Where are people getting potentiometers?

G

gtt

New member
DigiKey doesn't seem to have the 16mm, right-angle, through hole potentiometers called for on the build sheets (I bought the Viceroy and Chop shop boards). I was able to get some from adafruit, but not a 10k linear-taper one, FWIW.
 
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Robert said:
I've seen that happen to folks but I can't explain why unless they're mixing 6mm and 6.35mm shafts.
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Nope. The pot body was ever so slightly smaller and throws off the edge of leg to pot center distance by about a mm. I think the legs, from pot body to bend were a table less too. Almost like the whole pot was scaled down 5%.
It's not a ton and workable but if you pre solder the pots on a board, it's just enough to make it not fit.
Could have been a bad batch and fixed now. This was 3+ years ago and I haven't purchased any more tayda brand pots since, mostly sourcing from SBP now.
 
Hmm... I'll have to go look, I mix and match them without any thought and haven't had any issues personally...

Every now and then folks show up with those 16mm pots with slightly shorter legs, they're obviously a problem but I have no idea where they are coming from.

I'm not exactly gentle with pots though, a few mm isn't going to stop me from getting it in the box. :ROFLMAO:
 
jwin615 said:
Nope. The pot body was ever so slightly smaller and throws off the edge of leg to pot center distance by about a mm. I think the legs, from pot body to bend were a table less too. Almost like the whole pot was scaled down 5%.
It's not a ton and workable but if you pre solder the pots on a board, it's just enough to make it not fit.
Could have been a bad batch and fixed now. This was 3+ years ago and I haven't purchased any more tayda brand pots since, mostly sourcing from SBP now.
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Yup, I can confirm that, I solder them on the board and mixed up with alphas there's always a tilt, I decided to embrace it and tell people this has a great influence on the sound, warmer, more dynamic, more (insert your sales keyword here)..
 
Fama said:
Ahh right, I've never done that because I don't trust that they will fit. I balance the board with the unsoldered pots into the enclosure, and then solder the pots.
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I'll do both, depending on the board. Often just tacking the center legs then loading into the box to finish.
thomasbe86 said:
Yup, I can confirm that, I solder them on the board and mixed up with alphas there's always a tilt, I decided to embrace it and tell people this has a great influence on the sound, warmer, more dynamic, more (insert your sales keyword here)..
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Yep. It's just enough to skew it
 
^ When I pre solder, the pots always end up a bit skewed in either direction as the diameter of the pad holes is greater than the pot legs. Lately I've been installing the pots in the enclosure first and then fitting the board into them, which has allowed me to place the boards in better spots more easily.

I use Tayda pots with no issue. Same with stompbox, alpha, etc
 
falco_femoralis said:
^ When I pre solder, the pots always end up a bit skewed in either direction as the diameter of the pad holes is greater than the pot legs. Lately I've been installing the pots in the enclosure first and then fitting the board into them, which has allowed me to place the boards in better spots more easily.

I use Tayda pots with no issue. Same with stompbox, alpha, etc
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How tricky is that approach? For something with 4 pots for example the "balance loose pots" approach seems the easiest, but for something with 6 pots or especially with ON/ON switches (since they never stand up completely straight) it can be finicky. So I'm wondering if installing the pots would be easier for something with more pots and/or switches.
 
jwin615 said:
I'll do both, depending on the board. Often just tacking the center legs then loading into the box to finish.

Yep. It's just enough to skew it
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same.... I'm a center leg tacker when I'm building out a pcb on the pcb holder... I do all my off board wiring stuff too with longer leads... Once it's in the box I reheat the center lug to relieve any stress on it then solder the other two legs in..
 
Fama said:
How tricky is that approach? For something with 4 pots for example the "balance loose pots" approach seems the easiest, but for something with 6 pots or especially with ON/ON switches (since they never stand up completely straight) it can be finicky. So I'm wondering if installing the pots would be easier for something with more pots and/or switches.
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It's not hard. First you get one of the corner pots in, like the top left. Make sure the legs are level, and test fit the board over the pot. Then do same with the top right. Once these two are in you can eyeball the position of the top middle. Then do the same on the bottom row. When you install the pots, do it tight enough that they won't move around on their own but still loose enough that you can rotate them if you need to. Then after everything is soldered do a final tightening. Sometimes you have to bend the legs ever so slightly, but you can look through the PCB's pot holes as you're holding the board over the pots to see which way you need to bend the legs.
 
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