[Amateur-repairs] Where are the knobs???

[John Schmitz]

Not an ex-Heath person but here's a possible theory. A while back I worked
in a Motorola Service Center. Every month we had to go through our parts
inventory stock and pull items for destruction. Seemed like such a waste to
me but here was the reasoning behind it.

Uncle Sam looks at those parts and sees dollar signs, tax money. Uncle Sam
will only let you hold stock inventory for a short period of time (time
unknown) before he wants his tax money on those inventory parts, even if
they haven't been sold yet. Therefore, to avoid paying the taxes on
inventory that was not used it would get pulled and literally crushed
(destroyed) before the taxes due date came up.

I couldn't believe this when I first learned of it either, but this is what
we did, what a waste!

Don't know if this may have been the case with Heath when they shutdown Ham
Radio, but it's a possible theory. I know we did it in Motorola.


John R. Schmitz

-----Original Message-----
From: Heathkit Owners and Collectors List
[mailto:HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV]On Behalf Of John A. Diefenbach
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 4:18 AM
To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
Subject: Fw: [Amateur-repairs] Where are the knobs???

Here's one for you ex-Heath folks....

jd, K1TLV
----- Original Message -----
From: <kiyoinc at attglobal.net>
To: <Amateur-repairs at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 10:21 PM
Subject: [Amateur-repairs] Where are the knobs???


> I'm restoring some Heathkits.  I'm taking it slow, trying
> to restore the rigs to better than new operating
> conditions.
>
> I'm picking the better models but not necessarily the best
> built rigs.
>
> My approach is to fix the obvious electrical problems and
> get the rig working.
>
> Then I move on to the cosmetics.  I remove the knobs, align
> the shafts, put washers under the switches so the knobs sit
> closer to the front panel.  I lube all the moving parts,
> de-ox-it the switches, clean the pots.
>
> I put the mechanicals right, clean the case with a mild
> bleach solution, last I tackle the knobs.
>
> Some Heathkit knobs have loose skirts.  I tighten these
> with a thin bead of superglue.
>
> I clean the knobs, taking care to get the dirt out of the
> gooves and polish the bright metal.  Later Heathkit knobs
> had blade setscrews.  I replace these with stainless steel
> allen head setscrews.  It takes me 15 minutes to set up one
> knob.
>
> Then I align the knobs to 1/16th inch from the front panel.
> It's a little close but looks right when all the knobs sit
> exactly the same distance.
>
> I spend a lot of time on the knobs.  I've seen a Heathkit
> book that says that the Heath engineers struggled and
> argued for the design of the Heath knobs.  They wanted them
> looking and feeling right.  I'm trying to build on their
> engineering.
>
> Here's the question.  When Heath shut down Ham Radio, what
> happened to the parts?  They must have had hundreds,
> thousands of knobs in inventory.  What happened to them?
> Where are they?
>
> Is there an overlooked warehouse somewhere with SB200
> parts, LMO's, LMO dials, cases, etc?
>
>
>
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