Alpha / SH Type Pot 6mm Shaft Sources

KOSMO MODULES
#1

I found the knobs that are meant for to be my filters’ big knobs with one wrinkle in the plan. The shafts are 6mm. There’s the litany in that I’ve had the fortune of my knobs being 6.35mm as I have sourced the Alpha / Song Huei type potentiometers to fit them on. The cheapest solution is getting potentiometers for the filters’ big knobs or else I’ve gotten myself into an embarrassing hole with the knobs by putting them aside and finding ones that are less expressing my own aesthetic and happen to be 6.35mm. Does anyone use 6mm potentiometers and will tell me what I can do to get them?

-Fumu / Esopus

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#2

they do make brass inserts to fix this , I think Thonk sells them ? . you didn’t say if they were set screw type ? my guess is that the inserts only work with those ? not sure though I have never used them .

#3

Man, that would be cool, a thing that reduces 6.35mm shafts to 6mm ! :stuck_out_tongue:

I too have 90+ nice knobs for 6mm shafts but most of my pots have 6.35mm shafts…
I did buy a 6.4 drill bit, but still have to figure out how to hold the knob while drilling it out.
I mean, in an “industrial” way, there 90 to be done now, and some knob sizes I can only find them in 6mm…

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#4

LOVE MY SWITCHES sells them definitely works for conversion , money very well spent

#5

BUT, the problem here (OP’s and mine) is that the pots have 6.35mm shafts and the knobs 6mm holes, not the other way round…

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#6

the cheapo ones I used for the 1000 oscillator mega drone are 6mm https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/potentiometers/7377827/?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A--google--PLA_UK_EN_Passive_Components_Whoop--Potentiometers_Whoop--7377827&matchtype=&pla-389013953212&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5fSX0KYwP-5pgP9UzuqAoO-NfIpHeowdvWaTtkAN65K6LSQwxi5RlIaAmsDEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

but alas they haven’t got screw points for fixing to panel

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#7

One thing I like about the Boss style MF-A0x knobs is you can find them with both shaft diameters. Tayda has three sizes with 6.35 mm, Lovemyswitches has all five, and numerous AliExpress vendors have all five sizes in 6 mm. (I wish Tayda had the MF-A02, but I don’t miss the MF-A05 – it’s so enormous even I haven’t brought myself to use one of the ten I bought some months ago.)

Another thing I like about them is there are five sizes!

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They’re far from distinctive but if you like a uniform appearance across all your modules they’re hard to beat.

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#8

That’s the ones I got, from AliExpress with 6mm holes…
I have some on order from Tayda with 6.35mm, but I would still be able to use the 90+ from ALiExpress…

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#9

If you need 9 mm vertical panel mount pots with nuts and threads to attach the panel, I don’t know of any 6 mm ones.

Mostly I use my 6 mm knobs on panel mount pots.

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#10

I’ll use panel mount 16mm (with 6mm shaft) pots on my own designs…
But it will take a while until I have designed and built enough modules to use up 90+ knobs :slight_smile:
(My copy of your Quantizer will use a few, and I’m looking for “chicken head” knobs that fit aesthetically with the “Boss” knobs for the rotary switches :slight_smile: )

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#11

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#12

I have a bunch of MF-A02 and MF-A03 Boss knobs in stock. I need to list those on the BST thread. Will do so later this week.

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#13

(at) everyone I’ve been looking for knobs for almost a full year. My favorites have a satin aluminum cap or have a white inset indicator line running halfway through the cap. I’ve already purchased them so they’re going to stare at me whatever I do. I might as well mount them to my Kosmo.

@antoine.pasde2 @ChristianBloch say they have 6mm pots but I don’t know where they sourced them.

@lookmumnocomputer Ah these look like they will do. Will they do on 1113, 1114 and Sebastian’s Transistor Ladder Filter without screw threads?

-Fumu / Esopus

#14

These are the king of knobs IMO. Other knobs i can get a weird malignment. Not with these.

@lookmumnocomputer Tayda sells the same sort as well (for non UK folks). I bought some of these and can say they are for sure more loose, and dont really work well with knobs. However, they do the trick. If you just need some knobs and dont mind the lack of a knob. Works a treat for more tightly packed style.

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#15

oh that changes things . I know what I would do / have done , get the drill out .

#16

I have the 6.4mm drill bit…
I just didn’t figure out, for now, how to hold the knob safely (and without marring it)…

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#17

3D printed jig on the drill-press?

Or even just a wooden jig if that’s easier for you.

I’ve been considering it myself as I bought a bunch of 6mm knobs forgetting that most of the pots I have are 1/4" Then I bought more knobs to correct this and somehow managed to order even more 6mm again. Still not sure how I managed that :laughing:

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#18

Maybe get @popflier to have a bunch of 6 mm pots made?

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#19

Anyway, why are manufacturers still making 6.35mm pots, we are well in the 21th century now :slight_smile:

#20

I think about making a “mould” with epoxy resin in a hole bored in a piece of wood.
Just bore a hole slightly bigger than the knob, spray the knob with some demoulding agent, put resin in the hole, press the knob into it, make sure it is level, let it dry, and hope it will demould…
“Boss” style knobs have enough taper everywhere it has some chances of success.
If it works, getting thru the stash of 90+ knobs should take an hour or two.

But this will have to be done outdoor, with an ambient temperature of about 20ºC, so that won’t happen soon…

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