HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

.....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

If such a creature existed then it'd make tidying up this particular
project a lot simpler.....

Thanks
Adrian

In message on Fri, 11 Mar 2011
09:24:49 +0000
Adrian Brentnall wrote:

HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

If such a creature existed then it'd make tidying up this particular
project a lot simpler.....


I'm sure they do but you may need to hunt. As you haven't told us the value[1]
that you want, it would be pointless anybody looking for you.

If you can find decent pictures of the CPC ones - or you recognise the method
of construction - you may be able to swap the rear of a single gang pot with
the rear of the double gang, thus moving the switch from one to the other.

It used to be quite possible to mix'n'match pots in this way - including dual
(unganged) pots with different front and rear values - if the original wan't
available. The fixing lugs were easy to prise off and re-use on standard types
by AB (also branded RS).

[1] Value and law: Linear, Log, Anti-log ...

--

Terry

In article ,
Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

If such a creature existed then it'd make tidying up this particular
project a lot simpler.....

It's one of these things that used to be common. But these days you'd more
likely use a twin VCA controlled by a one gang pot.

--
*Xerox and Wurlitzer will merge to market reproductive organs.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/03/2011 10:34, Terry Casey wrote:
In on Fri, 11 Mar 2011
09:24:49 +0000
Adrian wrote:

HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !!g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

If such a creature existed then it'd make tidying up this particular
project a lot simpler.....


I'm sure they do but you may need to hunt. As you haven't told us the value[1]
that you want, it would be pointless anybody looking for you.

g Fair comment. I was wondering if they existed at all.....

It's for a stereo volume control - I have a module that plays MP3's from
a memory card and runs 2x5w to a couple of speakers. Whole thing sits in
a wooden enclosure with a couple of speakers and a big dryfit battery.

All controls (vol / / / etc) are via pushbuttons -
I'm looking to graft in a conventional rotary pot as a volume control
(anything between 5k and 50k log or lin would do fine) - and if it also
had a switch for the 12v dc to the MP3 module then that'd mean I only
needed one 'user-accessible' control.....


If you can find decent pictures of the CPC ones - or you recognise the method
of construction - you may be able to swap the rear of a single gang pot with
the rear of the double gang, thus moving the switch from one to the other.

That's a thought - but I'm not sure I'd trust CPC's photos - they seem
to be very 'generic' sometimes...


It used to be quite possible to mix'n'match pots in this way - including dual
(unganged) pots with different front and rear values - if the original wan't
available. The fixing lugs were easy to prise off and re-use on standard types
by AB (also branded RS).


Thanks - that's a thought - though a d/g pot and a separate switch might
be the way I have to go....

Adrian

On 11/03/2011 10:49, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !!g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

If such a creature existed then it'd make tidying up this particular
project a lot simpler.....

It's one of these things that used to be common. But these days you'd more
likely use a twin VCA controlled by a one gang pot.



Hi Dave

Yes - understood....
I suppose I could put a couple of pushbuttons (vol up and vol down) on
the front of the unit (see my reply to Terry to see what it's all in aid
of).

At the moment it's all sort of gaffer-taped together g -
and adjusting the volume involves diving inside the unit and locating
the tiny pcb-mounted switches - but a couple of bigger (more robust)
push-switches might do the job...

Thanks
Adrian

Do you have a friendly local tip* and/or an active local Freecycle group
from which you might source an old stereo amp?

*sorry - I suppose I ought to refer you to your specialist weee
recycling facility
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

On Mar 11, 12:15*pm, "Robin" wrote:
Do you have a friendly local tip* and/or an active local Freecycle group
from which you might source an old stereo amp?

*sorry - I suppose I ought to refer you to your specialist weee
recycling facility

I reckon you'd have to collect over 100 stereo amps before you found
one with a power switch on the volume control. Such kit exists, but
nowadays its going to be a job to find it. Why not put a wanted ad on
fleabay. FWIW I'm sure-ish that the old Hacker stereo gramophones had
such a pot. Nut I wouldnt be surprised if they had become collectable
by now.


