MOTM

I have run out of my stock of the original 1998 Spectrol 149 cermet 100K 
linear pots and its RoHS replacement.

In 1998, these pots were black, made in Mexico and cost me $2.94 in 250pc 
quantities.

In 2003, Vishay move production to their French company Sfernice due to 
RoHS. They changed the design (the bodies are now white). In Jan 2006 I ran 
out of the original ones, and placed an order for 2500. The price went up to 
$3.96, and Vishay took *16 months* to deliver. I survived by buying smaller 
quantities here and there for ~ $5/pot, and I recall 1 order for 25 that I 
paid $7.50ea.

These pots are *still* available from Mouser (they have over 200 in stock) 
but the price is crazy.....over $15ea! (if you don't believe it, search for 
594-149-7104). For $15 I can buy a 450MHz ARM processor with 2D graphics 
engine, USB, audio codec, and Ethernet used in the Chumby One (see 
www.chumby.com for my new toy).

I will now switch over to the BI conductive plastic pot. I have these in 
both linear and log. They are grey and are an exact mechanical pc board fit 
BUT the shaft is 5mm shorter. This only becomes an issue on 2U wide modules 
that use the blue Bourns pots as well. In these cases, I will ship a little 
pc board called a 'Pot Chiclet' to allow easy soldering of discrete wires to 
the pot. I'll snap photos and post later. I'll also add these to kits as as 
addendum.

If you *really* want to use the Spectrol pots, feel free to spend $60/module 
to do so :) I've shipped many assembled 1U modules with the BI pots with no 
complaints so far.

Paul S.