Component Quality.

[Mark Grandy]

Ok, I'm going to put my 2-cents in on this one only because of my
experience this past weekend. I just finished restoring my second IM-25
meter over the weekend and while finishing the construction, I paused
while putting the knobs on it and took note of the sheer quality of the
knobs and chassis components. After carefully looking at the knob, I
realized that it was a double injection- that's how they got the black
and beige color.

This meter is now almost 30 years old and in MY opinion, one of the best
analog meters made available to the consumer market outside of the
professional equipment manufactures (Hewlett Packard for example). I
asked myself what a meter of its quality AND functionality would cost
today. Could anybody afford one if it was made available today?? From a
cost standpoint- it would be impractable to manufacture and sell. That's
why I restored it. I don't see how a meter with that quality will ever
again be made available to the general public.

Also, the chassis that was used on test equipment starting in the early
70"s was a beatuful balance of function, cost, flexibility, and
aesthetics. They used this same chasis design on most of their test
equipment of that vintage and it seemed to adapt well with great looks
and function. I made note that the front bezel was a cast part- they
didn't have to do that. That chassis design wasn't cheap to provide and
to my knowledge NO other kit manufacture came even close to matching the
quality in their chassis. Seems everybody used stamped metal.

I am privilaged to have an IG-1275 in kit form that I take out just to
admire from time to time (that's the only reason I bought it). I have
noticed that the chassis structure is made with cast metal sides and
front beazel, and all fiberglass circuit boards. The multi-pole rotary
switches are just beatuful in their quality and clearly, some of the Al
caps and hardware components weren't cheap either. I only know of
Hewlett Packard to use similar construction for the chassis in their
test equipment.

Also, Heathkit didn't have to use all the fiberglass circuit board
material that we all see used- that was a clear choice by Heathkit to go
the quality route where reasonable possible.

Finally, It must have been difficult for H-kit to continue to use the
quality that they chose implement at the times when they struggled to
maintain business- especially at the "end."

And that's the end for me, thanks for the bandwidth,

Mark Grandy
WD8RJJ

Sponsored by the City of Tempe 

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