Avalon - Grayhill TReplacement Switch prices at 136 plus Shipping plus VAT

[nisios]

Hi,

I have a Avalon Pre with a defective gain switch.
Contacted Avalon and they charge 136€ plus VAT + Shipping for that switch.

Thay tell its custom from Grayhill.

Its a double pole 12 throw

Is it me or this price is excessive?

I have seen them go for 20 to 60€ a piece, but usually with a  smaller shaft.

Does anyone knows alternative places to buy these?

Thanks

 

[[silent:arts]]

The larger shaft is the custom part.
They won't pay EUR 136 to Grayhill each,
but Grayhill won't build one to you for that price either.
(I think minimum order quantity is 500, or at lest 250+).

If the standard shaft doesn't fit it is your only chance without doing any further modification.

 

[Whoops]

Can you show pictures of the switch?

Can you use a different size shaft? I would do that, I would never pay Avalon 136euros for that is outrageous

 

[salomonander]

what kind of shaft is it? maybe you can get a shaft adapter and a regular 2x12 grayhill - which is around 25 quid. good luck desoldering the broken switch off the pcb though. its a real b*tch... 

 

[ruffrecords]

what kind of shaft is it? maybe you can get a shaft adapter and a regular 2x12 grayhill - which is around 25 quid. good luck desoldering the broken switch off the pcb though. its a real b*tch...

The best way to desolder a Grayhill switch is to sacrifice it completely. Cut it off just above the PCB surface. The the small remaining legs will desolder with ease.

Cheers

Ian

 

[salomonander]

The best way to desolder a Grayhill switch is to sacrifice it completely. Cut it off just above the PCB surface. The the small remaining legs will desolder with ease.

Cheers

Ian

i have found this to be the only option really. i tried with a proper desolder weller without luck. another option might be to get a solder tip that is shaped in a way that touches all contacts at the same time. weller has tons of funky tips

 

[Evertide]

Or just a small bit of thick wire and solder all the legs together ; heat it all up ...

 

[Gene Pink]

...another option might be to get a solder tip that is shaped in a way that touches all contacts at the same time. weller has tons of funky tips

Sounds like a job for a Weller soldering gun

Remove the stock tip, replace with solid 10 or 12 gauge copper wire (I use stripped Romex house wire) cut long enough to bend into the desired shape to heat all the pins of whatever, at the same time.

This gun is a simple ~200 turn to 1 turn transformer, with the one turn being a large chrome plated copper pipe that loops once through the core, about a half volt and several hundred amps output. The "tip" is a ~10 gauge copper wire resistor that gets hot really fast, and thus has a voltage gradient, so anything like switch contacts that are closed and connected to two parts of that wire will see some small, but solid voltage, it could destroy the wiper and the contact that is selected.

If the switch doesn't have an off position, perhaps a temporary sliver of mylar tape around the wiper tab, so it doesn't connect? I don't know these switches, and if you can even get to the wiper.

Tin the tip wire with solder all along where you will be using it, heat the pads and add way too much solder to all of them, to make sure they all have good heat transfer, but there will always be that one stubborn one that just won't let go.

I have a dedicated Weller gun with a tip bent and squared off just for dual inline chips, used it just the other day, scored some 8-pin dip 741's.

And no, I don't know why, other than the 741 bin isn't quite full yet.

Gene