removing pot detents possible? how?

[kvb]

I bought 10 audio taper pots from Mouser before I knew that they only sell detented A pots.

what the heck, I can't use these things.

Is there any way to eliminate the detents?
I opened the pot, and I don't see anything that can be removed.

I'm guessing that the detents are inside the shaft area.

Does mouser take returns?

Thanks

[theehman]

They'll take returns.  They also offer pots in audio taper w/o detents.

[BoostAddict]

Okay, alot of googling and I couldn't find anything.  What's a detented pot?

[theehman]

Okay, alot of googling and I couldn't find anything.  What's a detented pot?

Those are pots that give a little click when they're turned a bit.  Usually there's 10 or 11 clicks in a full rotation.So, instead of a full smooth rotation you get this series of preset resistances.

[mojotron]

They are good to have around for some things - I would just order some more without the detents. I use one of those fulltone-knobs on them to make them a little easier to turn with my shoe.

[The Tone God]

I'm assuming this is a centre detent pot. Usually there is some kind of mechanism that is added to a standard pot that does this. Typically this is a spring and plate with a dent in it that the spring pops into to provide the dent feeling. How this is done mechanically depends on the pot model. You will probably be able to open up the pot and find one of these parts on the shaft of the pot. You can go about modifying or removing this part so that is misses the dent portion. It should be an easy operation.

Good luck.

Andrew

[kvb]

a center detent pot wouldn't be so bad.
unfortunately these have about ten.

I'm going to sacrifice one of them by getting the shaft out, and I'll post what I find

Yeah, I'll probably end up buying some other pots.  Oh, well - What to do with all of these pots I can't use - Jewelry?

[Mark Hammer]

I don't know about yours, but I've had detent pots that used a ball bearing sliding across a round backplate with little slots punched/machined out.  Simply popping the ball bearing out yielded a continuous movement pot.

[mojotron]

a center detent pot wouldn't be so bad.
unfortunately these have about ten.

I'm going to sacrifice one of them by getting the shaft out, and I'll post what I find

Yeah, I'll probably end up buying some other pots.  Oh, well - What to do with all of these pots I can't use - Jewelry?

They are great for front-mounted bias pots on anything from a FuzzFace to a TubeDriver for both Tubes and Fets; the detents keep the bias setting stable while still allowing you to tweak the sound. This is one way to deal with the Ge stability issues with the FF. Usually one would have trimmers mounted inside the box - but the detents allow you to safely mount them externally and play live with it.

[Arn C.]

It is next to impossible...   I just tore one apart and the detents are inside the aluminum  piece that the washer and nut butt up against near the shaft end.   You could possibly do this by removing the cover, then carefully drilling out the center crimped piece in the center.  once you dissasemble the pot and remove the copper spring thing that falls in the detents, you could reassemble and maybe glue the place you drill out.  It may hold.  I may try this and let you know.

Peace!
Arn C.

[Arn C.]

IT WORKS!   I just drilled the center out like I said in the above post.   You have to do it very carefully.  I had to drill quite deep, but only deep enough where you can pry or pull it apart without wrecking anything.   I put it back together and put a drop of glue on it for good measure and just tested it with a meter and it works just fine!

Peace!
Arn C.

[kvb]

Success!

Like Arn, I drilled into the shaft. I got lucky on the drill bit size - it was the only one I had handy.

The part of the shaft that holds the plastic wiper-holder in place is fairly rectangular.
If you drill into the center of it, you are left with two tabs (hold your finger and thumb apart about a centimeter).
you should probably drill down past the bottom of the plastic - about a quarter inch/5mm

then you can squeeze the tabs together(touch your finger to your thumb)
you might not even have to do the squeezing part, but I think there is a tiny lip at the top that holds the plastic in place - so squishing the tabs together gets the lip out of the way.

Carefully pull the plastic part up and away from the shaft.

lift off the wafer and you will see a copper thing that looks like a wiper hiding in there - pull that out.

put the parts back together (not all that easy to push the plastic back down)

then re-open the tabs to keep the wiper assembly in place.

I would think some epoxy into the drilled out recess would be good to keep the tabs tight against the sides of the wiper assembly - this may not be necessary though.

put the cap back on - Yee Haw! no more detents

Thanks Arn for being first. I figured that if you could do it without trashing the pot then so could I.

[Arn C.]

Yeah!   I have a few more I will also change!

glad it worked out for you!

Peace!
Arn C.