How to cleanly cut a potentiometer shaft?

[MikoKensington]

While we're screwing around... here you go Stephen.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=vise

The two are the same but only when speaking about the clamping instrument. :green:

 

[StephenGiles]

MMMM Interesting, never seen it spelt like that over here though!
Stephen

 

[Marik]

[quote author="Helsing"]I need to cut about 1/8" length off a bunch of 1/4" pot shafts. What are some good tools and/or techinques for doing this cleanly without abusing the pot excessively.

Helsing[/quote]

I don't think humans invented a better tool for this purpose than this one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42307

 

[jollyted]

I usually will put the pot shaft to be cut into my drill press's chuck, up to the point that needs to be cut...and start the drill press motor. As the pot and shaft spin, I take a hacksaw blade and put the cutting edge against the pot shaft at the point of cut. Just put lite pressure on the blade and the cut is made very quickly and very cleanly.

Regards,
TW :grin:

 

[Scenaria]

I use really REALLY BIG wire cutters :green:

 

[jensenmann]

It´s good to see other people having the same rude methods than I´m using. Must be the german way: scissors, wire cutters, chainsaw, whatever is laying next to me :twisted:
Jens

 

[Lee_M]

Dremel and cut-off wheel. No question about it. Quick, painless, reliable.

Just one caveat... use the BLACK cutoff wheel. The dull-brown/orange wheels are brittle, and shatter, spinning apart and sending fast-flying debris everywhere... FAST!!!

Keith

I'm not sure how much the dremel product line has changed in the 12 years since this post, But can anyone recommend either of these types of cutoff wheels for trimming down solid metal pots shafts?

https://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=EZ506CU
https://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages/ToolDetail.aspx?pid=426#.VrHjQBiLRFQ

I've got a few long shaft clarostat pots that badly need a trim.

 

[Andy Peters]

Ian M said:

I would place the section of the shaft that you want in a vise

What is vise......or is it English gone wrong again? Surely you mean a vice.

In the colonies, a tool that holds the work is vise.

A vice is a practice or habit which is considered (by some) to be immoral.

 

[soundcollage]

since this is already resurrected, one thing with the dremel cut off wheels is to make a note of the direction the wheel spins and turn the shaft of the pot the opposite direction so the wiper is all the way in the direction that the tool is going to want to spin it. i usually use the cutoff wheel late in assembly when the pots are already soldered in and mounted to the faceplate.  i have damaged a few pots i when let the cutting wheel spin the shaft to a rapid stop. sometimes it bends the wiper so it loses contact in the extreme position of a pot, which can be hard to immediately detect.