Designing Kits in the Digital Era[via LSMTP - see www.lsoft.com]

[Harvey A. Kader]

I agree 100% with Malcom, and others. Heathkit produced top notch
equipment for the price. All products by any manufacturer then and today
are built to a price point. A budget is set(final selling price target),
and the product is designed around and within the budget.

So for example, a fine sports car can be built to sell for $150,000 with
ten coats of paint, or a simple commuter car can be built for $20,000
with only three coats of paint. Both are fine cars, but each is built to
a price point. You can't fairly compare one to the other. It would be
like comparing apples to oranges.

To show how circuitry has changed since the advent of transistors, I
recently acquired a Sony AM radio kit. Yes, I actually found a KIT by
Sony which was designed only for the Japanese market. The kit is 1985
vintage. The entire circuitry, including mixer transistor, oscillator
transistor, IF transistor(s), and AF transistor(s) is built into ONE
integrated circuit. The IC comes PRESOLDERED into the circuit board by
Sony. The tuning capacitor, volume potentiometer, oscillator coil, and
IF transformer all come presoldered on the circuit board. What is left
to install and solder on the circuit board is about ten capacitors and
five resistors.

The tuner is therefore presoldered and aligned. Now, contrast this to a
six or eight transistor kit from 1960 where all  discrete components
were individual transistors. In this kit, EVERYTHING had to be soldered
by the builder, and alignment then had to be done.

So Sony found a way of ensuring reliability with this 1985 kit by
preassembling and aligning the tuner portion of the circuit, AND
designing all discrete components into ONE IC.

Imagine trying to build a kit designed in 2000 using modern components.
All ICs, surface mount components, and all digital elecronics. It COULD
be done, but would it be practical. Could most novices build it and
align it? And would it cost less and NOT more than a factory assembled
version of the same product.  This kit would be much more complicated to
build than a tube based kit from 1950. The tube components are much
larger in size and easier to handle, the circuitry is far less
complicated(no digital - only analog), and alignment is easier. Trouble
shooting is a breeze on tube equipment compared to digital circuitry.
Many times you don't even need a scope to effect repairs.

So, it can be seen that although kits can, AND ARE, still be produced in
2000, they are just too many problems with this concept now. The only
way to produce a kit today is to keep the circuity very simple and
basic(even that concept was used in 1960 by kit manufacturers), and NOT
expect the final product to be comparable to a MUCH MORE complicated
factory designed and built product which has more features and does
more. The purpose of a kit is to teach assembly techniques, circuitry
design, and electronics while having FUN and ending up with a workable
finished product. The original concept of kit building in the 50's and
60's to save money from the EXACT SAME factory assembled version just
doen't work any more in the digital era. Kit manufacturers saw the
writing on the wall in the 1980's and gracefully exited.

Harvey.

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