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Blog Obsolete Potentiometer Controls: 3D Printing to the Rescue!
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  • Author Author: shabaz
  • Date Created: 11 Jul 2025 1:38 AM Date Created
  • Views 3414 views
  • Likes 16 likes
  • Comments 22 comments
  • slide control
  • potentiometer
  • hifi
  • hi-fi
  • rotary control
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Obsolete Potentiometer Controls: 3D Printing to the Rescue!

shabaz
shabaz
11 Jul 2025

I suspect this is a common problem; lots of old Hi-Fi equipment have worn out pots and other controls, and it can be quite difficult locating exact replacement parts.

A friend had a music device (It’s a sort of DJ CD player with a lot of controls) around 30 years old, and it had a really worn down front panel. The controls were scratchy to operate, and in some cases, the grease had hardened, and the controls were very stiff. Some controls didn’t work, and others were crackly. Someone had already tried to clean it with a can of WD40.

Ordinarily I would turn down such a repair request, but it’s a friend, and he was pretty passionate about this particular device, he had no desire to replace with a modern digital solid-state music player. I decided to fix it, and ran into the problem that I simply couldn’t find alternative potentiometers that would precisely fit.

I briefly considered reverse-engineering the entire front panel board to rebuild it from scratch, but that would have been a lot of work. I decided to focus on the potentiometers instead.


I searched around and found some potentiometers that had the correct shaft (my friend didn’t want the plastic knobs to be altered from the original ones), but the potentiometers themselves were a lot smaller. After some brainstorming, I realized that I could make a little plastic adapter, and use a flexible PCB to route the pins of the potentiometer to match the original potentiometer.


I designed it using FreeCAD (I am still a learner, hence the design is simplistic).

image



I don’t own a 3D printer, so I had to use a 3D printing service (I used J.L.C.), it was surprisingly low-cost. I chose to print in nylon, which is quite tough and reasonably heat-resistant.

I designed the flexible PCB using KiCad, and again used the overseas manufacturer to order it. See  Creating a Flexible PCB!  

For the potentiometer pins, I used 2.54 mm pin headers, and pulled out every other pin since I needed 5.08 mm spacing.

image



For the slider potentiometers, I did a similar thing, only I was able to use a normal PCB instead of a flexible one:

image


And here’s the final result! I used epoxy glue to fix the rotary potentiometer into its new 3D printed housing, and to attach the slider pot PCB onto its 3D printed base.

image

One down, about 23 more to go!

image

Thanks for reading.

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Top Comments

  • kmikemoo
    kmikemoo 2 months ago +1
    shabaz NICE! That's a brilliant solution.
  • shabaz
    shabaz 2 months ago in reply to kmikemoo +1
    Hi Mike, Thanks! First it felt extreme to repair like this, but on the other hand music enthusiasts get obsessive regarding their equipment they love, so it only seemed proportionate!
  • Fred27
    Fred27 2 months ago +1
    shabaz You've helped me so much (both directly and indirectly) on here that Id be happy to churn out a few 3D prints for you. One of the best things about 3D printing is not creating an object but being…
  • dang74
    dang74 2 months ago in reply to shabaz

    Amazing how the price of custom flex PCBs came down.  At one time the setup charges were cost prohibitive.

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  • DAB
    DAB 2 months ago

    Great solution.

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  • genebren
    genebren 2 months ago

    A brilliant approach to component replacement!  I am going to have to file this one away for a future day.

    I have found so many uses for a 3D printer.  Initially, I got one for robotics projects, but I later found it useful for all sorts of projects and repairs.  I stated with a cheap one (Monoprice), that fried the controller board, so instead of repairing that, I bought a Prusa MK3S+ which I really like.  Now 4 years down the road with my Prusa and I am working on a pretty complete rebuild.  New rods and bearings and a complete rebuild of my extruder.  This printer worked flawlessly up to a point and then I started have more and more issues.  I finally decided that it was time to set it straight.  The cost for this repair kept growing as I found more and more issues.  If I knew then, what I know now, I might have decided to upgrade to a newer, more capable printer.

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  • shabaz
    shabaz 2 months ago in reply to michaelkellett

    Hi Michael,

    That's awesome, nice to see cassette decks operating! I wasted many hours creating mix tapes : ) And then creating mix CDs with the early CD recorders where you had to not move and not touch a thing while it was recording, in fear of "buffer underrun".

    The 'multi-jet fusion' (MJF)-created nylon rotary pot adapters cost $31.81 for 25, so in GBP about 94p each. The linear pot adapters were $12 for 7. Some of the other plastic options (with a non-MJF process) cost less, but I've not tried any other option yet.

    The single-layer flex PCB was $32 for 25 of them. They would have been cheaper still if stiffener boards were not specified. With hindsight I probably didn't really need the stiffeners for this small task. The flex PCBs are always ENIG plated from J.L.C., they don't provide any other choice.

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave 2 months ago in reply to Matt

    "...In some ways I wish I'd bought one sooner.. like when my kids were little..."

    Well to be fair, *** Van *** dropped you enough hints in that children's musical. Even did a song and dance about it... Me Ol' Bam-Bu Slight smile

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