Magic fix for stripped plastic jack threads?

[olddawg]

Ok....So if I was still in a shop I would order and replace them or have them in stock. But I just repaired the power supply in a Fender Ultimate Chorus and the nuts on the jacks are spinning loose. The kid wants it yesterday. The plastic threads are gone. Anyone have an ugly trick. I'm tempted to melt four spots with my soldering iron and monkey die it.

[Enzo]

Do the jacks work electrically? Take the two FX loop jacks from the other end of the board, and mount them as inputs. Put the stripped jacks in th FX loop. They will carry the signal as needed, but won't be plugged into as much. Order the jacks, and tell the kid to bring the thing back in a couple weeks for new jacks.


Please, oh dear god, please, do not glue them.

[olddawg]

Thanks Enzo...I wouldn't glue them and they're fine electrically. The loop jacks are just as bad. The worst thing that can happen is the pads get stressed. I know the correct thing to do, but sometimes you have to do the quick and dirty deed. I was just curious of anyone had a trick to rethread them. I've done it with plastic repair solvent and a new nut. It's not worth the trouble.

[jrfrond]

Yes, NO GLUE! Just get the correct jacks.

When plastic meets metal, the plastic ALWAYS eventually loses.

[Enzo]

I know the amp is out of your hands most of the time, but the one most effective way to prevent plastic threads from stripping is to keep the nuts snug in the first place.

When the nuts are loose, even on good threads, then the jack is free to bang back and forth against the nut. That give the jack room to "get up some speed" and increase stress on the plastic.

[J M Fahey]

Wrap a couple turns around the shaft with that teflon plastic tape that is used to seal gas and water galvanized pipes.
So much as to make it almost impossible to turn by hand, youŽll need some tool; for it to work the metal thread must compress the teflon tape quite a bit.
Experiment with one until you find the optimum thickness.
Trim the excess ..
It will hold for a weekend for that anxious/desperate kid (is there any other kind?) and give you a couple days to do the correct Enzo solution.

[jrfrond]

I know the amp is out of your hands most of the time, but the one most effective way to prevent plastic threads from stripping is to keep the nuts snug in the first place.

When the nuts are loose, even on good threads, then the jack is free to bang back and forth against the nut. That give the jack room to "get up some speed" and increase stress on the plastic.

It's actually a bit simpler than that Doug. I repair and restore drums and drum hardware as well, and we see the same issues with metal wing screws that thread into ZAMAC diecast components. It's hard vs. soft (isn't it always??? ). You have steel-based counter-forces pushing back against the soft threads when you tighten the nut. The threads deform and begin to shear. Eventually, they will just give way. This is why plastic jack nuts are actually better in this application, but they are a different thread pitch.