You guys were right again!! I spoke with Natasha at CarolinaDronz. A super sweet gal that would not let me hang up until she was satisfied that I was satisfied. How refreshing is that, a place that answers the phone in person!! They do in fact open items up and check them before shipping them to their customers. They had a number of these that were packaged with the hardware rubbing against the antenna face causing scratches. They requested a packing change from 4Hawks and are checking them as they come in. I think they have a few scratch-and-dent units at a reduced price, if your interested.
I finished up my install and have a few observations:
First - I don't think I would attempt this unless you are pretty comfortable doing this type work. I have been troubleshooting and repairing CNC equipment for a good number of years, so it was a dive in for me.
Second - The install video, as well as the 4Hawks website, shows all three
internal cables to have 90 degree threaded connector ends. The longer of them installed on the face of the controller. It also shows the three
external cables to be absolutely identical in both length, as well as how the cable ends are crimped on and oriented...or however those connectors are fastened. I'm not sure what's going on, but you can see from the pictures its not what I got? The
straight end on the gold cable makes it a little impractical to mount on the face of the RC. Your placement better be pretty close to dead on, or you will interfere with other components in there when putting the faceplate back on the main body. Then, you still have to make a bend with the cable that is pointing down, to get it routed where it needs to go. I personally like the idea of going out the top edge with all three cables. Not that I expect to be inside the RC much, but not having a cable hooked to the faceplate will make it easier to remove and set completely aside. I had to move the RC around quite a bit to get the install done, and if I need to go back in there for any reason, I'm sure it will have to be moved around, tilted, turned upside down (i drop little tiny screws a lot), etc. and I don't need anything connected to the faceplate when it can be avoided.
Third - I think the mechanism for clasping it to the RC rails is a little cheesy. Unless i am not finding it, there is no way of adjusting the spring tension so it doesn't slide freely along the rails. I have the little allen wrench that came with it, but for the life of me I have no idea why it's there? I know, it fits the little the spring loaded bolt that holds the bracket to the RC rails, but it does nothing that I see other than fit a bolt. I might have to come up with something different, perhaps something using knurled screws similar to what is used to fasten the bracket to the antenna, along with some heat shrink on the rails if that can be done, that will sandwich things with a little more force on the rails. I like to know it's not going anywhere, unless I want it to.
Just my two cents.