D.I.Y. Illuminated tailcap

Wow, you're fast!

One thing, I believe in those little metal pots the electrical connection to the slider is also connected to the metal top of the pot, so if you swap the electrical connections of the pot, the metal top part of the pot is batt-minus and then it is no problem if the spring touches the pot.

Btw, this is the solder pad information for one of the more available 3.5x3mm potentiometers (SR passives), is this the one you used already?:

Think mine is smaller but I can create a new .lbr file later on

If the 17mm versioin is ready, I will order it right away, I think it will work and I think it is cool that it can be adjusted after assembly :-)

I will finish it tonight and post here;

Once it’s been tested I may do a GB and build a batch of these for the non-solders

Hah so I take it you do like the idea of pot on the spring side.

So what’s the verdict on pot footprint? Did we use a too-small size? I want to get my board updated tonight, I’ll need to order some little ones.

Be aware that those tiny pots tend to be touchy.

I think the one I’m currently using is 2x2 but going to create and update to 3x3 as they are much more common.

Yeah…. Thats partly why I didn’t put mine in the springpad yet. I feel like I’m going to have to adjust it while power is applied to get it right anyways

LOL, I had missed that you suggested the pot-on-spring-side already, sorry about that :-)

The solder pad lay-out that I posted above is at least shared by two brands (SR Passives found on Ebay, Bourns found on Digikey) so that may be a desirable size?

Btw, in my EDC (that has a lighted tailcap) there is more than enough space and depth in the middle of the spring, even when fully compressed (a typical 3303 pot is just 1.5mm high)

Have updated the .lbr file here

As mentioned above I have swapped the pins on the POT so the case is ground.

Jay, can I order that?

Based on this diagram, I don’t think it matters which of the two legs you use, you’ll just have to turn the pot the opposite way. I think that’s how it works.

Ahhh so it you use 1 and 3 its the max value. Thats ok then.

16mm

17mm

20mm

Perhaps to dot the i's and cross the t's, on the switch side the switch-pad that connects to the spring pad on the other side should not fully stretch to the edge to prevent a possible short to the tailcap-body.

Over time the slide will oxidize and require cleaning and movement to keep things working correctly. Think a volume knob that is introducing static when it is turned… Some of us here are old enough to remember that. So, keep a can of R5 handy!

Any tweaks or changes you guys want made just let me know I’ll finish it off tonight

In the course of this hobby, no EDC that I thought was the perfect one has lasted more than 3 months in my pocket before it was replaced by a different (different=always better ) one. But it is a good thing to think about that of course :-)

can pyro/djozz link to the page where we are getting these pot measurements (or ordering from)?

also, what springs are everyone using? I think I could get my switches to work if my springs were a tiny bit bigger.