DX-100/SB-xxx/HW-xxx build times

[Brian Wood]

Well, you could set yourself up as a builder and get paid for it. You have to do a good job though! Alan and several others have built a lot of kits for people who, for one reason or another, can't build it themselves but want the product or want to support American companies. It's a pretty cool solution for everyone, since the buyer gets the product at a price lower than if the mfr had built it for them, and the builder gets lots of fun assembling the kit! 

But...

The builders-for-hire also service kits built by others (at a much higher hourly rate!), and they all agree that one thing has not changed since Heathkit advised that "...about 90% of all kits that are returned for repair do not function properly due to poor connections and soldering." Soldering remains the biggest issue, and I might add that even large manufacturers are having that same problem with outsourced boards. Soldering techniques that were refined here in the U.S. have to be learned all over again overseas. For example, Agilent learned the hard way that boards with large parts on them have to be slowed down as they pass through the wave solder machine or else the parts fall off after shipment. In Loveland, CO, they knew that, but it was not written down, and it got lost in the transfer of all mfg to Malaysia and Singapore (with the concomitant loss of 1500 mfg jobs in Loveland).

Both Elecraft and DZKit are using builders-for-hire. Imagine the overhead we would have to have to pay people to assemble and test the products, not to mention all the labor and regulatory issues. It really solves the problem of outsourcing mfg to other countries. You get an American-made product, using American labor, but without the usual overhead. It's the wave of the future! There's a link to Alan's website on ours at www.dzkit.com. 

Brian, W0DZ

-----Original Message-----
From: wa6mhz at cox.net [mailto:wa6mhz at cox.net] 
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 6:58 AM
To: Brian Wood; HEATH at LISTS.TEMPE.GOV
Subject: Re: DX-100/SB-xxx/HW-xxx build times

WOW!  Now THATS a job to dream about!  Builder for hiire!!! Most of us paid dearly just for the priveledge of building a Heathkit yet some people get Paid to do it!  I got a job in electronics and started to be an assembler, but there was better money in being a technician.  So I get to fix the mistakes the assemblers make.  With a Heathkit, you get to be the Assembler AND the Technician, to find out what you wired wrong after its built.  But nowadays, robotics build all the stuff and there is very few jobs for electronics assemblers.  Those jobs that still exist are being shipped overseas where they will work for a $1 a day and a bowl of rice!  My wife is just about to get laid off for that reason.  So I sure wish I could open the Sunday paper and find a listing: "WANTED, Electronics savy person to build HEATHKITS for me. Call XXX-XXXX."  Now THATS a job to DIE for!!!

"---- Brian Wood <wood at LPBROADBAND.NET> wrote: 
> Thanks to all who responded. One said 20-30 hours and one said "an entire
> summer"! But the general consensus from the others was 40 hours. That is,
> coincidentally, how long it took Alan Wilcox, our "builder-for-hire", to
> build the DZKit Sienna. It seemed like a long time, so I wanted to see how
> it compared with the rigs of yore. Glad to hear that the time was that long!
> That should put to rest the notion that you can't save money by building
> something yourself. At the going labor rates, 40 hours translates to at
> least $400, maybe even $1000. Even pre-assembled boards have some labor
> content in them, since it is not free to have machinery load and solder the
> boards and it is also not free to test them. In the low volume world of ham
> radio products, I think the DIY paradigm is still valid. 
> 
>  
> 
> 73,
> 
> Brian, W0DZ
> 

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