Popup potentiometers?

I have an old Blaupunkt tape player in my car that used some small pots to base, treble, etc that normally set flush on the surface. You push on one and its shaft pops out so you can turn it. Push it in again and it locks down on the surface. It's purely a mechanical feature.

I gotta say that was an awesome little component. I'd love to put something like that into a project, but I haven't seen any such component on Digikey. I don't even know if this feature has a "proper" name for me to search for.

Anybody know what these are, and where I could get some?

I still have that stereo... I should take it apart and at least get a mfg for the components they used if there's any mfg marking on them.

Oznog said:

I have an old Blaupunkt tape player in my car that used some small pots to base, treble, etc that normally set flush on the surface. You push on one and its shaft pops out so you can turn it. Push it in again and it locks down on the surface. It's purely a mechanical feature.

I gotta say that was an awesome little component. I'd love to put something like that into a project, but I haven't seen any such component on Digikey. I don't even know if this feature has a "proper" name for me to search for.

Anybody know what these are, and where I could get some?

Click to expand...

I've never seen them for sale either, they may be a custom made part?, but as a minimum they seem only available to manufacturers.

But they are very clever!.

Alot of standard issue GM Delco radios have the same controls. Not sure if it is a mechanical interface or part of the pot on those. If you only needed a couple, maybe a scrap yard would be a source. I bet there are tons of those radios laying about the yards.

I think it's best to try and find out what the industry calls them before saying that they are not aquirable. Finding out what others call them can make all the difference in finding them.

Noble is one maker, they have just about every kind of pot you can dream of. Pretty big in consumer products.

http://www.nobleusa.com/auto.html