Trimmer pots

[PaulRB]

All,

Just been looking in vain for something I would have thought quite commonly available...

Horizontal pcb mounting trimmer pot, with a "wheel" that sticks out from the edge of the pcb and through a slot in the case so it can be operated by finger/thumb. Just like all those volume controls there used to be on transistor radios, walkman etc. back in the 70s/80s.

I can find trim pots with finger operated shafts that stick vertically up from the pot. I would like something like that but in the size/shape of a pound/euro coin, probably with a milled/ridge pattern on the edge for grip.

Oh, and I don't want them so badly that I would have to pay several pounds each for them!

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[erco]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-5-NOS-POTS-POTENTIOMETERS-ON-OFF-SWITCH-10K-OHM-TRANSISTOR-RADIO-PARTS-/190870577625?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c70c5e1d9#ht_88wt_917

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11173

Wrong side of the pond for you, though!

Search "thumbwheel potentiometer"

 

[eclectic]

Not quite, but can you bodge a "wheel"

http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/resistors/presets.html

e

 

[erco]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1K-VARIABLE-CARBON-POTENTIOMETER-THUMB-WHEEL-Pack-of-1-/221056319801?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item3377fbc139#ht_1877wt_822

UK seller

 

[AndyGadget]

SparkFun do a 10K linear thumbwheel pot and ProtoPic seem to stock all the Sparkfun range : http://proto-pic.co.uk/thumbwheel-potentiometer-10k-ohm-linear/ I've used ProtoPIC a couple of times and always had really good service (and the plastic shipping boxes come in handy too).

Wish I'd of thought of thumbwheel pots a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to put five rotary pots into too small a case!

 

[Goeytex]

Digikey (UK) has a good stock. Thumbwheel Potentiometers

If that is not what you want then maybe you could salvage one from a retired radio or audio cassette player.

 

[PaulRB]

Thanks all!

AndyGadget, erco: the sparkfun one looks like what I had in mind.

Goeytex, the wheels on those look too small to stick out from the pcb edge far enough.

erco, I would prefer 10K, and they only seem to offer 1K.

eclectic, not sure how I would "bodge" anything well enough!

Cheers,

Paul

 

[erco]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3pk-10K-Thumbwheel-Pots-10KTP-/370842335232#ht_582wt_917

http://www.westfloridacomponents.com/P277APF11/10K+ohm+Carbon+Potentiometer+Thumbwheel+Piher+PT15YH06-103A2020.html

best of all: bottom (next to last row) on the right: http://www.surplussales.com/Potentiometers/PCM-SingleTurn/PCM-SingleTurn-5.html

 

[westaust55]

I guess by now you realize that “trim pots” are generally small pots intended for PCB mounting in horizontal or vertical configuration and typically adjusted with a small tool (eg metal or plastic screwdriver). Thumbwheel pots are the better terminologh for what you seek.

Mouser in UK (http://uk.mouser.com) have a range of thumbwheel potentiometers in 10 kOhm linear series. As a starter, look for these part numbers:
312-1001F-10K

311-1206F-10K

 

[PaulRB]

Thanks again everybody for taking the time to find things for me.

So many of the items I've been given links to have very small wheels, designed to take up minimum space while still being big enough to operate with a finger. The item I was looking for (and now placed order with proto-pic) has a wheel large enough to extend over the edge of pcb and through a slot in a case. Perhaps we should refer to the former as "thumbwheel trimpots" and the latter as "thumbwheel pots" to distinguish them!

 

[Goeytex]

And another thing to consider is that the trim pots have a cycle life in the hundreds where the others have a cycle life in the hundreds of thousands.

But you did say "trimmer pot" in the opening post.

I would be tempted to take a good high reliability pot and cut out a plastic disk of the desire diameter and make my own thumb wheel pot. Some of the pots that were linked to look pretty cheap ( price and quality). The Bournes pots I linked to only have a cycle life of 200. OK for a trimmer, but not for repeated use.

 

[hippy]

I would be tempted to take a good high reliability pot and cut out a plastic disk of the desire diameter and make my own thumb wheel pot.

http://www.audiomaster.cz//underwood/galerie2/zimsk_13.jpg

Note the wheels on the right. Those are infinite rotation using quadrature encoders but it's pretty easy to take a model wheel and tyre and stick a pot shaft where the axle should go.

 

[Buzby]

http://www.audiomaster.cz//underwood/galerie2/zimsk_13.jpg

Looks good, but where did you get the curved surrounds for the wheels ?

 

[westaust55]

Looks good, but where did you get the curved surrounds for the wheels ?

If you do a search on "Jester 24" images will show that is what the lighting console is manufactured with

oh heck, I save you the trouble searching . . .
http://zero88.com/datasheets/Jester ML24 Datasheet UK Rev2 06 2012.pdf

 

[PaulRB]

That was fast!

I ordered the Sparkfun pots from Proto-Pic around 11pm Monday night and they had arrived when I got home tonight (Wed).

The quality does not appear great at first inspection. They look like ordinary trimpots with a larger thumbwheel. Time will tell.

Also, what I read in a customer review somewhere was right. They won't work on a breadboard - the pins are too short.

I'll report back when I have them soldered on stripboard.

Paul

 

[John West]

I would have pulled one from an old CD drive. They all had such a pot for the audio gain for headphones.

 

[erco]

The last one I listed in post #8 looks like the old school radio volume controls, not a trimmer. Those had to be heavy duty since they were also the on-off switch.