HISTORY:
Sustainability is the name of the game! Anything (that has been tested and still functioning properly) should be repurposed creating saving in wasted Ee and reducing the poisoning our environment when items are buried in the earth at the local tip needlessly.
Never heard of Ee? It is a concept that creates a measurement of ALL things (not just electronics) that humans have made and the energy used in obtaining the raw material, processing the materials right through to a finished product and even should include the shipping of the item to the distributors/retailers.
If you would like to know more about Ee values, please take a look HERE
These jacks are ex-broadcast industry communication cards (DIN41612 architecture) and were designed to provide monitoring access from the front of each card while the equipment was in operation.
The tip "switching" arrangement is a bit strange (to me) and it is vital that anyone interested in these jack sockets read my comments in the "testing" section of this description.
Surprisingly, I could find no manufacturer logo or identification markings at all ...
Here we go with the description
UNBRANDED Jack Socket
To suit use with 1/4" standard jack plugs *** IMPORTANT, please read about this further down in the description (Testing section)
Configuration: 3x contact points, Tip Ring & Sleeve
Two sprung contact points (Ring & Sleeve) are normal switched types - normally closed SPST BUT the Tip contact point does not actually switch at all! It is important to read further down in this description about this Tip contact.
ALL contact metal work, including the contact points, are Gold plated
The body of the jack socket is one piece moulded plastic material, looks to be a high temp type.
Embedded into the front of the socket is a brass metal female nut
The front section of the jack uses a Chrome plated screw in male section
This front section screws in but does not butt up against the Black body, leaving a gap of 4.5mm, this is where the two washers come in. This also means that you may need to use more or thicker washers if your front panel is thinner, or less if the panel is thicker.
The body and mounting of the jack are completely isolated from any contact, including signal ground.
Solder tag terminals (6)
TESTING:
*** Although these appear as normal jack sockets, they are actually quite different, particularly the Tip contact area.
Every jack socket is the same and I have carefully checked if these were manufactured faults or damage due to useage but no, they look to have been intentionally manufactured in the strangest of ways.
The Ring and Sleeve contacts and associated switching are quite standard.
The Tip however is completely different ...
The Gold plated solder tag is longer on both sides, the contact rest point in the moulded body is lower than the other two contact points. This causes two things to happen.
1) Although visually the Tip contacts appear to be closed, they are actually Open with a very small gap between the contacts. The spring metal is not mishappen or bent out of shape, it was just never intended to meet the other contact. This begged me to wonder why on earth go to the trouble of assembling this last contact if in fact it does nothing! Of course, when the jack plug is inserted, the contact gap opens up even wider.
2) The second effect of this different mechanical arrangement for the Tip contact is that the jack socket is very " fussy" about which size jack plug it will accept properly but once a correct jack plug is inserted, the plug is seized and held tightly in place, similar to a locking mechanism.
If a "non-spec" jack plug is inserted, it will not be able to be physically pushed into the socket fully - take notice of this and look at the photographs, see how the last contact point (the Tip) is slightly lower than the Ring or Sleeve. It is this that makes the plug very selective about which size jack plug is being used - if the wrong size plug is used, the last contact point will simply not open and allow the jack plug Tip inside.
When a correctly sized jack plug is inserted, the grip on the plug is tight and secure - almost as though it is locked.
Here are the measurements of my GOOD jack plug test & SHE WON'T FIT jack plug test
GOOD PLUG - 31.6mm length shaft x 5.7mm tip maximum diameter
SHE WON'T FIT PLUG - 31.1mm length shaft x 5.9mm tip maximum diameter
It should be noted that the "good plug" was a known branded product, the other non-fitting plug was a generic no-name thing from Jaycar.
I have not seen any jack sockets arranged in such a way and the reasoning escapes me but there you go ... it is probably no surprise that the communications card manufacturer (UK based) never used the switching contact side of the jack socket!
CONDITION:
Each jack socket has been in use however only the "contact side" of the solder tags have been used, the switching was ignored and the solder tags are untouched.
Clean
NO physical damage to the body or contacts
Closely inspected the Gold contact points (yes, not Silver plated) and these are all clean. Gold contact areas surprised me as well, Gold is soft and I am sure it will tend to wear faster than as if it was Silver plated.
The solder tags that have previously seen solder have been left with the centre hole open, although there is still a bit of solder on the tags - nothing terrible though and easy to clean up when these are being wired up once again.
Each jack socket front screw in section has a Black plastic washer and also something like a Nylon or composite material washer.
Each jack socket (and the front barrel with washers) are now individually packed into sealed clear plastic packets, hopefully someone can find a new purpose in life for these slightly odd sockets.
