Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

[taking a break after finishing the '390 ∗initial∗ kitting, still 13 kits short. Sigh]

During the early stage of MOTM 'system design', I probably spent more time on the pots/knobs than
any other single thing.

The first thing to choose were the pots. They ∗had∗ to be rt angle, pcb mounting. This was in
order to reduce wiring to the front panel as much as I could. I figured that mistakes in pot
wiring would be high on the list, and it sure is nice and fast to stick pots on a pcb and solder.

Then, I had to pick a shaft diameter AND a shaft length. These were ALSO in conjunction with the
pot resistances need (100K linear, 100K log, 1M log) AND have cermet and conductive plastic
elements.

I must have spent a good 50 hours on just searching out pot options, getting prices. Then, there
is the mysterious "feel factor" as in "Ohhhh, that pot torque exceeds 5in/oz in a polar vector as
I spin about a congruent axis!" thing.

Once you pick a pot (in my case, I had to pick 2 different suppliers with 2 different form
factors AND with 2 different lug arrangements), you have to be able to ∗actually buy∗ the
critters. This is harder than you imagine. At first, the pots were built in the UK in Leeds
somewhere, then aired to Chicago, then sent to Gaffney, South Carolina, then to Dallas, then to
me (I'm not making this up).

Knobs......I had to pick a knob that has a setscrew AND that had the proper "depth" so that it
would fit the fixed 0.500 shaft length. The knobs I initially looked at were from Rogan, because
they DID have colored, snap-in inlays! See www.rogancorp.com (this has got the be the ∗plainest∗
website in America). The site stinks, but the catalog is nice. I like the knobs because they are
silicone-based rubber: they are soft and sort of "squishy". BUT....the knobs are all for a 3/8"
length shaft (0.375). I poked around Moog modular panels, and guess what? Moog had each pot shaft
cut individually on a lathe! How would you like THAT job??!?

When you look at all the beautiful mixing consoles, or other consumer equipment, remember these
knobs are CUSTOM MOLDED. At NAMM, I went around looking for anything at all with pretty
panels/knobs/etc. The prettiest knobs were on some $6,000 EQ, and the knobs were made in Germany
and this company was paying like $6 each!

The knob I would up with was one that has been around since like 1954 and is a stock item for
many distributors (even Radio Shack!). The bummer is that 4yrs ago I was paying 43 cents each,
and today it's about $1 (in 1500 piece buys). That's because Tyco bought Thomas and Betts (who
had in turn bought AlcoSwitch), and Tyco's corporate "strategy" is buy a company, slash the
bottom 25% of the lines off, and then raise the prices 35% across the board. That's how they paid
for the $6,000 shower curtain in the chairman's $18M NYC apartment.

Paul S.