First Post and Crack RCA Jack Question

[mjekot]

Hello everyone.

I received my Crack Kit the a few weeks ago and this weekend is the first time I got to work on it in earnest. I am having a BLAST so far.

I am on page 20 of the assembly manual and I have two questions concerning the RCA jacks. First question is,  the jacks were supplied with two nuts each. Do I need to use both as the instruction manual only references one?

Second and more importantly - after I soldered the red and white wires into the center pin solder cup of each RCA jack, I noticed movement of that center pin. Not a side to side movement, but more of a up and down movement (from front to rear) if that makes sense. This movement is present on both R and L jacks.

Thanks in advance, and I guarantee I will have more questions.

Mark

[Nathan]

Follow the directions

Next, sounds like you applied too much heat when soldering

[kekoukela]

For the first question, I think what I did was nut, Colored washer, Chassis, colored washer, and then nut again. Seems to be going well for me

I'm not sure about the second question. Seems like the center pin is loose? if that is the case, it depends on why I think. If you applied too much heat like Nathan said, then it might have melted the plastic(?) in the middle. But I have no idea. Try building the whole thing first? Check resistance and voltages and if it all works out go from there!

Take photos!

[Grainger49]

I'm with Nathan, a loose center conductor sounds like too much heat with the soldering iron.  Funny, so many don't get enough heat into the metal and wire/component lead when soldering.

Bottlehead has changed their RCA jacks to something better (I liked the old ones just fine) and I haven't any experience with them yet.

[fullheadofnothing]

Use the second nut or not, it doesn't matter. DO NOT put a nut between the washer and the chassis. The washer is there to isolate the jack from the chassis, putting a nut there could create ground loops.

To check your jack, measure the resistance between the center pin and the ground tab. If it measures very low, the jack needs to be replaced. If it measures very high/over limit, it is fine ton use but may fail at some point down the road.

[mjekot]

Thanks for the advise on this. I will check the resistance once I get back into the basement. RCA jacks are not too dear, so I may just replace them to keep on the safe side.