[sdiy] Desperately seeking knobs for 6mm D-shaft, no pointer

[Adam Schabtach]

I'm trying to find knobs with the following specifications:

-Diameter less than 2cm
-Fits on 6mm D-shaped shaft with 4.5mm flatted section 
-No position indicator--no dot, no pointer, no line, etc.
-Available in quantities of 100 or fewer in the U.S. (I really need only 66
but would purchase 100 if I had to) 
-Preferably not terribly expensive (although I'm gettting desperate)

I need these knobs for Panasonic rotary encoders for a step sequencer I'm
building. I want knobs without position indicators because absolute position
is irrelevant on endless encoders.

I've spent numerous hours with Google and have come up with essentially
nothing. A couple of years ago I ordered a few knobs from Mouser that met
these specs, but they have since been discontinued by the manufacturer.

I know that the MIDIbox community occasionally makes group buys of a knob
referred to as the "Waldorf" knob from a company in Germany called ALBS.
Sadly I just missed out on such a purchase. If all else fails I'll wait
until the next group buy, but it's not clear when that will be, of course.

It appears that Re'an may make knobs that would work, but their only
distributor in the U.S., Mouser, has no information on their product line
other than what they stock, and so far Neutrik (who now owns Re'an) has
failed to answer my queries for product literature.

I would even consider buying new encoders with different shafts (knobs for
1/4" shafts seem to be easier to find), but I've already purchased around 70
of these encoders and have assembled 24 of them onto PC boards, so I'd
rather stick with what I have.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm starting to wonder whether
injection molding is a viable DIY activity. :-)

--Adam