while helping everyone who wants one get a nice little QRP radio for very little money.
I've been on both sides of this, where I have done some work where I am embarrassed I was paid for it, BUT I also learned, and my quality became excellent. _Because this is a small community, I suspect that your generous expose will nonetheless have a negative impact on this company._
I hope that they are able to add some kind of QA to their process - even if it is the same builder setting their built unit aside for a QA pass the next morning, along with a day of burn-in. I would pay double their build-rate for this.
Even a simple check-list like this would be helpful:
* Clean the board
* Inspect for cold solder joints, reflowing questionable ones
* Significant burn-in with a bit of (manual) vibration and knob twiddling (with a dummy load!)
ALSO, for builders who "audition" for Certified Builder, perhaps the company would ship them a surface-mount soldering practice kit, have the builder build it and ship it back as a "test" of their soldering ability.
These are simple things. Anyway, *thank you* for the heads-up, and I hope the builders & company takes our constructive criticism to heart.
Well said.
Flames??> HAH... just the opposite. I applaud your attitude. Everybody makes mistakes now and then. What is important is what you do about it. Good work, Kevin. Thanks for sharing it with us. 73 de K7RMJ Frank.
I purchased the kit. It took me the better part of half a day to assemble the boards and print the enclosure.
The rest of the day was spent trying to refocus my eyes. The kit and design of the radio are well worth its price.
While it was nice to become versed with the internals, I may purchase another to experiment with but have it pre-assembled
and just reflow some areas after it arrives. Such a cool little radio! Looking forward to your future videos of this little unit.
A good detailed board inspection is always a good first thing. Today I fixed a friend's CRT TV. It's problem was a burned-up solder joint on the B+ lead of the vertical output IC. It was likely a poor factory joint made some 25 years ago. Thanks! I'm considering a kit truSDX and a wire as a fun backpack thing. 73's N2GX
I used to make more kits myself, but recently I've been getting things preassembled. They've been reasonably good, but I need to dig into a QCX-Mini I got preassembled and is having some issues. I'm fairly certain the problem is in the connectors that tie the main board with the control board. But I'm tempted after watching this to drop Hans a note and ask for his advice.
I love my Flea. Thanks so much for working with Harry to produce such a delightful little rig. My Flea, the ATS-25 receiver I use with it, a 5000Mwh PD consumer grade power bank, a 12v trigger cable, and a CW Morse straight key are all in a repurposed pistol box with custom cut foam. It works like a champ!
Kevin, I really appreciate your evaluation of the soldering. I have done a lot of soldering, but I am far from perfect. BTW - I decided to have someone else build these kits because my last attempt at kit building blew up in my face. Not fun.
I have an unassembled kit on the bench. These videos are going to be very helpful for me.
Great video! You opted for the 95% solution, with only 5% needed to act as QC and correct the minor issues. The minor soldering issues don't even begin to address the issues with packaging, i.e., the 3D printed case. Good move.
The designers need to rethink their production strategy. This is what will always happen when there is no independent after-assembly, inspection and test of small-batch production. The contractors have no interest, except to get the job out of the door as quickly as possible to maximise their profit. When you put your name (/call-sign) on an assembled product, you are indicating your responsibility for the unit "as sold".
Hate you had trouble Kevin. Now the fun begins. I'm starting my classic band board this weekend, so I appreciate the microscopic views of the solder joints. Hope you enjoy the trusdx as much as I have..73 John
You're a whole lot more charitable than I'd have been in this situation. If I pay for professional assembly of a kit, I expect a DECENT job. It doesn't have to be perfect - it's not an art project - but if I'd gotten something like this I'd never pay that person/company for anything ever again. If you can't do a repetitive task to a minimal standard you shouldn't be charging other people money for it.
Don't think mine was luck but just properly assembled,had no problems and enjoying working with it!!
You've got to get on to the supplier as others less knowledgeable could waste money by a bad repair attempt!! 73
Thank you, Kevin, for your very helpful review. I, and I am sure many other of your loyal…and fascinated fans, always enjoy your love of specificity, your curiosity and incredible patience. What tries most of us, provides you, undaunted, with hours of fun.
Regardless of the minimal cost, why not simply return the item in the hope of increasing the vendor’s quality, if even a little?
In the end, it doesn’t matter and who really cares?!
Well, obviously, you do.
Without your hard-won skills, developed over decades, most of us confronted with the same collection of issues of imperfection, would end up disappointed, angry, or both.
If you should decide to drop a time, p l e a s e let us know the response you received.
Answer to the all-day-assembler’s response to the several…really numerous imperfections you found, will likely be: “What did you expect for this price?”
Of course the correct and simple answer is:
“More! And better!”
Bill
I had a similar issue with a prebuilt antenna end fed with unun. The soldering looked fine but had no continuity. A touch of the soldering pencil fixed it. Just being able to find and fix a problem like this is what we hams do.
Looks like a wonderful toy, for a lot of fun.
I will order mine in few hours, also assembled but from another supplier.
Pre-assembled to me means wave soldered and cleaned .. this builder was a weekend warrior.
Yeah, I am a little picky with my soldering. Even I have had a cold solder joint, but after a little time I fixed it. It is the nature of the beast.
Thank you again for another very nice video Kevin! 👍📻⚡I think the (tr)uSDX will be a great QRP rig for me to take on the road. Thanks for showing yours and how you worked on it to get it back to 100%. Very helpful!! Cheers buddy! - 73, Tom / WA7FLY
The one I bought is a completely different level: the quality of the work is absolutely top notch. Mine is from Sunny in China. This is surprising to see on yours.
Same source. See the update, next vid, for feedback from Sunny.
I used to know how to solder. But then the world went lead-free and I can't solder any more.
Also some of those solder flakes looked like they might be reflections from the camera lights bouncing off of the rosin.
