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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I like Stompbox Parts. Decent prices, good selection including some of the weird stuff (dual gang, odd tapers), and they always show up quickly (from MI to TX in my case).

I ordered my non-hardware components from Mouser. So I don’t have much occasion to order from Tayda, and their ‘90s looking website is kinda painful to navigate;)
 
pricklyrobot said:
I like Stompbox Parts. Decent prices, good selection including some of the weird stuff (dual gang, odd tapers), and they always show up quickly (from MI to TX in my case).

I ordered my non-hardware components from Mouser. So I don’t have much occasion to order from Tayda, and their ‘90s looking website is kinda painful to navigate;)
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They updated to a 2006 layout
 
For starters, I never buy PCB mount style pots. I always buy pots with solder lugs, which seem to be much more widely available from various suppliers. I solder about 4-5 cm of bare 22AWG bus wire to each lug so it can be mounted to the PCB. This also makes them more flexible when positioning the PCB. Easily just as secure as a PCB style pot.
 
never noticed that issue with tayda branded pots, but I usually stick to the alpha anyway because I figure they must cut something to make them that much cheaper.
 
CheapSuitG said:
There is a dispensary on my way home from work. OH! Not that pot.....

Tayda is great for those. They also have the dust cover/pot condoms for super cheap if you get the alphas.
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Another Coloradan!

Tayda as well. This is the one component where they are my first choice. I usually by the Taiwan Alpha variants.
I have never had a bad pot, but tend to stick with brands I know (Alpha and Bourns)
 
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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All of my cases are symmetric (so far) so I usually lay the pots out on the outside of the case, using the case as the holder but not tucked where I have a hard time reaching
 
jwin615 said:
Stay away from the tayda branded pots and get the alphas.
The tayda brand dimensions are ever so smaller than than the alphas and will throw off your dilling if mixed with alphas.
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Lightbulb moment, that makes so much sense. Got into building a year ago and have orderd mixed alpha/tayda due to availaability, I use the keech design templates for lining up holes , noticed with some builds i had to slight twist the legs to align correctly, its subtle...but subtle to builders is HUGE. Thanks for the tip, looks like ill slowly transition to all alphas. Any thought on the Lovemy switches brand?
 
WasteTaster said:
Lightbulb moment, that makes so much sense. Got into building a year ago and have orderd mixed alpha/tayda due to availaability, I use the keech design templates for lining up holes , noticed with some builds i had to slight twist the legs to align correctly, its subtle...but subtle to builders is HUGE. Thanks for the tip, looks like ill slowly transition to all alphas. Any thought on the Lovemy switches brand?
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I tend to just use the SBP pots now and they're great. Not sure that I've ever ordered any real quantity from LMS aside from maybe some one offs.
SBP bare enclosures are cheaper than tayda with quantity discount too.
 
falco_femoralis said:
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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This is what I do too! You can make it easier as well by doing it in stages if there’s lots of pots, a bunch of switches or a rotary switch. Generally I like to get the PCB precariously placed then keep it in place with some blutac

Edit for on topic discussion - lately I’ve been getting generally from Stompbox parts as lots of others, but also Small Bear (you can even pickup from them if you’re in the Boston area), and I really like Amplified Parts which has lots and lots of options usually.
 
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W8ST ARTS said:
Lightbulb moment, that makes so much sense. Got into building a year ago and have orderd mixed alpha/tayda due to availaability, I use the keech design templates for lining up holes , noticed with some builds i had to slight twist the legs to align correctly, its subtle...but subtle to builders is HUGE. Thanks for the tip, looks like ill slowly transition to all alphas. Any thought on the Lovemy switches brand?
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There's no extensive testing to back this up but they work well like pretty much everything else they sell.
 
Like others have said, StompBoxParts. Easy to navigate and inventory omits the weird stuff.

or Alpha brand pots from Tayda. they're sure it's getting better and the filters are getting there. Hassle is having to go back and tag their entire catalog of parts to make the filters work.
 
Huh I mix alpha and tayda pots all the time. Only time i ever recall having any issue was with a low tide build i couldnt get one pot to sit without the shaft being angled. No clue if it was tayda or alpha.

I order pots from wherever I’m ordering from atm. Stompboxparts def has better options for not as common values/tapers/center detent etc. I also only use their pro 3pdt footswitches well worth the extra 2 bucks.

I’ll order from LMS for pots sometimes if i am in a hurry as the cheap option is overnight since they are half hour drive away. But their options seem to be getting more limited.
 
Robert said:
Is this not something that could be corrected by straightening the pots into a line after soldering?

Have you seen how Analogman mounts the King of Tone? They'll bend without breaking.

View attachment 107867
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I bend mine all the time. They don't break very easily. Here is one I bent just to lower the knob a bit to look better in a 1590b
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They come out of the bag bent to hell and the position of the shaft relative to the PCB pads depends entirely on how well I manage to straighten the lugs out by hand. The lugs are flexible, you can shift them around by several millimeters in any direction without causing any visible bending.

Heck I've "adapted" a PCB to the wrong drill template by hand (aka bent and forced) when I just wanted that sucker in there right now.... :ROFLMAO:
 
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