Blue Shoe Gai Pan shorting on output jack

[tallenosborne]

HELP PLEASE!!! I lose all Effect signal when I tighten the output jack. I've loosened it and no short but when I wiggle it I can tell that it is shorting on the outside of my powder coated Tayda enclosure. I placed electrical tape under the washer and that seemed to help but it will still short under certain movements. Plus it doesn't look good. I've built two of these using the same jacks and the same enclosures and the first one didn't have this issue whatsoever. Seems like I many have to encapsulate the entire jack? Any help/experience with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[PJS]

Photos?

 

[giovanni]

Don’t isolate the jacks, that’s a big red flag. Post photos and we can help debug.

 

[tallenosborne]

Okay, I will get photos posted as soon as possible

 

[tallenosborne]

Just gotta wait for the sun to come up cause my lighting sucks lol thanks for your interest everybody

 

[fig]

Wow, a sunrise service. Far out.

 

[tallenosborne]

How I post pics? It keeps saying the file size is too large

 

[tallenosborne]

---

I've created an album on Google photos, let me know if you need something else photographed, this is my first time doing this lol

TV-MA (PG-14 Clone)

5 new items · Album by tallen osborne

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[fig]

It sounds like the jack itself is shorting internally. Some of those are not built tightly, and the contact plates will compress.

Edit: To test this theory, de-solder the ground lead from the jack, tighten as normal, then check continuity between the lugs.

 

[Robert]

Make sure the dual pot is insulated properly... this type of problem is always the dual pot.

 

[tallenosborne]

I replaced the jack and the problem persisted so ill try what your saying. Check between all lugs on the same jack or corresponding lugs on opposing jacks?

 

[tallenosborne]

I only placed electrical tape under the dual pot because I don't have a dust seal for it, if they make one. So I'll check that too

 

[Robert]

I was going to say, electrical tape almost always gets punctured by one of the component leads. More recently another member used construction paper that ended up being conductive.

They don't make dust caps for dual pots. We have these specifically for this purpose but you can insulate it with a thin strip of cardboard or plastic.

 

[tallenosborne]

I was worried about it getting punctured and that makes sense. It was resting on the board, I can't tell if it was punctured without desoldering it but I will try a piece of plastic and reassemble

 

[tallenosborne]

Problem solved! Thank you everybody for your help! It was definitely the dual pot, got it isolated and everything is fine! Thanks again!

 

[fig]

Oh cool! Smart people have all the right answers! Glad it was sorted!