NT

On Mar 11, 12:15*pm, "Robin" wrote:
Do you have a friendly local tip* and/or an active local Freecycle group
from which you might source an old stereo amp?

*sorry - I suppose I ought to refer you to your specialist weee
recycling facility

That name's just taking the weee.


NT

In article ,
Adrian Brentnall wrote:
It's one of these things that used to be common. But these days you'd
more likely use a twin VCA controlled by a one gang pot.



Hi Dave

Yes - understood....
I suppose I could put a couple of pushbuttons (vol up and vol down) on
the front of the unit (see my reply to Terry to see what it's all in aid
of).

At the moment it's all sort of gaffer-taped together g -
and adjusting the volume involves diving inside the unit and locating
the tiny pcb-mounted switches - but a couple of bigger (more robust)
push-switches might do the job...

You could try Quad. Some of their older models (like the the 33 pre-amp)
used what you need - and they're said to be still good at supplying spares
for old stuff despite having been taken over. But it would likely not be
cheap.

--
*How do you tell when you run out of invisible ink? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/03/2011 12:15, Robin wrote:
Do you have a friendly local tip* and/or an active local Freecycle group
from which you might source an old stereo amp?

*sorry - I suppose I ought to refer you to your specialist weee
recycling facility

They're remarkably 'fussy' at our local tip -
they really don't like you fossicking about in their
'pre-loved electronics' bin.....

I think I'll go another way - found a couple of heavy-duty
toggle switches on CPC - use one for power and the other
(dpdt-centre-off) to replace the 'volume up' and 'volume down' switches
on the pcb...

The toggle switches are way over-specced, but the unit will be thrown
into the back of a van & things may drop on it - so a bit of
over-engineering isn't a bad plan!

Adrian

On 11/03/2011 13:42, Tabby wrote:
On Mar 11, 12:15 pm, wrote:
Do you have a friendly local tip* and/or an active local Freecycle group
from which you might source an old stereo amp?

*sorry - I suppose I ought to refer you to your specialist weee
recycling facility

I reckon you'd have to collect over 100 stereo amps before you found
one with a power switch on the volume control. Such kit exists, but
nowadays its going to be a job to find it. Why not put a wanted ad on
fleabay. FWIW I'm sure-ish that the old Hacker stereo gramophones had
such a pot. Nut I wouldnt be surprised if they had become collectable
by now.


NT

Think I'll go for 'Plan B' - see my response to Robin

Thanks
Adrian

On 11/03/2011 13:45, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Adrian wrote:
It's one of these things that used to be common. But these days you'd
more likely use a twin VCA controlled by a one gang pot.



Hi Dave

Yes - understood....
I suppose I could put a couple of pushbuttons (vol up and vol down) on
the front of the unit (see my reply to Terry to see what it's all in aid
of).

At the moment it's all sort of gaffer-taped togetherg -
and adjusting the volume involves diving inside the unit and locating
the tiny pcb-mounted switches - but a couple of bigger (more robust)
push-switches might do the job...

You could try Quad. Some of their older models (like the the 33 pre-amp)
used what you need - and they're said to be still good at supplying spares
for old stuff despite having been taken over. But it would likely not be
cheap.


Thanks - doesn't really merit that level of cost / hassle.
I'll do it with a couple of CPC's toggle switches...

Adrian

In message on Fri, 11 Mar 2011
11:17:09 +0000
Adrian Brentnall wrote:

It's for a stereo volume control - I have a module that plays MP3's from
a memory card and runs 2x5w to a couple of speakers. Whole thing sits in
a wooden enclosure with a couple of speakers and a big dryfit battery.

All controls (vol / / / etc) are via pushbuttons -
I'm looking to graft in a conventional rotary pot as a volume control
(anything between 5k and 50k log or lin would do fine)

I wouldn't use a linear pot for volume - log pots are a much better match for
our very non-linear ears!

