# Be careful tightening your 1P8T rotary switches!



## p_wats (Nov 19, 2020)

The cursed enclosure that claims all who enter has done it again (he says, shifting blame from himself)! 





ARGH!

Excited to finally get this nightmare build fixed and boxed up, I must have tightened the nut a bit too much. It didn't seem like I was applying any extra force, but then I heard an awful cracking sound. 

Sure enough, the switch was now intermittent and only worked if held the right way (I've had one other switch fail this way after a year of use, but not while tightening). 

The good news is I had bought a few extra, just in case, so it was simple enough to replace (and, as per the above image, it came out in more pieces than it went in with). 

Be careful and don't let your overzealous caveman paws get too carried away, lest you end up like me!


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## Nostradoomus (Nov 19, 2020)

My god, if I was you I would have turfed that wretched build a long time ago. Your perseverance is admirable!


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## cooder (Nov 19, 2020)

Thanks for the heads up, I guess we all don't want to find out this way how they look on the inside...


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## p_wats (Nov 19, 2020)

cooder said:


> Thanks for the heads up, I guess we all don't want to find out this way how they look on the inside...


Ha. Yeah, I'd have cried if I didn't have a few extras from an order I made after one failed on me. 


Nostradoomus said:


> My god, if I was you I would have turfed that wretched build a long time ago. Your perseverance is admirable!


You don't even know the half. Ha.


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## Jimbaaaab (May 31, 2021)

I’m feeling your pain!  I built an arachnid over a year ago and it worked fine.  Was one of my first builds, and I surprised myself that it actually worked first time.  Just went to play it again and it all 8 settings sound the same unless you push down the 1P8T a little bit.  As soon as you let go, back to same sound for all settings.  Managed to desolder it last night and put in a new 1P8T (pain in the balls) and the same thing is happening again,  Don’t know if I have dodgy switches or something, but this is getting quite irritating! Is it a switch quality thing? Are there more reliable ones to be had? I’m pretty certain I got mine from PedalPCB and not some random on eBay.


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## mnemonic (Jun 1, 2021)

I had a DOA rotary switch on a dwarven hammer I built, opened it up and the metal bit that spins around making contact was loose. I think these rotary switches are just not very robust. 

any kind of oddball switch I never have much luck with. I also have a 50%ish failure rate on the cheap Asian push/pull pots in guitars also, so now I either use CTS push/pulls, or (ideally) avoid all together and use mini switches.


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## music6000 (Jun 1, 2021)

p_wats said:


> The cursed enclosure that claims all who enter has done it again (he says, shifting blame from himself)!
> 
> View attachment 7806
> 
> ...


they only need to be tightened with a socket with your fingers, its held in place with 8 pins, it aint goin' nowhere! 👌


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## p_wats (Jun 1, 2021)

music6000 said:


> they only need to be tightened with a socket with your fingers, its held in place with 8 pins, it aint goin' nowhere! 👌



Nothing excessive done in the two that have failed on me (one after regular use and the other while tightening carefully). I've just learned to be careful with them, as they don't seem very robust (no fault of PedalPCB, they are the same quality elsewhere too).


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## JamieJ (Jun 1, 2021)

p_wats said:


> Nothing excessive done in the two that have failed on me (one after regular use and the other while tightening carefully). I've just learned to be careful with them, as they don't seem very robust (no fault of PedalPCB, they are the same quality elsewhere too).


This is good to know. I built an arachnid this week and have just made sure it is not done up too tight. Looks a PITA to remove.


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