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[TenTec] Eccentric display?

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] Eccentric display?
From: wb4qda@yahoo.com (John Sheeley)
Date: Thu May 22 21:56:05 2003
Hey Guys 

For all those that are concerned about the
Concentricty of the tuning nobs on the Orion . 
I just checked my Orion  tuning nobs Serial # 09c10112
with a .001  dial indicator. I am a retired Mold/Tool
maker .
this was done with the rubber removed
Main receiver tuning nob .005 run out thats 5000th of
an inch 
Sub Tuning nob .006 runout  thats is 6000 of an inch.
You are not going to find a plastic injection molded
part with any tighter tolerances . you cant decern
this runout with your necked eye .
The run out you must think you are seeing must have
to do with the rubber covering .
PS
  I just checked my Kenwood audio/video  stereo
receiver nob . It is running out .007 of sn inch
73 
de John WB4QDA
--- John Clifford <johnclif@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > But don't forget, all of the trim screws were
> perfectly aligned...
> 
> What this signifies to me is perfect attention to
> detail.  It's a pretty
> good bet that, if that level of attention was paid
> to the trim screws, the
> rest of the car would also be of similar
> quality-of-assembly.
> 
> No one would be willing to pay tons more for these
> minor fit-and-finish
> details... but if two items were substantially
> identical in function and
> similarly priced, the one with the better
> fit-and-finish will win the sales
> battle.  This is how Japan, Inc. put a whipping on
> the American car industry
> and the American consumer electronics industry.
> 
> Finally, as a person who has been involved in
> creating and selling products
> that have won their niche of the market, I can tell
> you that most consumers
> don't, and can't, understand the intricate technical
> specifications of a
> product.  This is true even of ham radio!  But they
> can see and appreciate
> fit and finish.
> 
> Case screw alignment is not worth spending a lot of
> time on.  Noticeably
> eccentric knobs and/or displays/meters/etc., are
> because they affect the
> customers' PERCEPTION of quality even if the radio
> works incredibly well.
> Perception IS reality when it comes to sales and
> marketing.  If you as a
> manufacturer want the perception of quality, then it
> behooves you to ensure
> that everything that is visible on the exterior is
> flawless... even if you
> have miles of wire inside to fix ECOs.
> 
> I just did a quick knob evaluation of my HW-9, K2,
> Drake R8A, and Omni VI.
> The HW-9 and the Drake have perfectly concentric
> knobs, and the K2 and Omni
> VI don't.  (I am running a Yaesu FT-100 knob on the
> K2, the original knob
> did run concentrically.)  The difference here is the
> knob designs, and I am
> sure that the Omni VI and K2/FT-100 knobs are the
> MORE expensive!
> 
> Think about it... you're going to have to buy
> thousands of knobs anyway, so
> does it really matter if, during the prototype
> stage, you spend a little
> extra time designing/spec-ing a knob/shaft/mounting
> technique so that all of
> the knobs will be absolutely centered on the shaft
> they mount on?  If just
> ONE person doesn't buy the radio because the lack of
> concentricity bothers
> him enough to doubt the radio, then the money you
> lose on that sale probably
> exceeds what doing it right would have cost.  Why
> NOT do it right if doing
> it wrong doesn't cost any less?
> 
> Some ardent Ten-Tec fans think I write these posts
> because I hate Ten-Tec.
> Give me a break... I own an Omni VI, Centaur, and
> 238B tuner, and am
> strongly considering buying an Orion.  I like their
> product line.  I write
> these posts not to piss off anyone... but the worst
> thing that can happen to
> Ten-Tec is for it to believe that fit and finish
> don't matter to their
> customers.  That is a sure way to declining sales
> and the eventual demise of
> America's best-loved amateur radio equipment
> manufacturer.
> 
> 
> 
>  - jgc
> 
> John Clifford KD7KGX
> 
> Heathkit HW-9 WARC/HFT-9/HM-9
> Elecraft K2 #1678
> /KSB2/KIO2/KBT2/KAT2/KNB2/KAF2/KPA100
> Ten-Tec Omni VI/Opt1
> Alinco DR-605TQ
> Icom T90A
> 
> email: kd7kgx@arrl.net
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec


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