- and if it also
had a switch for the 12v dc to the MP3 module then that'd mean I only
needed one 'user-accessible' control.....


Well, a quick Google brings up lots cof queries just like yours - but no
answers!

So, it looks like a separate power switch will be necessary.

If rotary action isn't a prime requirement, why not put two push switches in
parallel with the existing switches for volume up/down? If you want it to look
neat, you might find a range with a matching push-on/push/off power switch ...

--

Terry

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:24:49 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?

As others have said, they used to, but might be hard to find now. The
ones I recall had the switch on the rear of the pot, and had a cam
attached to the shaft which operated spring-loaded switch contacts. It
might be difficult to make something like that, but if you found a pot
with a long input shaft (assuming those are still available too, even!)
then maybe you could homebrew something on the front-side (along with a
metal bracket to mount it all onto the front panel).

Is this for a main power switch, or something else? Adding an interrupter
and an optical switch would be relatively easy[1] I think (more so than a
nice clicky on-off switch) but does have the disadvantage that you still
need to waste some power in the 'off' state.

[1] heck, you might even find a suitable pot that you could somehow graft
that onto the back.

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang pots
with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

Hmm, maybe with a bit of jiggery-pokery the switch from a single-gang
will transfer to an unswitched dual-gang?

cheers

Jules

On 11/03/2011 14:43, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:24:49 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?

As others have said, they used to, but might be hard to find now. The
ones I recall had the switch on the rear of the pot, and had a cam
attached to the shaft which operated spring-loaded switch contacts. It
might be difficult to make something like that, but if you found a pot
with a long input shaft (assuming those are still available too, even!)
then maybe you could homebrew something on the front-side (along with a
metal bracket to mount it all onto the front panel).

Is this for a main power switch, or something else? Adding an interrupter
and an optical switch would be relatively easy[1] I think (more so than a
nice clicky on-off switch) but does have the disadvantage that you still
need to waste some power in the 'off' state.

[1] heck, you might even find a suitable pot that you could somehow graft
that onto the back.

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang pots
with switches - but not 2-g with switch.

Hmm, maybe with a bit of jiggery-pokery the switch from a single-gang
will transfer to an unswitched dual-gang?

cheers

Jules

Hi Jules
I'm in 'lazy' mode g - need something 'off the shelf' for this one....

Think a couple of toggles will do it - have ordered them - so let's hope so!

Thanks
Adrian

On 11/03/2011 14:41, Terry Casey wrote:
In on Fri, 11 Mar 2011
11:17:09 +0000
Adrian wrote:

It's for a stereo volume control - I have a module that plays MP3's from
a memory card and runs 2x5w to a couple of speakers. Whole thing sits in
a wooden enclosure with a couple of speakers and a big dryfit battery.

All controls (vol / / / etc) are via pushbuttons -
I'm looking to graft in a conventional rotary pot as a volume control
(anything between 5k and 50k log or lin would do fine)

I wouldn't use a linear pot for volume - log pots are a much better match for
our very non-linear ears!

True - but working on the principle of 'beggars can't be choosers' g


- and if it also
had a switch for the 12v dc to the MP3 module then that'd mean I only
needed one 'user-accessible' control.....


Well, a quick Google brings up lots cof queries just like yours - but no
answers!

So, it looks like a separate power switch will be necessary.

Looks that way


If rotary action isn't a prime requirement, why not put two push switches in
parallel with the existing switches for volume up/down? If you want it to look
neat, you might find a range with a matching push-on/push/off power switch ...


Went down that route - dear old CPC have precisely the right parts in
their online catalogue - except that one of them (either the momentary
or the latching button) is 'awaiting stocks'. Having 'awaited' ffrom CPC
in the past (more than 4 months on one particular item that never
actually materialised!) - I perfer now to order things that are
(allegedly) in stock......

So - toggles it is!

Thanks
Adrian

I reckon you'd have to collect over 100 stereo amps before you found
one with a power switch on the volume control. Such kit exists, but
nowadays its going to be a job to find it.

sorry - didn't realise they were so old - I'll go back to my memories of
the click when turning off the stereo, watching the dot disappear on the
TV, .....

