Finally! Custom CNC Knobs

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jwhmca

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
931
Location
USA
Hello All,

      It was a long road, but...

        The Title says it all...
                                  Send us your design, and we will send you a price quote. We except 3ds. dxf. solid works... autocad... Napkin drawings...etc. Pretty much anything to get the ball rolling. Solid Brass, copper, aluminum, wood, Plastic... just about anything within reason. ***The advantage here is CUSTOM, not price!*** While Custom CNC work is not stupid expensive, it is not $1.50 each like a plastic knob from RadioShack.



 
Could you do something like this?
EQKNB2_01.gif

These are SolidWorks screenshots.
I can provide the SolidWorks part.


Aluminum
skirt diameter = 1-5/16"
overall length = 2-5/64"
height = 0.75"
1/4" shaft hole on bottom
two rear holes tapped for 10-32 set screws
The final volume of this part (with holes drilled) is 0.75in³
The chunk of aluminum you'd start with would be at least 2.045in³

Any idea of price from these rough specs?
What plastics do you have? Would those be cheaper than Aluminum?

Oh yeah, where are you?
 
Looks fine to me... I would need to see the solidpart to know for sure of course... We are located in the USA. Any kind of plastic really. In my opinion acrylics or lexan for plastic, otherwaise go for a metal. Send me the Solidworks file or solidpart and I will be able to give you an estimate... also, give me an idea of how many you want/need.
 
Could be very good news indeed!
I'd hate to see it disapear for copyright issues....
As I mentionned in another thread, those particular STOCKLI knobs are still manufactured...

Axel
 
mad.ax said:
Could be very good news indeed!
I'd hate to see it disapear for copyright issues....
As I mentionned in another thread, those particular STOCKLI knobs are still manufactured...

Axel


The General Radio design patent for the above knobs expired around 1960.
See attached PDF.

Also, it seems the STOCKLI knobs do not have the correct dimensions; they're proportioned incorrectly.
 

Attachments

  • GR_knb-knsp_patents.pdf
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kml23956 said:
What about the "N word" knobs in red?

If I had any of these in hand, I could draw it in SolidWorks in an hour or less.
Is there a source for originals? I've never really looked into "N-word" knobs.
 
Skylar said:
kml23956 said:
What about the "N word" knobs in red?

If I had any of these in hand, I could draw it in SolidWorks in an hour or less.
Is there a source for originals? I've never really looked into "N-word" knobs.

Sending you a PM...let's keep this answer off the board ;)
 
Skylar, you are a madman.  Not that you need more things to do, but would it be difficult to shrink your above design, into a 1RU friendly size?  That is of course, if you were thinking about producing these.  ;)
 
Yes, this would be easy to scale the orginals... ONCE they have been modeled in a 3d app...
 
Echo North said:
Skylar said:
kml23956 said:
What about the "N word" knobs in red?

If I had any of these in hand, I could draw it in SolidWorks in an hour or less.
Is there a source for originals? I've never really looked into "N-word" knobs.

Sending you a PM...let's keep this answer off the board ;)

Hmm, and please be sure to announce it (low-profile way) when something might be going to happen here  ;)

Thanks,

  Peter
 
Yes, as jwhmca says, it's easy to scale.

Now, the original smaller GenRad knobs of this type were not proportionally identical to the larger variety.
The rear "wing" was stubbier along with some other proportional variances.

So, if you wanted to be true to the GenRad originals, you couldn't simply scale from the larger model.

I do have a couple of the smaller GenRad pointer knobs; I will measure and model those as well.
The smaller ones should work on a 1U; the larger ones, however, will not.
 
Well, obviously there are two different manufacturers of similar but different knobs.

-The Genrad type as used in the Fairchild 670 that Skylar modeled, and wich may belong to the public domain.

-The Stockli type as used in the EMI and Chandler stuff, wich is still manufactured by IEC in Monaco.

Axel
 
the stockli pointers have a brass insert for the shaft, with two set screws, one that comes in the end of the square back "wing" and the other which is 90 deg offset and comes in the side of the round body.  they are still made in europe, and man they are expensive.  i am fairly certain that chandler had someone in asia do a copy of this knob in plastic only, which they now have in all the various colors.

as for the marconi style winged knobs used on rupert's classic designs, someone is still making them as well.  the main reason for their high cost is that there are 3 pieces: the brass insert, the colored winged body, and the transparent skirt.  you can get these in small qtys from brent averill / avedis or even AMS neve, but expect to pay handsomely for them.

ed
 
edanderson said:
the stockli pointers have a brass insert for the shaft...
GenRads are like this too.



edanderson said:
...with two set screws, one that comes in the end of the square back "wing" and the other which is 90 deg offset and comes in the side of the round body.
The GenRads are different in this regard.
The smaller GenRads have one set screw only that goes in through the rear "wing."
The larger GenRads have two set screws that go in through either side of the round body; these are offset by 90°.
 
Getting together with My CNC guy today... Should have the cost idea figured out, and will post here.
 
Did anybody get the knobs rolling ? I am toying with making a few knobs myself  ?  D
 
Sorry for the late reply, haven't been around lately.

The Knobs are available, but it was seeming too expensive on small runs... say $25 each. The big and maybe only advantage  here was "Custom"
 

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