This short article by Jack Ganssle mirrors what many of us gray-haired old men (GHOM) experienced with Heathkits:
< Heathkit returns!- >.
I'll emphasize one of his points: Heathkit's assembly manuals were well-done. You actually COULD learn some electronics by building the kit and reading the manual, and there was plenty of troubleshooting information there for the kit that didn't work. If anything, the tedium and excessive detail became irritating as your experience increased, but even that was an important lesson - "Attention to details" is an important part of engineering work.
We'll have to see what form their revived product line takes. Many of us would like to see products that follow the "original" Heathkit model, with lots of wire stripping, soldering, board stuffing, etc. But, as I pointed out in an earlier post in this thread, touch-labor has been driven out of consumer electronics, so "kit assembly" is more likely to consist of fastening together several subassemblies and plugging a few connectors - much like you would "build" a Personal Confuser by installing a motherboard and power supply into a chassis.
Another post mentioned an idea that I think has some merit. Perhaps we can persuade the new Heathkit to re-offer some of their better, classic, designs. While I don't think that McIntosh ever claimed their products "sounded as good as a Heathkit", I seem to recall that a few Heath products had respectable performance and decent reviews. If they exploit the "retro" or "nostalgia" aspect, there may be a viable market. (But then again, nostalgia just ain't what it used to be in the good-old days!)
Dale
p.s. - Did you know that the most original Heathkit (pre-WWII) had wings?
< Heathkit returns!- >.
I'll emphasize one of his points: Heathkit's assembly manuals were well-done. You actually COULD learn some electronics by building the kit and reading the manual, and there was plenty of troubleshooting information there for the kit that didn't work. If anything, the tedium and excessive detail became irritating as your experience increased, but even that was an important lesson - "Attention to details" is an important part of engineering work.
We'll have to see what form their revived product line takes. Many of us would like to see products that follow the "original" Heathkit model, with lots of wire stripping, soldering, board stuffing, etc. But, as I pointed out in an earlier post in this thread, touch-labor has been driven out of consumer electronics, so "kit assembly" is more likely to consist of fastening together several subassemblies and plugging a few connectors - much like you would "build" a Personal Confuser by installing a motherboard and power supply into a chassis.
Another post mentioned an idea that I think has some merit. Perhaps we can persuade the new Heathkit to re-offer some of their better, classic, designs. While I don't think that McIntosh ever claimed their products "sounded as good as a Heathkit", I seem to recall that a few Heath products had respectable performance and decent reviews. If they exploit the "retro" or "nostalgia" aspect, there may be a viable market. (But then again, nostalgia just ain't what it used to be in the good-old days!)
Dale
p.s. - Did you know that the most original Heathkit (pre-WWII) had wings?
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Ah, my Dad worked for Heathkit... mmm around 1980. I remember a bunch of heathkit stuff around. My father was a technical writer for them. The gig involved getting a free kit, without instructions but with access to the engineers, in order to come up with the manual. At least, that's the impression I had as a child. I remember a bunch of audio stuff, a 9-pin dot matrix printer that was huge and loud and (comparatively) fast, an H-89 computer, and even the Heath Educational RObot (HERO) in our house for a while. There was evidently a big (dual 15"?) speaker nicknamed "The Coffin" by the techs, but the writing staff only got a kit for 1 speaker to do the job! Then you had to either buy another one, or sell yours off to one of the other writers.
It would be nice to see them in business, but I can't really imagine it as an american venture any more. But there are plenty of guys on ebay offering audio kits, why can't Heath? I'd pay a premium for a name I trusted. Not a big one, but still...
It would be nice to see them in business, but I can't really imagine it as an american venture any more. But there are plenty of guys on ebay offering audio kits, why can't Heath? I'd pay a premium for a name I trusted. Not a big one, but still...
I learned a lot from Heathkits before I went to college going for an EE degree. My father got a radio amateur license hen I was about 5. He built a SB-400 transmitter and used a National NC-300 with it, then built a SB-301, and the NC-300 went to another table for SWL, mostly for me. I built an AM radio about age 8. There were a few other Heathkits around the house my father had built. My first "stereo" age 12 was a GD-109 stereo record player - standard Garrard automatic turntable, ceramic cartridge that sounded better than one would expect, and about a 5wpc solid-state amp.