--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

On 11/03/2011 16:28, Robin wrote:

I reckon you'd have to collect over 100 stereo amps before you found
one with a power switch on the volume control. Such kit exists, but
nowadays its going to be a job to find it.

sorry - didn't realise they were so old - I'll go back to my memories of
the click when turning off the stereo, watching the dot disappear on the
TV, .....


....waiting for the tv to warm up,
and (as Dad always used to) 'ticking ' the 78/33-and-a-third
pickup needle on the Pye radiogram (with the radio dial marked up
with all sorts of 'furrin' places......)

Happy days !
Adrian

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:17:09 +0000, Adrian Brentnall
wrote:


All controls (vol / / / etc) are via pushbuttons -
I'm looking to graft in a conventional rotary pot as a volume control
(anything between 5k and 50k log or lin would do fine) - and if it also
had a switch for the 12v dc to the MP3 module then that'd mean I only
needed one 'user-accessible' control.....

I'm pretty sure I have several old style twin potentiometers with
integral mains switches ex-equipment lurking in the "too good to throw
away" box - If you like I'll try and dig one out and if found you are
welcome to it.

On 11/03/2011 17:53, Peter Parry wrote:
On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:17:09 +0000, Adrian Brentnall
wrote:


All controls (vol / / / etc) are via pushbuttons -
I'm looking to graft in a conventional rotary pot as a volume control
(anything between 5k and 50k log or lin would do fine) - and if it also
had a switch for the 12v dc to the MP3 module then that'd mean I only
needed one 'user-accessible' control.....

I'm pretty sure I have several old style twin potentiometers with
integral mains switches ex-equipment lurking in the "too good to throw
away" box - If you like I'll try and dig one out and if found you are
welcome to it.


Hi Peter
That's a very kind offer.
I'll see how it works out with the toggle-switch approach,
and if I hit a brick wall then I'll get back to you...

Many thanks
Adrian

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:

I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

With the seperate wafers? I'm pretty sure maplin did. As a kid in the 80s
I remember using them and I'm pretty sure I never used anyone other than
maplin to get bits (well, apart from ripping apart goodies collected from
peoples "junk" piles and jumble sales :-))

Darren

D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:

I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

With the seperate wafers? I'm pretty sure maplin did. As a kid in the 80s
I remember using them and I'm pretty sure I never used anyone other than
maplin to get bits (well, apart from ripping apart goodies collected from
peoples "junk" piles and jumble sales :-))

That's the one, but it was possibly a couple of decades before I'd even
heard of Maplins. Possibly Henry's or one of the other mail order
places. They even pre-dated Tandy.


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In message on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:59:11 +0000
John Williamson wrote:

D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:

I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

With the seperate wafers? I'm pretty sure maplin did. As a kid in the 80s
I remember using them and I'm pretty sure I never used anyone other than
maplin to get bits (well, apart from ripping apart goodies collected from
peoples "junk" piles and jumble sales :-))

That's the one, but it was possibly a couple of decades before I'd even
heard of Maplins. Possibly Henry's or one of the other mail order
places. They even pre-dated Tandy.

I thought you were talking about potentiometers - not wafer switches!

The RS Addashaft potentiometers were AFAIK unique because the had a completely
different way of locating the shaft to conventional controls.

Usually, the wiper asssembly was fixed to the shaft, which was inserted from
inside with a circlip in the groove in the shaft where it emerged from the
brass bush to hold it together. The shaft in the Addashaft design, however, was
inserted into the preassembled control from outside. Funny thing was, they
still had the same groove in the shaft, though there was obviously no circlip!

Wafer switches, on the other hand, were simple, as they were all bolted
together in the same way. All it needed was for the manufacturer to provide
exactly the same range of wafers and spacers as they used for normal production
with a long 'cut to length' shafting unit (which would have been standard,
anyway).

RS did two different versions with 'Standard' and 'Miniature' wafers.

