[sdiy] Inexpensive Rolandesque spline knobs from Thailand

[Robin Whittle]

Hi Tom,

I am interested in the black ones, but the grey ones would no doubt be
of interest to other folks:

> I think Robin is referring to these ones:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-x-Knob-Grey-Blue-Mark-Potentiometer-Pot-HJ106-THAISHOPETC-/140799464473

or http://www.ebay.com/itm/140799464473

> (several colours available)
> 
> Personally, quite excited to see these -> compact spline shaft knobs
> give me good ideas (drum voices etc - more compact than my regular
> panels but without the hassle of set-screw knobs like the davies ones)
> 
> So - thanks for the pointer Robin!

There are some smallish Sifam spline knobs at:

  http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Equipment/Fasteners-Fixings/Knob-Fixings

such as the 11mm soft touch Sifam 3/03/TPN110 006 range:


http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Equipment/Sifam-11mm-Soft-Touch-Mixer-Style-Control-Knobs-502503

I have some here like this, without the nut cover.  I got them from RS
Components:

  http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p/potentiometer-knobs/2994884/

These are the shape of the front four in the illustration.  They look
and feel OK, but I found them very difficult to get onto the spline
shaft of some Tiawan Alpha pots I got from Jaycar here in Australia,
such as:

  http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=RP8504&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=968

I found it even more difficult to get the knob off the shaft.  Some
leverage was required, which distorted the knob and perhaps lead to
damage of the splines.  There's no such trouble with the Thai/Chinese
pots - they go on and off well.

The Sifam knobs are still unreasonably tight on the BI Technology pots,
despite them having a longer shaft with a much longer split.

So I think the tightness is due to the knobs themselves, not any
particular pots I am trying them on.

BTW, I think these small Tiawan Alpha pots are not good for anything
involving precision control, such as pitch.  They have some internal
slop between the shaft and the rotor.  There are some similar pots from
BI Technologies at Mouser, but not with the range of values which Jaycar
carry:

  http://au.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=P092N

The BI pots have no such slop.

The Thai/Chinese knobs are a rather loose fit on the BI Technology pots,
but that should be easy to fix with some kind of glue-like material.


  Cheers

   - Robin