willsw Posted Thursday at 08:59 PM Report Posted Thursday at 08:59 PM On 9/30/2025 at 2:30 AM, Shawn said: I did some test prints of Stax jacks with different pin-hole diameters. As you can see, they are obviously 3D-printed, but the material is rated to withstand up to 195 °C. So far I’ve been using them for about 2 years without any issues. What were you testing with the different pin hole diameters? Did you use the threaded collet-style socket? I'd like to try printing some sockets to work with these Neutrik HA-3FXX crimp contacts, but I don't have a 3D printer. When I finish the file I'll upload it for someone else to try. Quote
ratbagp Posted Thursday at 09:40 PM Report Posted Thursday at 09:40 PM Perhaps you could try JLCPCB who also offer a 3D printing service. I've been using their PCB service for over a year and it's excellent and extremely cheap. I suspect their 3D printing machines are better than what you use at home. https://jlc3dp.com/?source=JLCPCB-top-productbar If Shawn would upload his files, I would be happy to get JLCPCB to print them. ray Quote
spritzer Posted Friday at 12:07 AM Report Posted Friday at 12:07 AM I got a bag of sockets from Germany (which I suspect are originally from Audio Valve) and they use the Neutrik contacts. Work just fine and I'll be using them in an upcoming project. Quote
JoaMat Posted Friday at 09:28 AM Report Posted Friday at 09:28 AM (edited) From a post somewhere else. I also tested HA-3FXX pins, but I like above pins better. Disadvantage is I had to destroy good Neutrik connectors to get the pins out. Made in Sketchup. Edited Friday at 09:31 AM by JoaMat 2 1 Quote
Shawn Posted Friday at 10:59 PM Report Posted Friday at 10:59 PM On 10/2/2025 at 1:59 PM, willsw said: What were you testing with the different pin hole diameters? Did you use the threaded collet-style socket? I'd like to try printing some sockets to work with these Neutrik HA-3FXX crimp contacts, but I don't have a 3D printer. When I finish the file I'll upload it for someone else to try. The pin hole diameter is roughly 2–4 mm, but one thing to keep in mind is that 3D printers, especially hobby-grade ones tend to have pretty poor dimensional accuracy. A nominal 2 mm hole can easily shrink to around 1.2–1.4 mm, so you’ll need to experiment a bit to dial in the correct size for your printer and filament. Yes, I’m using the threaded collet-style socket. It’s simple and works fine, but honestly, I think the mounting method Joamat posted above is better since you don’t have to fuss with rotating and aligning the jack during installation. The HA-3FXX is a good choice. The only downside is that it doesn’t have a gold-plated version. Hopefully, someone can find a gold-plated alternative. I’ll stick with my current version for now until I get the chance to make a screw-fixed version. And if enough people are interested in the current version, a group buy could definitely be possible. Quote
Michelag Posted yesterday at 07:43 AM Report Posted yesterday at 07:43 AM As written privately to @willsw, I'm in need for some 6 pins plugs, and I'm happy to lend a hand down what regards cad design, 3d printing (will order from jlcpcb though, so beware shipping times), and or pin variants. Unfortunately on the web the set of kt88/el84 pins with screw is to be found quite expensive, 10€ 10 pieces from audioaholics in France. Stax lambda NB already in, and don't have any socket for it 😞 Glad to help. Quote
willsw Posted 1 hour ago Report Posted 1 hour ago On 10/2/2025 at 5:40 PM, ratbagp said: Perhaps you could try JLCPCB who also offer a 3D printing service. I've been using their PCB service for over a year and it's excellent and extremely cheap. I suspect their 3D printing machines are better than what you use at home. So far I've been using PCBway for all of my printing, since I already order PCBs from them regularly. JLC seems like it would also be good, probably equivalent in most ways, like their PCB production. The one minor downside to PCBway is that the lead times for printed parts can be less reliable and a few extra days for completion is not uncommon. I've been wanting to try some US-based services, especially for larger orders, but so far have only tried Xometry once, when there was a time-sensitive need. They were good, and more expensive. On 10/3/2025 at 6:59 PM, Shawn said: The pin hole diameter is roughly 2–4 mm, but one thing to keep in mind is that 3D printers, especially hobby-grade ones tend to have pretty poor dimensional accuracy. A nominal 2 mm hole can easily shrink to around 1.2–1.4 mm, so you’ll need to experiment a bit to dial in the correct size for your printer and filament. The biggest disadvantage to using printing services instead of having a machine is that I can't really dial things in like this, though if I talked to the engineer running the machine they could probably give useful advice. I've started to use hexagonal or octagonal holes where possible to avoid this. I've also had to drill out some 2mm holes to use a batch of parts. Another tolerance thing I've run into, at least with resin parts and without having control over the part orientation on the bed, is that flat surfaces can sometimes become convex, which is a problem if the part needs to sit flush. To avoid this I'll usually add some kind of concavity to the surface so that only the edges make contact. @JoaMat's construction is pretty much what I've been thinking about, since it makes pin removal much easier than Neutrik's rotate-to-release (which did not work for me when I tried with a loose contact) or using a tool. I've also been thinking about a version that could be laser-cut or more simply CNC'd, if the plug piece was sliced into two pieces. You wouldn't get the nice flush panel mounting though. Circular connector contacts would be interesting to try, like this Amphenol AT62-210-1231-1820, though the ebay collet-style are going to be cheaper than most of those. I was also thinking about a PCB-mount socket, using Mill-Max 0321 or Preci-Dip 16008-83-4010 sockets, which are equivalent. A PCB with no copper could act as insulator and improve mechanical strength. Here's a quick render, without the necessary flange with mounting holes or traces to attachment points. A flex-rigid PCB socket could be cool in production, with the flex material potentially allowing some amount of "floating" contact behavior and also eliminating a few solder joints between the amp's output and the socket. Quote
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