--

Terry

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:46:48 +0000, Terry Casey wrote:
Wafer switches, on the other hand, were simple, as they were all bolted
together in the same way. All it needed was for the manufacturer to
provide exactly the same range of wafers and spacers as they used for
normal production with a long 'cut to length' shafting unit (which would
have been standard, anyway).

Weren't the Maplin ones 'wafastack' or something like that? (but not
rotostack or whatnot - I think they were hamster houses :-)

Terry Casey wrote:
In message on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:59:11 +0000
John Williamson wrote:
D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:

I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.
With the seperate wafers? I'm pretty sure maplin did. As a kid in the 80s
I remember using them and I'm pretty sure I never used anyone other than
maplin to get bits (well, apart from ripping apart goodies collected from
peoples "junk" piles and jumble sales :-))

That's the one, but it was possibly a couple of decades before I'd even
heard of Maplins. Possibly Henry's or one of the other mail order
places. They even pre-dated Tandy.

I thought you were talking about potentiometers - not wafer switches!

I was.

Though I remember, possibly wrongly, both being available.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
Terry Casey wrote:

I thought you were talking about potentiometers - not wafer switches!

I was.

Though I remember, possibly wrongly, both being available.


Yeah, same here. Although mention of tandy got me wondering. I did use the
little tandy store on the corner of bank street in Ashford - so it's possible
I got something from there (they sold RS stuff IIRC?)

Used to be a little cave of electronic goodness when I was a kid - with a
couple of keen guys behind the counter who were always willing to help
and spend time with kids who wanted random electronics components.

It's a cash converter/payday loan type place now :-(

Darren

On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

--
Adrian C

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

I remember seeing switch kits (makaswitch?) but not pots.

--
*I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
Terry Casey wrote:

I thought you were talking about potentiometers - not wafer switches!

I was.

Though I remember, possibly wrongly, both being available.


Yeah, same here. Although mention of tandy got me wondering. I did use the
little tandy store on the corner of bank street in Ashford - so it's possible
I got something from there (they sold RS stuff IIRC?)

Radio Shack was their house brand, IIRC, and still is on the US of A.
Tandy was the UK shop branding.

Used to be a little cave of electronic goodness when I was a kid - with a
couple of keen guys behind the counter who were always willing to help
and spend time with kids who wanted random electronics components.

Same with the one in Stafford.

They went broke shortly before Maplin atarted to grow from their
original Southend area store and mail order operation. It was about the
time that Japanese stuff started to get so cheap that it was more
exepensive to build your own. Cue collapse of mass market for components.

I suspect even now that Maplin only sell components because the other
stuff subsidises them and the original enthusiasts are still in charge
at head office.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

If, as the OP has said elsewhere, push buttons could be used to control
the amplifier, RS sell a couple of rotary encoders with a "push the
stalk to make" momentary switch.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 12/03/2011 10:28, John Williamson wrote:
Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

If, as the OP has said elsewhere, push buttons could be used to control
the amplifier, RS sell a couple of rotary encoders with a "push the
stalk to make" momentary switch.


It was an 'either / or'.....

Plan A was replace the push-button-operate volume controls with a
'traditional' stereo pot, incorporating a switch for the battery power
to the module. Switch in this case would need to be double-throw - not
momentary

Plan B (looking more attractive) is two toggles - one spdt for power and
the other a single dpdt-centre-off which will replace the 'vol up' and
'vol down' buttons.

For anybody who's interested - the electronics part of things is this
Velleman kit

http://www.velleman.eu/distributor/p...iew/?id=380100

which provides an easy way to carry 8gb (for me) or up to 32gb of mp3
music built into a small speaker cabinet with a dryfit battery -
giving an operating time of hundreds of hours on one recharge.

Part of my Market kit - so needs to be fairly rugged g

Thanks for all the suggestions
Adrian

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
They went broke shortly before Maplin atarted to grow from their
original Southend area store and mail order operation. It was about the
time that Japanese stuff started to get so cheap that it was more
exepensive to build your own. Cue collapse of mass market for components.

