best way to tighten pots, jacks, switches onto the enclosure

[acehobojoe]

Has anyone ever had one go bad because it loosened? that is always a fear of mine, even after 10 years, that some guy who has one of my early pedals has it stop working simply because a jack moved out of place and is touching the enclosure or something.

I tighten them now with pliers.

[joegagan]

use sockets wherever possible. a trick used by industry sometimes is to put tape on the face of socket to prevent marring finish. some sockets have a bevel at the mouth ( this is for speed when working on cars etc, the socket finds it's way onto the nut faster), i grind some sockets down flatter to lock onto thin nuts better.

a really good lockwasher on the inside is a plus.

[joegagan]

additionally, some pedals need the outer diameter of socket modded to fit into recessed jack areas etc. don't be afraid to mod your tools for the job.

[davent]

I use nut drivers with the bevels ground down flat like Joe described. For round switch hardware there's the ESP spanner, not for tight spaces.



For protecting the finish i used a circle cutter to cut appropriate sized holes in some recycled, thin plastic packaging.

[acehobojoe]

Very nice. thank you!

How exactly does that driver by ESP work?

[acehobojoe]

Also, do you guys know of ways to speed up the wiring process? like to strip wires better and quicker?

[bloxstompboxes]

I don't know about stripping them quicker, but you might try a 3pdt wiring board if you haven't already. You could design and etch one yourself or buy them from somewhere. Makes wiring the stomp-switch easier and nicer looking.

[davent]

ESP spanner, one side of the 'v' section is serrated, that edge engages the serrations on a round nut or the corner of a hex nut and allows you to turn it. One end is for tightening the other to loosen.



Stomp switch boards totally baffle me, still have to strip the wires to solder to the board and now have to solder the lugs to over-sized holes in the boards, and they take up more room and you have to buy them or make your own... i totally don't get it?

dave

[amptramp]

Has anyone ever had one go bad because it loosened? that is always a fear of mine, even after 10 years, that some guy who has one of my early pedals has it stop working simply because a jack moved out of place and is touching the enclosure or something.

I tighten them now with pliers.

This is a good reason to use the locating tabs on pots and switches.  If you have a large knob, these can be drilled through the housing and will be hidden under the knob.  If not, you can use a thin piece of metal with the correct drillings under the main chassis so you have precise location without the tabs showing through the housing, but keep it thin - most pots have only enough thread to go through a thin panel.  For a jack, use a star washer on the underside of the housing and reef it down tight.  If the jack will not take being reefed down tight, you are using the wrong jack.  (Plastic-bodied jacks need not apply.)  I have some early telephone jacks that have the normal hole for the jack but have an extra mounting screw.  Let's see pickdropper put a couple of these in a 1590A!



The view above shows a long-frame telephone-type jack with mounting holes above and below the jack that provide a solid mount and no tendency to loosen.  There are similar ones with a single tapped hole on the frame side such as the Mallory 2B telephone jack.  I would estimate that most failures in music electronics that need help from a technician are due to wires breaking due to loose pots, jacks and switches.  BTW the picture above is from a 1926 Ultradyne radio.

[Bishop Vogue]

I use pliers (the ones with the flate nose) with a bit of electric tape on the business ends.  Without the tape, you can scratch up your finish.  Saw this trick on a youtube vid and it works well.

[CodeMonk]

Also, do you guys know of ways to speed up the wiring process? like to strip wires better and quicker?

I prefer these for wire stripping.
They have worked well for me for 30+ years, but may take a little practice to use quickly.


And I've posted this many times, but use this little tool for tinning wires.



And count me in as another one that grinds down the bevel on sockets.
Some jack nuts seem to be about thin as the bevel on sockets.

[TheBigMan]

I have a set of 1/4" drive deep sockets for using on pots etc, and use wire strippers like these ones.  Mine are a cheaper set, not Stanley, but work very well

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-FMHT0-96230-FatMax-Stripping-Plier/dp/B00CD24EAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425634487&sr=8-1&keywords=wire+stripping

[italianguy63]

This: