Assembling the 2500 back together

Hey there! Just installed a new PCB for my 2500.
Now I'm having trouble putting the thing back together.
Not sure where to start, but the jog wheel is touching the faceplate making it hard to move. Some of the buttons aren't also 'showing' normally.
Any ideas or suggestions?

The correct position for the jog wheel can be a total annoyance to get right. If it doesn't "catch" in the right spot it can make the case not align properly. A while back on mine I laid the top casing on but left all the screws out. Then I tried every possible position I could get the wheel to fit until I found the spot where it turned normally (which is still awful, worst jog wheel ever made), and the buttons lined.

But what you described sounds like what I had, like the jog wheel is too high by the smallest bit and the case doesn't quit lay flush. Like I said don't bother even putting in the screws until you get the wheel to click in the right spot. On the second to last try before I got it right I did put the screws in and the wheel actually had plastic shavings flying out the edges from 2 spins.

thanks for the reply!
its as if the new PCB i ordered have the buttons slightly misaligned. which make the buttons seem abit towards instead of right on the middle.
I can't figure out what i should do, i'm slowly trying every possible scenario.
it also seems that the play and start buttons are also tight and cant fully make the "clicking" sound
this is really frustrating.
also, by any chance did the data wheel come with a felt circle underneath just like the ones under the volume pots?

Well it was a black OEM replacement wheel and it just comes in a tiny ziplock. There's no felt involved on the jog wheel.

I wasn't replacing a PCB or anything and it's easy to see how the slightest misalignment could make give you the troubles your having.

As far as the no click on the transport buttons I don't know. It's common for one of them to maybe not have the little struts sit perfectly flush on the board and sit a little looser, but they almost always still hit the tact true enough to get the click every time.

On mine the record button sits a little loose. I popped a brand new one in and it was exactly the same. So from that I can tell even stock mounted my PCB must deviate a tiny bit.

They aren't the highest quality PCBs so I suppose it's possible that tact switches and button mounts are slightly off. (Obviously that's what you're reporting, I just mean like 'would they have messed that up at the factory?') I figure you tried to get the mounting screws into risers as true as possible when you installed. If not, maybe try again. A few times I've had even the slightest misalignment of one or screws in either the interior or the casing ones cause the casing to not line up quite right.

On one XL I have I actually had to give up trying to get the screws right as after like 6 tries they were the same no matter what. On that one I wrapped a sweatshirt around the casing and on the back part behind the LCD part I gripped it with pliers and purposefully put a slight bend in top surface. Not a lot just enough to compensate for the degree it wasn't lining up.

It actually worked out OK. It fit and I could drive in the casing screw true, and it made the case sit on the pads more snugly. But if you look behind the LCD you can see it's not a true straight line now. But you gotta look at close to even notice.

I don't know if any of this will help. But I figured it might ease your mind a little to know I've had a couple similar problems and with some patience and luck got everything right. But again I was only changing buttons, installing LCD's and CF readers. I never had to remove or replace a whole main board.

your the man! im gonna just keep on trying. cheers for the help !!

For the jog wheel, have a close look at the protrusions inside the jog wheel, and the cutouts on top of the data encoder shaft/tube, try to make them line up so that the jog wheel sits as far down as possible on the data encoder shaft/tube.

Mine was not lined up correctly on the first attempt, so didn't turn well, works correctly after I lined it up, but still not totally smooth, just the way it is designed.

Have been wondering what it might feel like if the lip around the jog wheel, that sits under the front panel, was removed, or a different jog wheel without the lip was used, whether it would improve the feel of the jog wheel or not.

The felt under the volume and Q-link knobs is there to keep dust out of the volume and Q-link pots, the jog wheel doesn't use any felt.

For the PCB alignment, if you have not tried it, maybe loosen off all the screws holding the PCB down, and apply a little LIGHT/GENTLE rearward pressure on the PCB while tightening them, in case there is a little room for movement in the PCB mounting position.

Even with mine in the right spot it still doesn't turn in a good circle using the thumb indent. I've just gotten used to gripping the perimeter to compensate. Some days I hate it so much I just use my 1000.

But yeah it's a **** to line up right. It seems like a replacement could be found but no one has yet. It may require a custom machined part.

It's too bad because if it has say the XL's jog wheel, add JJOSXL and the 2500 would be a near perfect modern MPC.

Mine turns pretty well after I realigned it, can spin it in circles with one finger/thumb without any problems.

It still feels a little rough, which I think is due to the design with the lip under the front panel, but it can be turned easily.

I have the original jog wheel, which I might try removing the lip off of, with dremel and sandpaper, and see how it feels. Though maybe the lip is there to give it some stability.

When I couldn't get it right at first it actually was grinding to the point that it's as if I did dremel the damn thing.

Rough is what I mean really. It turn even using the indent. But it just has enough slight wobble at 3 and 9 o'clock to be annoying. I just gave it a few 720 spins.

I figure you're right on the lip underneath. It's probably common on these machines that the fit of it isn't as true as it should be. (Plus it's a crap design compared to the 2000 or XL).

I hate changes for the worst. If it was that serious they should have just charged $2005USD rather than $1999USD MSRP and used the XL design.

Metatron72 wrote:It's too bad because if it has say the XL's jog wheel, add JJOSXL and the 2500 would be a near perfect modern MPC.

AMEN

I also did this pcb and it seems there is a slight amount of
Play in the actual board mounting screws and their position on the board , maybe try to undo them ,and push on the top of the board
before tightening them back fully, also did you remove the tiny white board spacers from your old board and put them on the new?
Might be worth a try , I had a similar problem