# Blue Shoe Gai Pan shorting on output jack



## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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!


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## PJS (Mar 20, 2022)

Photos?


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## giovanni (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

Okay, I will get photos posted as soon as possible


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## fig (Mar 20, 2022)

Wow, a sunrise service. Far out.


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

> 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


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## fig (Mar 20, 2022)

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.


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## Robert (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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?


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## Robert (Mar 20, 2022)

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.


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## tallenosborne (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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## fig (Mar 20, 2022)

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


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