About age 12-14 I had a growing interest in electronics, and I read through the ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, and the schematic and Circuit Description portion of every Heathkit manual I could find.
I also don't expect a lot from the new Heathkit, and am doubtful about a tube amplifier or really anything that's not powered by an already-UL-approved wall wart or other standalone power supply. It's a different world as far as litigation and product safety.
But even so, this is a Good Thing. I can see Heathkit's re-entry into the kit business as being prompted by other phenomena that have already been happening in recent years with Make Magazine, the growth of hackerspaces and makerspaces, and a general, if fairly minor, resurgence of the "DIY" phenomenon. Even Radio Shack has noticed it, even though its business model seems to be focused on cellphones and phone service sales. I commented on this Hack-A-Day discussion:
Speak your mind and help RadioShack suck less - Hack a Day
About age 12-14 I had a growing interest in electronics, and I read through the ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, and the schematic and Circuit Description portion of every Heathkit manual I could find.
I also don't expect a lot from the new Heathkit, and am doubtful about a tube amplifier or really anything that's not powered by an already-UL-approved wall wart or other standalone power supply. It's a different world as far as litigation and product safety.
But even so, this is a Good Thing. I can see Heathkit's re-entry into the kit business as being prompted by other phenomena that have already been happening in recent years with Make Magazine, the growth of hackerspaces and makerspaces, and a general, if fairly minor, resurgence of the "DIY" phenomenon. Even Radio Shack has noticed it, even though its business model seems to be focused on cellphones and phone service sales. I commented on this Hack-A-Day discussion:
Speak your mind and help RadioShack suck less - Hack a Day
Built a bunch of Heathkits in my day too. The educational aspect and the confidence that you could maintain the item were important. I think some kind of internet forum of kit builders would be very important now. Member of the club, contacts, that sort of thing. Building component level PC board stuff nowadays looks difficult cost wise except maybe for some niche items. I could see some test equipment for car maintenance like an error code reader, oxygen sensor tester, knock sensor test, ....
The retro tube gear amps could be a go if the liability issues can be dealt with. There could even be a big breakthru niche there if they were to exploit the recent technology for no-filament Low Voltage vacuum tubes available now, but I doubt they have the finances to fund that..yet. (its been sitting on the shelf for ten years now and no one has picked up on it) How about a PC attached curve tracer kit?
Another way would be to kitify some existing popular products, like the licensing of the DEC LSI-11/H-11 was done. Imagine a McIntosh tube amp kit for example.
With the internet available, a total re-think may be in order. Let the customers design the products thru forum efforts, then sell the parts package with a construction manual. With free expert design, one could imagine building amazing stuff. Another useful service would be to develop service/mod manuals for some of the used hi-tech equipment sold on Ebay for which no service manuals are available. Or mods to such equipment. I'm thinking for example a Xantrex switching power supply with PC link. With some PC software they could be configured as a programmable power waveform generator or curve tracer for example.
A hybrid go-kart. Start small, think big. With forum expertise one might expand horizons quickly. A Heathkit modular hybrid car someday with forum developed interchangeable upgrade assemblies. Let the customers develop the products they want. I think this is the model that needs to be followed, it's time has come. The group design experience would be extreme education as well.
Then there are those 3-D printers. Can make most any mechanical part. Soon to be sintered metal printed parts. Titanium car parts? The sintered titanium powder process is already developed. Just waiting to be exploited. I want my hybrid vehicle made with a titanium frame and sheet metal. Fender benders just spring back out. Titanium bike parts. Titanium kayaks and canoes. (Titanium in powder form is cheap by the way. It was the old machining process problems that made its products expensive.)
The retro tube gear amps could be a go if the liability issues can be dealt with. There could even be a big breakthru niche there if they were to exploit the recent technology for no-filament Low Voltage vacuum tubes available now, but I doubt they have the finances to fund that..yet. (its been sitting on the shelf for ten years now and no one has picked up on it) How about a PC attached curve tracer kit?
Another way would be to kitify some existing popular products, like the licensing of the DEC LSI-11/H-11 was done. Imagine a McIntosh tube amp kit for example.
