3.5mm jack plug/socket size?

[CURRY POWDER]

I've had a go at making a 1/8" plug, worked out okay.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Tony.

[camtechman]

Several Russian Radios had a similar problems with an odd sized earphone socket.

[TonyDuell]

Very nice home-made plug. I must make something similar...

As promised (threatened?) here is the scan of the catalogue entry for the AEI connector.

[mike_newcomb]

Hi Tony,

I have occasionally hit problems on purchasing Plugs labelled 3.5mm, when used on both new and old Sockets,

They are too loose and the connection fails, or 'wiggling' is required.

When measured turns out the Plugs are 3 mm diameter.
The Guys at Maplins were surprised when they double checked this.

To see this, compare the Plug an a cheapo Item to a genuine Apply Product.(eg Earphones).

I think a 3mm Plug could work for you as 1/8" is 3.175mm.

Regards - Mike

[kan_turk]

AFAIK 1/8” was a US jack size back in the day before metrication took off globally

[CURRY POWDER]

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

Very nice home-made plug. I must make something similar...

As promised (threatened?) here is the scan of the catalogue entry for the AEI connector.

Thanks, I should have waited to see your STC catalogue, I see the plug has a groove in the shank, just behind the insulation. Strange idea though, there is very little thickness in the shank to form a groove, I wonder what the thinking was, considering all other jack plugs have the retaining groove in the solid tip?

Originally Posted by mike_newcomb

I have occasionally hit problems on purchasing Plugs labelled 3.5mm, when used on both new and old Sockets,

They are too loose and the connection fails, or 'wiggling' is required.

When measured turns out the Plugs are 3 mm diameter.
The Guys at Maplins were surprised when they double checked this.

To see this, compare the Plug an a cheapo Item to a genuine Apply Product.(eg Earphones).

I think a 3mm Plug could work for you as 1/8" is 3.175mm.

Huh, all this fretting and I could have got a out of tolerance 3.5mm plug from Maplin!

[duncanlowe]

I'm pretty sure there was an oddity once where a particular Nokia phone had a 3mm socket. If I can find the phone or adaptor I'll check.

Edit: misremembered. It was 2.5mm, but still was odd as all headphones are 3.5mm

[emeritus]

I have had several 1960's and 1970's transistor pocket radios with 2.5mm headphone sockets. The size was also used on some Philips hand-held dictation machines that used the small cassettes.

[Welsh Anorak]

Youve reminded me of the trouble I had back in the day with my trusty VEF Russian radio. A 2.5mm jack would fit, if a bit loose, but the speaker stayed on. I think the thoughtful Russians supplied a spare jack plug.

[TowerRadio]

Are you actually after one of these(Rendar) plugs or do you intend to make one yourself? I seem to recall this size plug was used as the input for the Hacker AL42 add-on. The plug is yours for the cost of the postage (83P)Les.

[TowerRadio]

Sorry,missed 2nd page! Les.

[Uncle Bulgaria]

Am I entirely off the mark among telephone afficionados if I say that I thought there was a 1/8" mono jack used for telephone exchanges? I'm sure I've seen a picture in which it had a more pear-shaped end than the pointed 1/4" jack.

[ricard]

I would think a 1/8" jack would have been too fragile for a telephone exchange, the ones I've seen have been closer to 1/4"; there seem to have been numerous variants.

[ricard]

Originally Posted by emeritus

I have had several 1960's and 1970's transistor pocket radios with 2.5mm headphone sockets. The size was also used on some Philips hand-held dictation machines that used the small cassettes.

I also seem to recall 2.5mm being used as the 'remote' connector (on/off switch) for especially Japanese cassette recorders.