Tip of jack stuck!

cosmosuave · 2014-09-18T14:40:19.000Z

Your gonna have to open the box and extract it…

MichalHo · 2014-09-18T16:44:45.000Z

Magnet? Are you joking? Lots of plugs are nonmagnetic, or very weakly so.

Glue… Finicky, messy… I know…

Opening up: nah, you’d have to dissassemble the whole jack mounting which looks rather tedious.

Hard to say… You probably tried pushing aside the socket clamps and tilting the OT…?

Here’s another pro-gluer:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4165427

Cocker · 2014-09-18T17:46:43.000Z

""udenjoe"":

http://www.elektronauts.com/upload/post_files/1073.jpg
Listen to miketheman.

I would have said try a magnet too. Other options: compressed air and gravity. Or a combination of any three.

If you are going to try superglue I would suggest simulating the environment. Buy a jack and mount it on something similar to the octatrack size. Jam something in the jack. You are going to want to rest your wrists on a table to steady your hands with the octatrack on or on the edge of the table.

Try everything else first. Superglue is obviously permanent if you f up.

Simulate the environment is a very good idea.

What kind of mechanism (inside the socket) is keeping the jack tip in place.
Usually a wee latch

Jack_plug_socket_switch.jpg669×579 50.8 KB

Find one similar to those on the OT and work on that first

jeffe · 2014-09-19T16:56:51.000Z

Do not put glue in yer machine.

Very small needle nose pliers have helped me.

jaalmadakan · 2014-09-22T08:09:14.000Z

Maybe a butcher solution… but when this happened to me I used a gimlet to screw in the damaged jack and remove it.

Non english native speakers now all google image “gimlet”

Percivale · 2014-09-22T09:43:32.000Z

For sharing only. Happened to me on my Roland MC-909.

At your own risk, find another same plug head as the one that got its tip stuck inside the machine. Use superglue on this plug (think about the area that would adhere then apply only to that portion.

Stick it in, wait for it to cure and pull.

I was so relieved to get mine out. The box still worked as before and lesson learned - would never use/buy a cheap plug on a machine I value again!

Good luck!

Allerian · 2014-09-23T14:19:34.000Z

After doing a few simulations, I’ve found that a drill press solves a lot of the problems in terms of aligning everything without touching the sides. I’ll post results.

The lesson to us all: If you buy used gear, look inside every single hole. Don’t get someone else’s f*ckup pushed on you.

Allerian · 2014-10-26T19:14:09.000Z

Following an afternoon full of building Mythbusters-quality jack tip removal devices, this problem is headed for Sweden.

natrixgli · 2014-10-28T00:32:51.000Z

I’m the guy who sold the OT to Allerian. Someone bought it from me before Allerian and promptly returned it along with this little added bonus in the right main output jack. Somehow both of us missed it on inspection…

Anyway, Allerian’s good people and a fellow Brew City Elektronaut so I promptly offered to buy it back for what he paid me for it. (To prove what a cool cat he is, he even let me keep the 64GB CF card he bought for it!)

Took it home, scarfed down some McDinner, and then got to work.

10 minutes later…

I was elated to find that the offending jack tip was completely hollow, making it fairly easy to get a grip on it from inside rather than trying to use glue or pliers. I got it past the first metal tab inside the jack with a long self tapper cased in rubber cable shielding (to protect the jack), then carefully guided it out with a small screwdriver while gently nudging the second contact out of the way with an even smaller screwdriver.

Now the only questions that remain are:

1: Should I send the offending tip back to it’s rightful owner?

2: Does some cosmic force REALLY want me to have this Octatrack? Should I keep it? I already have Ableton/Push and a MPC-1000.

De_wouzer · 2014-10-28T00:46:24.000Z

once I had this problem. After many experiments this one worked.

I used a screw and turned it in the plastic on the back of the tip. then I took out the scew, the tip came out with the screw.

this worked because of the place the jack was broken. Mine was broken on such a way, the plastic middle-part of the tip was still in, together with the metal front. there was a hole in the plastic tip. the screw fitted in this hole…

i hope its clear, i find out it;s difficult to explain for me.

jeffe · 2014-10-29T01:08:02.000Z

Really wish yer picture worked - I got to see this.

