There's not much holding the threaded part onto the switch body as you can see from the pic. It just crumbled off, no real snap or anything.
(http://members.aol.com/xlrator/images/switch.jpg)
What a cotton-picking shame!
Ed R.
Wow. That sucks. You sure it's an Alpha?
Yeah. I bought 10 of them from Mouser a couple months back. I don't want to switch to anything more beefier 'cause I need the room in my enclosure.
As long as it's 1 out of 10, I guess I'll be alright.
Hmmmm.... that's diasppointing. :(
I wonder if they'll get the weakness worked out soon? Commercial clients won't stand for a 10% reject rate.
Thanks for the heads up.
I'm pretty sure I found the maker of the "blue" switches, but that was a couple days before the W32.Klez worm started munching my hard disk in a very bad way. :( I think I can find it again though.
-Peter
This is, to me, sort of like the television announcing "America is under attack". Man, am I depressed. :(:(:(:(:(:(:(
-Colin
One builder buying 10 and getting a bad one does not make a solid 10% reject rate! Peter, you of all people! :-)
A sample of 10 pcs. of something like this just can't be statistically meaningful.
What is somewhat troubling is the failure analysis; according to the photo and X's description, there may be a design problem where the shaft meets the body. Maybe I'll take one of mine and beat on it a bit.
I've bought and used about 20 of them. No failures. That right there brings our sample up to 30 and the rate down to 1 in 30. :-)
These things have been available to all of us for a couple of months and this is (presumably) the first and still only one that any of us has heard of failing.
Of course, for heaven's sake, if anyone else has had one go bad, please speak up.
Steve Daniels? You've been selling them for several weeks. Any complaints?
Quote from: XlratorThere's not much holding the threaded part onto the switch body as you can see from the pic. It just crumbled off, no real snap or anything.
(http://members.aol.com/xlrator/images/switch.jpg)
Hi,
perhaps it's assembled on a Monday Morning .....
may be a fault in construction.
bye
Oliver
Quote from: ErikMillerOne builder buying 10 and getting a bad one does not make a solid 10% reject rate! Peter, you of all people! :-)
A sample of 10 pcs. of something like this just can't be statistically meaningful.
:D I was being somewhat silly there. Any company that lets a 10% failure rate into a product is in for a world of hurt very quickly.
I would want at least 1,000 pieces in a sample to start making a judgement about actual quality, but Xlrator did experience 10% in his very limited sample. I just said that nobody would accept such a rate. ;)
It's good that your addition brings the limited sample failure rate down to 3.33%. :lol:
I am also quite interested to hear about the experiences of others with these switches. The photo does not paint a reassuring picture.
Take care,
-Peter
I've used 12, I think (of 15). Rec'd them right after they were made available. They get a fair amount of stomping from pretty big guys, no failures yet.
Other people have talked about the feel of the switch. It isn't as satisfying a "clunk" as you get with those big ole blue 3pdt's. Lower tripping weight, cheaper feeling, etc. The upside, of course, is the relatively tiny footprint.
That's a strange break in the picture, though. There should normally be almost no stress delivered to that part of the assembly. If I had to skimp, that's probably about where I would do it.
Okay, we're already down around 2%. :-)
Zach Vex (? or somebody) said that Alpha was showing these switches (as well as a 3PDT version-yay) at NAMM this year, so they at least have some clue as to what we're using them for.
I just tried breaking one at the same point that X's broke, and couldn't budge it with my bare hands.
I hope some more folks chime in with their findings. I think I'll start putting a little stress test on them before I put them in my pedals.
Not a bad idea with all of the mechanical components....
It looks like the main body is just crimped onto the threaded shaft. Pehaps this particular one had a tolorance/assembly problem where the switching plunger was striking the main body, pushing on the main body every time it was stomped.
Error at the factory, bad metal, maybe metal fatigue before the thing was assembled in the first place. There's a million possibilities on why it broke :? This isn't a good sign....
Hi,
What are your shoes man? :lol:
Bruno
I've used about 5, no problems yet :)
I wanted to buy two APEMs, like I always do, without problems, but the guy sold me two ALPHAs.
BOTH broken when mounting.
I can't see the photo in this thread, but according to the descriptions, you had the same problem.
The "cilinder" part got separated from the "square" part.
That happened to me when adjusting the switch into the case, holding the "square" part with one hand and adjusting the nut with the other. I was not being "rude" at all.
First I though it was a defective unit, but it happened the same with the second one.
Both parts are put together with 4 VERY TINY metal parts, that got broken.
I posted on this exact problem about a month ago. I think the Subject that I entered it under was Alpha Switches. I repaired 4 MXR boxes and 2 Whirlwind boxes, every box had the same switch problem as this. These are garbage.
Jered