Best place to buy pots/trimmers

[bsas]

Hi all,

I always have a really hard time finding specific pots/trimmers.
I always try to get as much as I can from Tayda, and for some reason I fell that Mousers is terrible for pots.
Do you guys recommend anywhere else?

Thanks!

[Chris60601]

For me, Tayda, Smallbear and Mammoth are the main sources.

I use Mouser when I need to find something special or if the previous 3 don't have what I'm looking for.

Tayda is always the cheapest while SB and Mammoth seem to be trade offs. I find that the two are close on prices while Mouser almost always appears to be more expensive (unless of course you're buying mass quantities, which I generally don't OR I just seem to be hitting parts that are more expensive overall).

Of course, your mileage may vary with experience. The above work for me.
For those super-special parts that nobody seems to carry, there's always eBay.
I myself, prefer not to use that vehicle.

Cheers
Chris

[Muadzin]

Tayda works best for me. I've had no problems with their pots and trimpots, plus the backside of their pots are already covered up so no need to buy separate pot covers, or other ad hoc ways to prevent the pots from touching the boards.

Of course I'm limited in my choices as I live in Europe so American suppliers are more or less off limits due to costs.

[ham_phist]

Tayda, I always get it about a week after I order and they appear to be the cheapest.

Mouser was great too, but I used them when I was ordering some high-grade film caps (WIMA) for a DIY mic-pre project. Would use again if I had to.

[Beaker]

For pots,Tayda all the way - especially for us in Europe. You won't find cheaper.

The American suppliers - Smal bear, Mammoth, Mouser are effectively off-limits due to their high postage costs.

Mouser has a UK branch, but (again) you need a big order to make it worth the postage

I've got odd value pots from various ebay suppliers, but price and quality are not great. They are either cheap and crap, or good quality but expensive. And it can be hard to know if they are decent pots or not, from the listing descriptions.

Trimmers on the other hand, you can pick up really cheap on ebay - especially in bulk (50 or 100), and many Asian sellers do assortment packs that may be worthwhile.

The thing with trimmers is that you sometimes need them in different "forms" (vertical or horizontal, in-line or offset legs, single turn or multi-turn) for different layouts or PCBs, so it's possible that you can end up with half a dozen different designs of trimmers, of exactly the same value!

[Sensei Tim]

mouser is ok, but they don't have PCB mounted pots.

Tayda has alpha pots with dustcaps, which is nice.

trimmers... can't go wrong with tayda. mouser Bourns pots are $$$

[bsas]

That is exactly my problem.
I need 1 PCB mount right angle 250k log and for some reason this one is nowhere to be found :(
You guys can suggest anywhere?

[Muadzin]

bsas wrote

That is exactly my problem.
I need 1 PCB mount right angle 250k log and for some reason this one is nowhere to be found :(
You guys can suggest anywhere?

With a little solder and some left over clippings any pot can be turned into a pcb mount. True DIY right?

[Beaker]

+1.

I have never used a PCB mount pot - even when using PCB circuits that "need" PCB mount pots.

I just bend the end of a component clipping into a loop and solder it to the pot lugs, (sticking straight up).

Then I drop the pots into the enclosure holes (usually one or two at a time), and locate the board on top, feeding the wire "legs" throgh the holes in the board, and solder.

Works every time!