[sdiy] About pots, and other things...

[flightofharmony]

1) Has anybody here ever ordered custom pots or switches via
Potentiometers.com? I've been looking at their Mod Pots, they have some nice
options and the setup fee ($50.00) is pretty reasonable for modest
quantities. 

2) Any recommendations on getting panels silkscreened? I'm looking for
multi-color graphics with decent resolution, like the back panels on my
Plague Bearers: http://www.flightofharmony.com/Plague_Bearer.html, for my
upcoming Parasite model if possible.

3) Theoretical musing (A.K.A. Has anybody done this?): Embed a small motor
in a keyboard key for sensing velocity? I tested this out on some scavenged
drive motors and a cell phone vibration motor and it seems to work nicely.
Since the voltage induce in a winding is directly proportional to the
velocity of the magnet's rotation, the generated voltage and/or current
could be used almost directly. A scaling buffer would be all that is
required to adapt the output to a given circuit. As a bonus, if the motor is
large enough, it would also provide tactile feedback similar to the Moog
keyboard patent which used magnets for that purpose alone. Upon release of
the key, another circuit could provide a current to force the key back to
the rest position - eliminating the need for springs.

I also fixed my website link below (thanks for catching that!)

~flight
flight at flightofharmony.com
http://www.flightofharmony.com