Tom, I have not ever seen that kind of fastener, A pop rivet served as a 
nut but if that is the case it would be very easy to re pop rivit the 
existing holes with new ones.  Just a thought.  good luck.



ED K7UC
-----Original Message----- 
From: Tom Behler
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 12:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Oh, those nagging quality control concerns

Hi, everyone.



As most of you know, I recently purchased an MFJ 998 auto-tuner, and an
Ameritron ALS600 solid-state amplifier as new additions to my station here
at the home QTH.



I have been in the process of re-configuring my station setup, getting the
equipment installed, and testing the equipment to be sure it is totally up
and running.  I now think I'm just about ready to put everything on the air
in a sustained way, but wanted to report on a few nagging quality-control
concerns that I've experienced over the past few days.



First,  I ordered an MFJ 5114K Kenwood interface cable to connect between my
TS590, and the MFJ 998 auto-tuner.  One thing I immediately noticed when I
took the cable out of the package was that the molex connector that plugs
into the TS590 was not securely fastened to the interface cable.  The wires
were all connected, but the shrink tubing on the cable was not close enough
to the connector to insure sufficient strain release for the connections.
Fortunately, I had some shrink tubing here, and was able to firm up the
connection, and secure it further with electrical tape.  I guess that's
cheaper than sending the cable back to HRO for a replacement, although I
don't think this is something I should have had to do.



Secondly, I ran into an interesting problem with my new ALS600.  I purchased
and installed the 10 and 12-meter modification for the amplifier, and to
install it, I had to remove the amplifier cover.  This should have been a
simple process, right?  Well, installing the mod was actually quite simple,
but where I ran into problems was when I tried to put the cover back onto
the amplifier.  There are 22 screws that are used to fasten the cover to the
amplifier, and all went well, until I got to the four screws on the very
bottom right-hand side of the amplifier case.  The screws simply would not
re-fasten to the chassis.  It turns out that there are little pop rivets
that are fastened to the holes on the chassis, and these serve as nuts for
securing the screws.  Those nuts had fallen out when I initially loosened
the screws, and I have been unable to fit them back into the chassis holes.
Of course, the cover is still very securely fastened to the amplifier unit
via the 18 remaining screws, but it simply seems to me that, after paying
$1349 for the amplifier, this kind of problem should not happen.  I called
Ameritron Technical support, and they assured me that this will not affect
the safe operation of the amplifier, so I am not going to pay the money to
send the amp back to them for a warranty repair.



I guess this all goes to show you that they simply don't make things like
they used to.



Tom Behler: KB8TYJ