They’re held in place by magnets.
The magnets are part of the encoder mechanism, the sensor ICs measure the changes in the magnetic flow… are they really used to hold the knobs as well?
If they are held in by magnets, how are they able to come out? Unless the polarity is reversed a rare earth magnet is very strong… I don’t think they could come out.
Maybe the steal bearings get reverse polarized and push them out?
Here is how mine came last week.
I ordered it off of Amazon, and I’m awaiting its replacement. The two left encoders would not seat all the way down. You could push them in, but they would just pop back up. It was as if the magnets were reversed. Also, the magnet is literally the only thing holding the encoders in place. I’m hoping it was just a fluke and I got a dud, because I have a new one on its way. Honestly I’m still super excited to get it!
Is there a smaller magnet under the green disk? It does look like this is what is happening.
There are three magnets just in the bottom one, either one hold it in and too push out or is just glued in and they all push it out. Magnets can be reversed so you could fix it if it’s just the polarity. Of course if it’s just glue that can be fixed too.
Does the middle magnet spin?
Unfortunately, I didn’t investigate further. I figured it was best to send it back for a replacement ASAP. Here is a picture from the TE website showing the complete mechanism. Perhaps the magnet is supposed to be glued to the board?
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So is a rare earth magnet in the colored plastic that holds it in… maybe you can just nudge it, it probably got moved and that’s why it’s popping up, if not you could try turning it around that should fix it. That center magnet is what is holding it in but it needs to be completely flat to work.
I think the plastic wheel is pressure fit into the steel bearing. The magnet rotates with the wheel. The IC soldered to the board picks up changes in the magnetic flow. Maybe the plastic wheel shrinks a bit with time and the magnet forces it up due to the steel attraction.
I don’t know, people were saying that when they push them in they pop back up… plus why would they need three magnet rings for that, they would just need one. I think one of the rings is to hold the middle magnet in.
The three rings is the steel bearing that holds the plastic wheel. I think there is only one magnet.
That is correct, @punji. In fact, I believe that might be the issue. I wish I had taken more pictures. If you look at the first pic I uploaded, you’ll see that the magnet is not in the machine. That is because it’s actually seated in the bottom of the plastic ring. If the plastic piece is not wide enough, the magnet forces the whole assembly up. My new one gets here on Sunday (thanks Amazon Prime) and I’m hoping this was a one off problem.
Ok cool
My OP-Z dream is over. Just got my second brand new one, in a weeks time, with the exact same encoder problems. This time it’s the green, blue, and red encoders that are “floating.” I’m so frustrated because I had such high hopes for this magical little sequencer. I ordered both off of Amazon through PAC Solutions. Here are some pics of the orders showing that I’m not full of shit.
Now some pics of today’s delivered OP-Z.
You can push them down, but they just slowly rise back up.
That’s so strange… I’ve had mine now about two months and is always been fine, I really don’t know what’s going on but since you bought them from a lesser known company off of Amazon, I’m wondering maybe it was a batch of them that had this problem? Since they both were from the same company that probably sold you one from the same batch they got, I doubt they sold all of the batch they ordered. That sucks because it’s a great device, I feel like it deserves more praise then it gets but all this encoder problem has really salted it’s reputation. Maybe you could try the new squid, it seems like a great sequencer for the same money.
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Hey @Kja, I completely agree. In fact, I’ve decided to keep it and make TE fix it. It’s sequencer is just too powerful and robust to pass up on. I was comparing it against the Squid, as you mentioned, but the features on the OP-Z are unlike anything else in this price range. I will update the thread when I hear back from TE.
might be worth trying if u are handy
doesn’t seem too complicated
Hey @docshermsticks, thanks for the reply. I saw that post as well, but since this is a brand new purchase, I want to give TE a chance to make it right. If Amazon (and by proxy PAC Solutions, the supplier) have a bad batch then everyone involved deserves to know. Perhaps this will turn out to be a really good customer service experience and I can give TE a glowing review. Either way, I think everyone here, and also everyone in the future who might read this thread, deserve to hear what TE has to say as well. I’ll post once I hear back.