Just to let everyone know, I found the source of the joysticks used, and oredered 2 of them with the correct aluminum knob. 10k pots...
It took a little emailing back and forth with Japan, but they settled on a 2 order minumum, with shipping to the USA set me back about 50$....not bad.
So - may be worth setting up a group buy if enough people want one, or if you just email
info@tbm-japan.com
and you want this
MX-1711K2 with knob (non-auto return type) 10k-ohmx2
psyched to have a new one to put in, and I'll keep the other as a standby just in case...
tom