Center Tapped Pots

[john12ax7]

I'm considering ordering some center tapped pots. Would like to see if others are interested as it's about a 6 month lead time and significant min quantity. If there is interest what specs would be the most useful?

I'm considering the following.
9mm pcb mount (Alps / BI / Bourns)
6mm flatted shaft
15mm long shaft
Center tap and center detent
20k or 50k
Dual gang

Cost would probably be around $4-5 each

Or if someone knows of a supplier who already stocks these that would great.

 

[user 137017]

so its a minimum of $4 and a six month lead time pluss a bulk order for an undefined pot. im sure you are sincear but i doubt you will have any takers. i know you are a long time poster but are you being had by the seller.

im sorryf thererrare anyy typos in my post but i ave hus had eye surgeruyr

 

[john12ax7]

Just to be clear, this is not a group buy, I am not asking for anyone to put up any money or commit to anything. I need parts for my own projects, if others find it useful then I would would be willing to sell extras to the community.

I deal directly with manufacturers, or their reps. 26 weeks is what they quoted me last time we met. That's just the way things are right now for custom orders.

 

[Brian Roth]

Conductive plastic I presume.....just curious.

Bri

 

[john12ax7]

Conductive plastic I presume.....just curious.

Bri

That would be my preference but it depends on which supplier. Alps is generally carbon, BI is generally CP, Bourns is usually carbon in the smaller packages, but the rep seemed open to CP.

 

[gyraf]

note that 9mm type pots are significantly less precise and less robust than their 16mm counterpart iirc - the saved space comes at quite a high cost

/Jakob E.

 

[john12ax7]

Thanks for the input Jakob. A lot comes down to space and density, often hard to fit bigger pots in 500 series and mixer channels. Do you have any links regarding robustness? I've seen lots of 9mm Alps in the wild without issues.

 

[FIX]

There is typically a 1000 pc minimum to get a $4 price. For a 9mm, Noble wore out thier center tap mold with all my Tonelux orders and wanted me to pay $30K for the new one, but Alps will make them. The preferred values are 10K and 50K, and the center detent isn't always center... If it for a pan, I would suggest linear as they don't match Log and Antilog very well. 6mm Dshaft is pretty standard. Conductive plastic is getting rare, but most of the pots now are what they call "polished carbon", which is pretty good. I suggested that to P&G once and they were impressed with the results, so was Bourns.

 

[john12ax7]

Thanks Paul

 

[Philbo King]

I've often thought a center-tapped pot had potential for a guitar volume control, where the 'top' terminal (signal input) had a cap going to the centertap, so the treble wouldn't drop off so quickly as the volume was turned down.