It's nearly always been more expensive to build your own than buy ready
made, for common stuff.

Electronics construction just isn't as popular a hobby for kids to start
as once. Blame it on computers.

--


Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

But not necessarily with 240vAC rated switches.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

I remember seeing switch kits (makaswitch?) but not pots.

THATS what I remember. Horrendously expensive.

On 12/03/2011 11:29, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

But not necessarily with 240vAC rated switches.

Only need 12v dc in this application....

Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 12/03/2011 11:29, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

But not necessarily with 240vAC rated switches.

Only need 12v dc in this application....

Oh? Muy Bad. Thread drift etc..

In which case, yes, car boot sale and old car radio.

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
I've been desperately trying all day to remember who sold the modular
potentiometer kits. Maybe RS, back in the day.

I remember seeing switch kits (makaswitch?) but not pots.

THATS what I remember. Horrendously expensive.

Yes - but very useful if you couldn't get a stock one. I'm 'listening' to
one at the movement - the selector switch for the sound system in the
workshop.

--
*Prepositions are not words to end sentences with *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 12/03/2011 10:45, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

For anybody who's interested - the electronics part of things is this
Velleman kit

http://www.velleman.eu/distributor/p...iew/?id=380100

which provides an easy way to carry 8gb (for me) or up to 32gb of mp3
music built into a small speaker cabinet with a dryfit battery -
giving an operating time of hundreds of hours on one recharge.

Part of my Market kit - so needs to be fairly rugged g

Probably not as rugged (uses a hard drive), and the items for this
project have long since dried up, but I made one of these before the
Apple iPod came out. It still works today and the playback sound quality
is rather good...

http://www.pjrc.com/mp3/

Recently I've started collecting highend 80s ghettoblasters. I feel one
could do with an MP3 heart transplant with the above gubbins.

Another DIY project on the back burner, is a ghettoblaster made of wood,
decent speakers and a car stereo for the electronics, or more probably -
the processing and storage guts of a laptop.

There is a hip hop / martial arts film staring Forest Whitaker, "Ghost
Dog: The Way of the Samurai", that features one of those DIY efforts. It
looks kinda cool.

--
Adrian C

On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:26:46 +0000, John Williamson
wrote:

D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
Terry Casey wrote:

I thought you were talking about potentiometers - not wafer switches!

I was.

Though I remember, possibly wrongly, both being available.


Yeah, same here. Although mention of tandy got me wondering. I did use the
little tandy store on the corner of bank street in Ashford - so it's possible
I got something from there (they sold RS stuff IIRC?)

Radio Shack was their house brand, IIRC, and still is on the US of A.

As is (was?) also Realistic and Archer.

Tandy was the UK shop branding.

--
Frank Erskine

On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:45:41 +0000, Adrian Brentnall
wrote:

On 12/03/2011 10:28, John Williamson wrote:
Adrian C wrote:
On 11/03/2011 09:24, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
Does such a thing exist ?
Just trawled through CPC's listings
(just love the bit about 'Show 'in stock' items ?' -
- no - taunt me with things I _can't_ buy !! g)

....and I can see dual-gang pots without switches, and single-gang
pots with switches - but not 2-g with switch.


Just a thought, older car stereos are another source of these.

If, as the OP has said elsewhere, push buttons could be used to control
the amplifier, RS sell a couple of rotary encoders with a "push the
stalk to make" momentary switch.


It was an 'either / or'.....

Plan A was replace the push-button-operate volume controls with a
'traditional' stereo pot, incorporating a switch for the battery power
to the module. Switch in this case would need to be double-throw - not
momentary

Plan B (looking more attractive) is two toggles - one spdt for power and
the other a single dpdt-centre-off which will replace the 'vol up' and
'vol down' buttons.

The trouble with combined switches/pots was always that there was
excessive wear on the pot (at least carbon-track ones) due solely to
switching on and off.

--
Frank Erskine