[sdiy] Group buys: Alpha-style, dual pots, and Joysticks (WAS: RE: Dual-gang reverse-log pot group buy ?)

[Sean Ellis]

I have had similar results with cheap pots and wont go through that again. 
I'd be up for the group buy but would only do it for Alpha pots.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David G. Dixon" <dixon at interchange.ubc.ca>
To: "'flightofharmony'" <flight at flightofharmony.com>; "'Andre Majorel'" 
<aym-htnys at teaser.fr>
Cc: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:43 AM
Subject: RE: [sdiy] Group buys: Alpha-style, dual pots,and Joysticks (WAS: 
RE: Dual-gang reverse-log pot group buy ?)


> flightofharmony asked:
>
>>> I don't know - what markings do they have on the case? <<
>
> They have no markings on the metal canister (which is a gold color), and
> "B100K" in white letters on the top front of the plastic pc-board part of
> the pot.  (I only have B100K versions of this particular pot.)  I have a
> feeling that they are the same pots that Futurlek sells (they look exactly
> the same based on the pictures of the latter I've seen on the web).
>
> The problem with them is that they do not appear to admit desoldering and
> reuse, and I'm not really even sure that they work terribly well the first
> time.  It would seem that the resistive strip becomes disconnected from 
> the
> riveted metal pins after soldering.  Perhaps some of the plastic from the
> pc-board part of the pot is getting between the two and breaking the 
> contact
> (some of the plastic seems to "boil" if the soldering iron is held on the
> lug long enough to flow the solder joint -- these are all pc-mount pots, 
> by
> the way, including the Alphas).  If I pull on the wires, I can sometimes
> reestablish the connection.  For example, if this pot is a frequency knob 
> on
> a VCO, then pulling on the wires causes the frequency to go sharply up or
> down as the contact is reestablished and rebroken.  Sometimes, just 
> jiggling
> the wires causes the same effect.
>
> At least 33% of these pots failed to work after rewiring a panel. 
> However,
> none of the Alpha pots I used (all the non-B100K pots on the panel, as it
> happens) failed to work upon reuse.  I'm sold on Alpha pots, and every
> synth-diy'er I know swears by them, so they seem like a very safe buy.  I
> would say that it's definitely worth an extra dime or two per pot to get
> reliable performance and avoid having to redo panels!
>
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