Long Shaft Pots?

[potatofarmer]

I recently gutted and rebuilt a Bogen CHB-35A, and that went really well and I'm very happy with it. The problem is I used a handful of Alpha pots that I had lying around, and it'd been so long since I started that I forgot that in order to use the outer chassis I need long-shaft pots (~1"). I know these exist - that's all you can get at Rat Shack - but I'm having a hard time tracking them down online. The original pots are all seized and half are the wrong value so no luck there.

I bent a piece of scrap aluminum on a brake into a U so I can at least close up the chassis for now. It looks pretty rough though, so eventually I'd like to put it back into the outer chassis.

Anyone know a source for long, solid or D-shaft pots? I've tried Mouser, Allied, Octopart, AES and eBay with no luck.

Here are some pictures, because why not:



You can see my poor metal-bending skills better in this shot. This was actually my second attempt; I measured, I swear.



And just for pride/shame an "I can't believe it's quiet" rat's nest gutshot.


...though I did finally fix the lazy back-of-the-pot grounding and have tweaked a few values since then. Sorry if the pics are too big but I'm hosting them offsite.

[olddawg]

I wouldn't bother. I would look for a dead solid state head or combo cab and use that. You can always make a different front plate. I would do that anyway. Use Marshall knobs and move the pot locations a bit so you can put your inputs up front. Probably cheaper and easier than buying pots. I'm always looking for dead amps to recycle the cabs. The front plate doesn't even have to be cut that accurately. You can cover it with a thin piece of acrylic or plexiglass spray painted from the back side. Looks very professional when stuck in a recycled cabinet.

[potatofarmer]

That's certainly an option. Transferring this to a different chassis would be a good opportunity to implement a better layout. I suspect it would be a huge amount of work though, and I think since this one's pretty much "done" I'd rather use a dead amp cabinet for a new project.

If I can't find decent long-shaft pots I guess my next choice would be to modify the existing outer chassis (can't really call it a cabinet) so that I can use normal pots. Still, not giving up yet on the replacement pots... Now, if I can find them but they're $10 apiece, a new cabinet or modifying the existing one would make way more sense.

[olddawg]

That's certainly an option. Transferring this to a different chassis would be a good opportunity to implement a better layout. I suspect it would be a huge amount of work though, and I think since this one's pretty much "done" I'd rather use a dead amp cabinet for a new project.

If I can't find decent long-shaft pots I guess my next choice would be to modify the existing outer chassis (can't really call it a cabinet) so that I can use normal pots. Still, not giving up yet on the replacement pots... Now, if I can find them but they're $10 apiece, a new cabinet or modifying the existing one would make way more sense.

I don't see why you can't use this chassis as is as long as it will fit in the box you find or build. There are no rules here. People do it all of the time. You can cut any kind of face plate you you want.

[potatofarmer]

Ok, I see what you're saying. Unfortunately I don't have anything with which to cut faceplates and/or drill chassis cleanly and precisely. My poorly-positioned output jacks are proof of that!

Swapping out pots though, I'm all over that. Looks like I'm out of luck though.

[potatofarmer]

I found these pots at Radio Daze if anyone's looking in the future: Single Section

Hopefully those will last long enough to hold me over until I have some chassis fabrication tools & skills.

[JHow]

Ok, I see what you're saying. Unfortunately I don't have anything with which to cut faceplates and/or drill chassis cleanly and precisely. My poorly-positioned output jacks are proof of that!

Swapping out pots though, I'm all over that. Looks like I'm out of luck though.

If your drill holes are problematic, "spot" them with a center punch first. A twist drill will follow the spot and the hole will be where you need it.