Octatrack MKII / Screw holes for side panels

[WOLGAST]

Hello!

I like to buy wooden side panels for my Octatrak MKII. Can i use side panels that be made for the Octatrack 1? Are the screw holes and the position identical on both machines?

Thank you very much!

Best regards,

Alex : )

[Hans_Olo]

Can’t tell you that from my office, but by all means make sure the screws are not too long.

[WOLGAST]

Thank you! Oh, how i check that they are not too long? How long should they be? Otherwise i would destroy my mashine?

[twardowski]

the screw length depends on the width of the wood sidepanels. if you’re buying a ready-made wood set, the screws should be provided (or at least stated how long they should be) if not, or if you’re doing the panels yourself - which I definitely recommend - once you have your wood cheeks, just buy an assortment of screws, M3 i believe, and screw them to get the length right. just be extra careful, not to shove them too far. once you feel resistance under the screwdriver, stop!

but to be frank, when I was assembling my wooden elektron tower (I have two selfmade sets of wooden panels of different widths, one accomodating two elektrons, the other one - three) I accidentally went too far with the screw and the side of my mk1 octatrack’s enclosure bent slightly. Fortunately, upon removing the screw, the side went back to form and device still works like a charm.

[Hans_Olo]

There have been anecdotes of people damaging the circuit boards of their machines by using excessively long screws. I’d at least do some research first.

[twardowski]

ok, my current sidepanels are 0,6cm in width, and the screws I have have a thread of 1,5cm

[finalform]

There is more than one thread on here with pictorial evidence. The screws should not extend more than a few mm into the case or you are at risk of doing permanent damage to the main circuit board.

E.g.:

BEWARE: screwing into ear-rack holes

I have broken both of my monomachines today. Beware screwing into your monomachine (or probably any other elektron unit). If the screws are too long, they may hit the PCB board and cause extreme damage to the unit. I can attach a photo so you can see what little damage can go a long way. The screws came with some ear-racks that I bought from someone. I assumed the screws would not cause any damage because... why would a PCB board be in the way of the ear rack holes? Well, my assumption was…

Rack screws to deep damages printboard (PCB)

[image] My printboard (PCB) suffered severe damage since I've place the Analog Four in a rack. The holes where you screw in the screws are so close to the the PCB that they've touched the PCB. As you problebly can understand I'm very sad with this situation: the analog isn't working anymore and I've lost my reportoire. I'm really surprised that the holes are manufactured so close to the PCB, while there is space left a few inches further. Further, in the manual is not a single warning that …

All the Elektron boxes so far have required M3 (3mm diameter) bolts. Take the thickness of the end cheek (reduce accordingly if the bolt holes are recessed) and then add no more than 5mm to get the required length.

[WOLGAST]

Perfect, thank you!

[twardowski]

n/p
but I can’t stress enough that it’s safer to buy shorter screws, especially if they’re only supposed to keep the sidepanels together not rest the whole weight of the device.

[WOLGAST]

Elektron answered:

Yes, you can use rack mounts/side panels for the MKI on the MKII.