My assembled radio doesn’t meet the specs the developer demands for approval. I have no way of knowing (other than opening it up and redoing chips and caps) how the radio is suppose to perform.
Glad I've not purchased one yet. Now I know what I am getting into....
I use an old toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol to clean the boards up. Is that “okay” to do?
It's what I've always used. But I don't know that I'm qualified to state with any authority that it's okay. ha!
We use as necessary, isopropyl, methanol, and acetone. (Note: methanol is metabolized differently by the liver and may have severe health consequences, and acetone will breakdown many types of polymers on contact.) Isopropyl is sufficient if you’re satisfied with the results.
It would be safer to use an anti-static brush to avoid damaging any static sensitive components.
Hi Kevin. I was soldering one of my own projects while "watching" your video, so I didn't see every detail. What I did see is far below my standards (amateur?) and is by no means professional. Was there a reason why the builder of your radio was so sloppy? Certainly there was, but it doesn't excuse the poor workmanship. However, it seems like you made it work; congrats.
So Kevin, when I do clean up work I'll use a toothbrush but how do you remove the excess rosin splatters; is there a chemical to use while brushing the PCB?
I'm not Kevin, but I use a toothbrush with some 91% isopropyl alcohol, but before I do that, I try scratch off the bigger flux specs with a fingernail or a plastic spudger. Or if it's a project that is not destined to appear in a video or in person outside my room, I may leave the flux alone; it doesn't really hurt anything. I am told that a mixture of acetone and isopropyl alcohol works better, but I also have heard that acetone can remove the silk screening from some PCBs, so I haven't tried it.
Pretty much what not Chuck said. :-)
Yep, what not Chuck said is best.
I really like soldering and repairing. Getting into that magnified small scale world is very enjoyable, especially when you're repairing old kit for yourself and bringing it back to life or just pre-emptively extending its life.
But here's a totally unrelated question that I've never asked. The RATT pack? What does the abbreviation "RATT" stand for, as I've heard you reference the name many times?
Shame that it wasn't put through a soldier bath that would normally be used on large scale production.
Being it came from their China-approved maker/seller (and no offense to China or that company), I can imagine they had their best create the board/assembly that was tested and approved by Manuel. But once they started making them en masse, they had to do like any company and create a team of workers and maybe even hire some. Probably younger, maybe, maybe not, given some quick soldering lessons if they hadn't done it before. The assembled kits are ~$40-50usd over the unassembled kits so it's good margin for them in China, esp if there's minimal QC. But these take a little while to assemble even on a line of kids doing them all day, so they can't (or don't want to) spend a lot of time on them, as much as we'd like for them to. And even if the individual workers are like us and wanted to be anal about proper solder joints and clean boards, I have to imagine in this factory they _can't_ go back and fix stuff as they'll get reprimanded if they do, so there's that. But all that said, anyone buying the kit did so because they didn't want to do it themselves (maybe they don't have the skills), so to have it not work on arrival - having literally no QC whatsoever that it even functioned - that's a hard no. It's all of an extra second to put a plug in it and visually see that it powers on. An extra 30s could run thru all functionality in a scripted test.
Hey Kevin,
You are too nice a guy!
While you are right, assembling boards all day long CAN get to be real boring real fast, that level of QC is what separates the pros from the tinkerers!
OK, maybe the assembler was having a BAD day, I get it, but WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR QC TEAM? I DO NOT know of one (QUALITY) assembly line that doesn't have a QC team, not to mention that unit you got should have been tested, AGAIN BY A QC TEAM MEMBER to ensure that it was functioning to parameters, LONG BEFORE IT EVER GOT NEAR THE SHIPPING DEPT AND FIXED/RE-WORKED prior to getting packaged!
When I worked for a MAJOR electronics manufacture years ago, I saw people get fired for turning out boards like that, and when I got promoted to the QC team, we had STANDING ORDERS to bring to our team leaders attention for remedial action ANY board that was sub par let alone like THAT!
If I did THAT kind of work re-working a board when I worked for IBM as a tech (different from the above example) I would have been fired pretty much on the spot as soon as the QC tech(s) spotted that! Yes, I know China assembled items are NOT the same, but...well, enough said.
Personally I feel that If ANYONE (let alone a CZcams Tech Reviewer) is purchasing a device that they PAYED EXTRA to have assembled FOR THEM, then they HAVE A RIGHT TO EXPECT QUALITY WORK by that person or organization, PERIOD, FULL STOP!!! If you had bought the kit and you're doing the assembly work and you screw it up, well, that's on you and a whole different story.
Thanks for the great video, I can't wait for the remainder of them especially the interview with the designers of the unit and what they had to say about the SHODDY WORKMANSHIP (I'm being REAL nice here), GREAT WORK, GREAT VIDEO yet again Mate!!!
73, stay DRY & safe!
Kevin,
Do you have any input as to your preference to which "qualified builder" assembles your build? I recall in your previous video that there is a list. I am following along with you on this one.
Thanks.
Paul M. WA3X
I have learned, and I believe it's correct, that those four links are different sales channels for a single company doing the builds. I haven't verified this with the designers as yet though.
It might have been an idea to have had the kit assembled by someone like PCBWAY JCLPCB
I don't think they wind torriods.
Man that rf board was nasty. I think the company needs to rethink who is assembling their kits. It is detrimental to the radios success. Thanks.
It would have been worth the time to assemble this yourself. To each his own I guess.
For this series, as I said in the first video, I wanted to document the experience of buying the pre-assembled version.
soLder
Oops, you capitalized a letter in the middle of a word, forgot to capitalize the first letter, and left out punctuation. ;-)
@@loughkb hihi nice one Kevin
A buyer's cognitive dissonance is incompetence's best friend.