With the internet available, a total re-think may be in order. Let the customers design the products thru forum efforts, then sell the parts package with a construction manual. With free expert design, one could imagine building amazing stuff. Another useful service would be to develop service/mod manuals for some of the used hi-tech equipment sold on Ebay for which no service manuals are available. Or mods to such equipment. I'm thinking for example a Xantrex switching power supply with PC link. With some PC software they could be configured as a programmable power waveform generator or curve tracer for example.
A hybrid go-kart. Start small, think big. With forum expertise one might expand horizons quickly. A Heathkit modular hybrid car someday with forum developed interchangeable upgrade assemblies. Let the customers develop the products they want. I think this is the model that needs to be followed, it's time has come. The group design experience would be extreme education as well.
Then there are those 3-D printers. Can make most any mechanical part. Soon to be sintered metal printed parts. Titanium car parts? The sintered titanium powder process is already developed. Just waiting to be exploited. I want my hybrid vehicle made with a titanium frame and sheet metal. Fender benders just spring back out. Titanium bike parts. Titanium kayaks and canoes. (Titanium in powder form is cheap by the way. It was the old machining process problems that made its products expensive.)
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I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the assembly manuals cost a lot to develop (as in they had ordinary people test-build kits based on the manual and they tweaked it based on what mistakes they made along the way - possibly with an industrial engineer overseeing), and it of course shows up in their high quality manuals. Heathkit still has the copyright on all manuals (15 years ago I called Heathkit and paid $35 for a photocopy of a manual for a '50's TC-3 tube tester that I had bought for $25).
What brings this up is an idea I had a few years ago of making kits based on the old manuals. Unbuilt Heathkits tend to sell for much higher prices than assembled units, partly because of the rarity of authentic unbuilt Heathkits but also people still want to build them, especially the older tube-based kits of the '50's and '60's. It seems to me that making a parts kit that duplicates an older model Heathkit shouldn't cost TOO much.
What brings this up is an idea I had a few years ago of making kits based on the old manuals. Unbuilt Heathkits tend to sell for much higher prices than assembled units, partly because of the rarity of authentic unbuilt Heathkits but also people still want to build them, especially the older tube-based kits of the '50's and '60's. It seems to me that making a parts kit that duplicates an older model Heathkit shouldn't cost TOO much.
A Heathkit 3-D printer kit should be one of the priority products. And a kiln for sintering the powdered metal parts it prints. Then you could make all the aluminum chassis and front panel parts for anything you want. There is a sintered glass powder process, and modelers clay and ... available now too. You can make most anything on a 3-D printer now. Someday you'll be able to make the vacuum tubes on it as well.
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There is a simple JFET matcher at New Page 1. I do not have permission to link to the page but it is under "Tech Tips".
The EICO 685 does that. It uses a separate transformer winding for base drive/gate drive at 60Hz.
I hope they offer some kits suitable for beginners, particularly young kids in the 12-15 range. And strictly from a financial standpoint, doing so would help create a generation of DIYers that would eventually buy more sophisticated & expensive kits that would help their kit biz remain economically viable.
As far as my own memories of favorite electronic kits I built as a kid, besides the Goofy-Lite I mentioned previously sold by Radio Shack, there was Heathkit's touch sensor on/off 120V switch, RS' crystal AM radio kit and strangely enough
an automatic nightlight (another RS p-box kit) which used just 5 components not counting the incandscent lamp and battery, though now an LED could be used and the battery would last much longer than just one night!
On a slightly somber note, I love radios and definitely enjoyed building several of them back then - AM and shortwave - but to me, since 95% of commercial radio is a wasteland of formulaic/souless corporate music and ranting talk shows, I don't think such kits would be a big seller nowadays. Shortwave radios might still have a chance though.
As far as my own memories of favorite electronic kits I built as a kid, besides the Goofy-Lite I mentioned previously sold by Radio Shack, there was Heathkit's touch sensor on/off 120V switch, RS' crystal AM radio kit and strangely enough
an automatic nightlight (another RS p-box kit) which used just 5 components not counting the incandscent lamp and battery, though now an LED could be used and the battery would last much longer than just one night!On a slightly somber note, I love radios and definitely enjoyed building several of them back then - AM and shortwave - but to me, since 95% of commercial radio is a wasteland of formulaic/souless corporate music and ranting talk shows, I don't think such kits would be a big seller nowadays.
