Long shaft pots

~arph · October 11, 2015, 03:54:05 AM

Hey does anyone know if there are long shaft versions available for the regular 16 or 9 mm alphas we all use? I need some extra length for a build I'm doing. But so far I have s hard time sourcing these..

Chugs · October 11, 2015, 04:22:33 AM

https://www.banzaimusic.com/Alpha-16mm-Long-Legs/

~arph · October 11, 2015, 08:07:04 AM

Thanks, but I mean the shaft where you screw on the knob

Granny Gremlin · October 11, 2015, 08:14:41 AM

Long shaft or long bushing?

I have never seen Alphas in either config; you're going to have to look at more expensive options, the best best might be the lower end Bourns (their pro audio/guitar line): http://www.bourns.com/products/proaudio/products. Those will be consistant but otherwise you can search for desired bushing/shaft lengths at Mouser and see what comes up.

If you just need a long shaft (and not just a little long but very long) you can get shaft extenders, but that's usually reserved for rack type gear where the actual pot is in the middle of the chassis somewhere (to keep low level signal wires short) and the shaft needs to break out to the front panel; like 3-8 extra inches of shaft.

duck_arse · October 11, 2015, 09:52:40 AM

yer not going to like this, arph .....

http://www.futurlec.com/PotRot.shtml

[edit :] also, this series from "BI Technologies / TT Electronics" at mouser:
"P110KH-1F20AR500K"

~arph · October 11, 2015, 10:46:53 AM

Just a long shaft not a whole lot longer. The futurlec link is exactly what i need! Prince is very good too. Why would i not like that duck_arse? Seems they are in stock too. I forgot about futurlec. Ordered there before.
I can shorten them to my needs

bloxstompboxes · October 11, 2015, 10:50:24 AM

Quote from: ~arph on October 11, 2015, 10:46:53 AM
Just a long shaft not a whole lot longer. The futurlec link is exactly what i need! Prince is very good too. Why would i not like that duck_arse? Seems they are in stock too. I forgot about futurlec. Ordered there before.
I can shorten them to my needs

No Prince is not very good. lol. I hate Prince. The wife likes him though. I just never did 'get' him I guess.

duck_arse · October 11, 2015, 10:58:26 AM

the wait, arph, and the not knowing .....

ditto prince.

anotherjim · October 11, 2015, 11:27:48 AM

You mean the Shaft formerly known as Prince?

~arph · October 11, 2015, 01:50:40 PM

Hahahahaha I hate prince... Oh and 'damn you autocorrect' that's what you get when you constantly have to switch between the Dutch and English in on your phone..
Anyway. The wait... Yeah I guess it was about a month. I think I'll try the bay. The recent China parts were really quick.

Edit: oh and I hate Bowie too

LightSoundGeometry · October 11, 2015, 02:13:21 PM

prince has a few good club/dance type tunes ..Purple Ran is a great tune. he is decent..at least he plays his own instruments and is a great guitar player.

stallik · October 11, 2015, 02:49:38 PM

When I have to buy pots from Maplin in the UK, the only Alphas available are these so they're definitely available. I have to cut them down every time. To prevent swarf entering the pot, I use a Kinder egg container with a hole cut at one end. Put the pot in that and clamp the shaft in a vice. Keeps things clean

Granny Gremlin · October 11, 2015, 03:24:24 PM

Wow, never seen those available. T

Yeah, Prince is a pretty skilled guitar player (his solo during the all-star rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the George Harrison tribute in 2004 was something) but I'm not into him either. He is also a bit of a wanker (both as regards playing and personally; that time he borrowed a guitar and then smashed it on stage, during a set on Fallon I think, was whack), and though he does write some good songs I rarely like his original treatment - e.g. Darling Nikki, the original is meh, but the Whale version kills it.

duck_arse · October 12, 2015, 09:47:10 AM

Quote from: LightSoundGeometry on October 11, 2015, 02:13:21 PM
prince has a few good club/dance type tunes ..Purple Ran is a great tune. he is decent..at least he plays his own instruments and is a great guitar player.

purple ran was the japanese version?

ditto bowie. he's a shaft, too.

FUZZZZzzzz · October 12, 2015, 11:52:15 AM

A couple of years ago I was working backstage on a big jazz festival. Early in the morning a friend of mine came up to me all enthusiastic and happy.. He had been working one of the main stages that night. During the show of Larry Graham a big tourbus had stopped backstage and a group of 8 or 10 really big black guys in black suits came walking to the stage. In the center was a small skinny guy who he recognized was Prince. He was on his way to Montreux to perform there, but made a guest performance with Larry Graham. My friend was out of his mind as he is a big fan and tried to make a picture with his phone in a hurry. He showed me the picture. It had resulted in a blur of people, bad light and a vague silhouette in the middle that he called Prince.

I don't really like all of his music, but he is an underrated guitar player imo. Just wanted to share that story even if it's completely off topic.

anotherjim · October 12, 2015, 02:23:14 PM

Heh, Rapids Alpha pots have splined shafts that are (as far as I can tell) almost x2 too long for any of the knobs I like to use, and I have to cut those down. That said, they're nowhere near as long as ~arph appears to want.

Of course, most plastic body pots have really long nylon shafts. For my own builds, I've started using the plastic types. Cheaper than Alphas and match the Boss style screw fix knobs I can get (Rapids are screw-fix only).

bloxstompboxes · October 12, 2015, 05:39:26 PM

He is not a bad guitar player, but I just don't like his style or maybe even him as a person. Seems pretty egotistical to me when some changes their name to the Artist. Kevin Smith had a hilarious account the making of a documentary Prince hired him to do but then locked away in his "vault."

~arph · October 13, 2015, 07:14:11 AM

I don't need that much extra length. And now I come to think of it, I actually need about 12mm extra length. But i've come to realize that I need extra length on the thread as well.

Granny Gremlin · October 13, 2015, 08:23:57 AM

Long bushing vs shaft. The extra bushing length gets you through a thicker panel and the actual amount of shaft extending from the end bushing can be the same (the knobs are the same right) or longer.

Check out the Bourns line I linked above or measure what you need and search the pot category on Mouser for the bushing length (even if you don't buy from them - just to get model numbers).

~arph · October 13, 2015, 09:21:36 AM

Ok, yes the bourns ones look like they are good (the DB181-GTR03/04 series) sadly only 250k and 500k there. Datasheet specs 10k-1M so I should be able to find them ( I can construct model numbers based on their system (like 254 and 504 for 250k and 500k )

News:

Long shaft pots