What did you pull it out with exactly?

De_wouzer · 2014-10-29T01:50:50.000Z

""jeffe"":

Really wish yer picture worked - I got to see this.

What did you pull it out with exactly?

?

Accent · 2014-10-29T02:55:06.000Z

[quote=“” natrixgli""]
I’m the guy who sold the OT to Allerian. Someone bought it from me before Allerian and promptly returned it along with this little added bonus in the right main output jack. Somehow both of us missed it on inspection…

Anyway, Allerian’s good people and a fellow Brew City Elektronaut so I promptly offered to buy it back for what he paid me for it. (To prove what a cool cat he is, he even let me keep the 64GB CF card he bought for it!)

Took it home, scarfed down some McDinner, and then got to work.

10 minutes later…

I was elated to find that the offending jack tip was completely hollow, making it fairly easy to get a grip on it from inside rather than trying to use glue or pliers. I got it past the first metal tab inside the jack with a long self tapper cased in rubber cable shielding (to protect the jack), then carefully guided it out with a small screwdriver while gently nudging the second contact out of the way with an even smaller screwdriver.

Now the only questions that remain are:

1: Should I send the offending tip back to it’s rightful owner?

2: Does some cosmic force REALLY want me to have this Octatrack? Should I keep it? I already have Ableton/Push and a MPC-1000.
[/quote]

You’ve owned the OT 2.5 times now. I think that’s a sign that you should just keep it.

jeffe · 2014-10-29T16:01:12.000Z

[quote=““De wouzer””]

[quote=“jeffe”]Really wish yer picture worked - I got to see this.

What did you pull it out with exactly?
[/quote]

?[/quote]
His picture doesn’t work over here.

natrixgli · 2014-10-29T19:01:18.000Z

Sorry, not sure what happened to the image, here it is again:

poonti · 2014-10-29T19:56:20.000Z

""natrixgli"":

Sorry, not sure what happened to the image, here it is again:

octafixed.jpg640×480 116 KB

You’d make a good road-side dentist on the streets of Jaipur!

Allerian · 2014-10-30T15:01:39.000Z

The miracle worker! Kudos for stepping up and offering to take the machine back months later. You are one seriously stand-up dude.

aeoner · 2014-10-31T03:53:39.000Z

Argh!

I´m having the EXACTLY same problem right now. An adapter just broke inside my new Octatrack main output!

I´m desperate! What you recommend me to do, based on the photos below? (sending back to Sweden is not an option right now)

Even if I manage to grab the head with glue, how do I take it out, as the jack have a kind of “grip” inside?

IMG_4905.JPG480×640 157 KB

(the second one is just for comparison)

IMG_4899.JPG480×640 94.1 KB

natrixgli · 2014-10-31T04:20:31.000Z

Read my earlier post. Lucky for you the tip is hollow. A bit of patience and finesse will get it out. You need some precision screwdrivers, a long self tapping screw, and a cable you can cut some shielding off of. A Ethernet cable ought to work. You may need to file down the tip of the screw a bit if it’s really pointy, but get it wrapped in cable shielding then twist it into the jack tip. That might be enough to pull it straight out, but if not you should be able to work it out the rest of the way with the small screwdrivers.

If you can get the screw into the jack tip, work it out of the socket while turning it clockwise to keep it lodged in the tip. Otherwise a flat headed precision screwdriver with some lateral pressure applied ended up doing the trick for me once I got it about halfway out with the screw. I used a thinner screwdriver to press the metal tabs inside the socket out of the way.

natrixgli · 2014-10-31T04:25:52.000Z

Also your photo gives a real clear idea of how this can happen with cheap cables. The inside of the socket has those metal tabs which have rather sharp edges that can shear a loose tip off, so it’s a good idea to avoid dodgy cables or adapters. From now on anything that I plug into my gear is getting a quick pull test to make sure the tips are on good and tight.