Shortwave radios might still have a chance though.I'm not sure a "garage parking assistant" is the best choice of kit to start with, unless someone at Heath has already decided the venture is doomed and sees no reason to prolong the agony. It'd be smarter to license proven designs from Velleman, Elektor, ELV, and the like. Then make them more affordable.
And emphasize the educational aspect so they can sell to students and get them hooked.
And emphasize the educational aspect so they can sell to students and get them hooked.
I met a guy at the Orlando hamfest a few years ago that had taken early retirement from HP/Agilent to start up a company making a modern version of a Heathkit ham radio transceiver. He had some boards and printed manuals that did look like something that Heathkit would have written. I wished him luck and sort of forgot about it. About a year later he was at the Dayton hamfest with a working radio but the parts shortage of about 2 years ago was keeping him from getting off the ground.
Last year at Dayton he had complete kits, working radios and a waiting list to buy one. Now he has 3 kits, all amateur radio, and all like a modern Heathkit.
Check out the website, download the Sienna manuals and see:
The DZ Company -Welcome
Note:
I have no interest here, don't own one, and aren't planning to either, but I am a radio engineer for Motorola and I looked over his design (it's all in the manual) and it is nice. There is a Heathkit page on the site somewhere too.
Last year at Dayton he had complete kits, working radios and a waiting list to buy one. Now he has 3 kits, all amateur radio, and all like a modern Heathkit.
Check out the website, download the Sienna manuals and see:
The DZ Company -Welcome
Note:
I have no interest here, don't own one, and aren't planning to either, but I am a radio engineer for Motorola and I looked over his design (it's all in the manual) and it is nice. There is a Heathkit page on the site somewhere too.
I probably mentioned this already in the thread, but I've often thought kits might be a viable small business. I hear that unbuilt Heathkits go for big bucks on ebay, and a few people would pay to be able to build "one more kit" like we, er, they did as a kid.
Not that I'm that old or anything...
Not that I'm that old or anything...
Unfortunately, there is no way to sell kits to be competitive with the global automated supply chain. When I built my first Heath color TV, all TV's were still hand built point to point. They quit ham because Kenwood clobbered them. Who wants a VTVM when a fluke is 100 times the accuracy. Most modern electronics is done on surface mount. Want to put that in a kit? I have fond memories, but that was another time. They would do best to stay in the school learning market. The last offering that made money were the Bell & Howell electronics classes as they were paid for by the GI bill to learn electronics while you build a TV. Hafler made a decent run of it, but that was about it.
"Connect a 6 inch wire from tab A to slot B" Yea, it sure was fun, but that was then, this is now. Can you imagine the liability suits of a kit dealing with 17KV today?
"Connect a 6 inch wire from tab A to slot B" Yea, it sure was fun, but that was then, this is now. Can you imagine the liability suits of a kit dealing with 17KV today?
We still have Maplin in the Uk who does a few kits but nothing like what they did in the 1980's.
I built a disco from Maplin kits from the record decks, pre amp, amplifier, speakers, sound to light, light sequencer etc
It gave me a good start in electronics. I knew next to nothing about circuits but built amplifier pcbs up ok and wired them up. The instructions were good that told me how to bias an amp.
Clearly mains projects can be a killer and great care needs to be taken.
But you can buy loads of amplifier modules, power supplies etc that run off mains on the internet now.
I built a disco from Maplin kits from the record decks, pre amp, amplifier, speakers, sound to light, light sequencer etc
It gave me a good start in electronics. I knew next to nothing about circuits but built amplifier pcbs up ok and wired them up. The instructions were good that told me how to bias an amp.
Clearly mains projects can be a killer and great care needs to be taken.
But you can buy loads of amplifier modules, power supplies etc that run off mains on the internet now.
Nobody would wan to sue Allied today because their 40 years' old kit being misused caused fire, or injury. But when somebody alive, who can be sued for many, sells them it is a different story, especially now when lawyers sue each other for errors in advertising of own services.
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