Mammoth Big Muff Pi Op Amp Build Help

[nashsnazzy]

Hello fellow and much more distinguished builders,
This is my first post. I've read this board for a while before I decided to jump in and build a pedal. I've built my faire share of headphone amps and I've been pretty successful on some difficult builds so I'm fairly confident I can build a pedal. Or at least I thought that until I tried to stuff the stupid PCB into the case. As noted in the title I'm building the Mammoth Electronic Big Muff Pi Op Amp kit. This is my third time trying to wire the pots up and I think I have that under control although I'm not finished. My question for now is, how do I put the AC jack in the top of the case and snug the nut in to hold it? There isn't much room in the case for a wrench. Also, do I bend the tabs out before I wire it as they barely clear the top of the middle Alpa pot? Any help is appreciated and I'm looking forward to knocking this thing out in the next day or two. Hopefully the wiring gets quicker the next few go arounds.

Cheers

[nashsnazzy]

Here is a photo of what I'm dealing with.



Any help is appreciated.

[R.G.]

Sadly, the real answer is to drill the hole for the jack lower in the case, away from the pot.

Other than that, if you're stuck with the case and can't get another and redrill it, you're pretty much going to have to improvise.

Bending the lugs on the DC jack is a start. However, that thing will one day twist in its hole, so you are going to need to insulate the pot body so it does not short the power supply when that happens. Some thick cardboard, heavy plastic film, a coat or two of auto-body putty, or all of these are in order.

[Unlikekurt]

looks like you're definitely going to have to bend the tabs out to get that in there efficiently.
you could then also consider putting shrink tubing over the tabs once you've soldered the wires in place.

[nashsnazzy]

Thanks for the input. I'm just going to bend the tabs as flat as I can and pucker up. This case seems to be a bit too small for this build. I'm sure an old  hand at this pedal stuff could do the job but I'm just not skilled at working in these tight spaces.

[cmdrfun]

I've been getting into the habit of putting heat-shrink over those connections due to the close proximity to pots and sometimes LED wires. There's also some little covers ("pot condoms") you can get to cover the back of the pot and make sure it doesn't touch any other wiring.

[Pyr0]

Just be careful bending those tabs, they can snap off pretty easy if you try to bend them too much.
I'd glue some thick plastic insulating material on the pot if it was mine.

[Electron Tornado]

You can also try some double stick tape on the pot.