A thought about sliders

[Evad Nomenclature]

So.
I was browsing through some supply sites and ran into sliding pots at futurlec.com
Was thinking it might be a cool thing to have on a pedal (a slider to adjust gain, or delay time or whatever) since it would make it very easy for a musician to adjust settings... mainly, you could use your feet to push a slider up and down.

I think I'm going to try this for a pedal and see how it works out, but thinking about it... how would I drill the slot for the slider to go up and down?  Drill won't work obviously.
ideas?

[frank_p]

A router and a table with a fixed ruler;
or a table-saw;
a jig with an hand held router and a bearing bit or a stopping axle;
a milling machine;
a CNC mill.
Two holes, a hand held saw and a file.

Many options...

[Mark Hammer]

I would not recommend slider pots for the application you are pondering.  First off, slider pots are more susceptible to dirt getting inside.  In a pristine studio, that isn't a problem.  On a stage at a gig with the "controller" being your shoe and not clean fingers, that's another thing.  Then there is the matter of the size.  Nudging something with your foot implies that it has to respond with a certain degree of insensitivity.  The short-travel sliders often found on EQ pedals is not what you are looking for.  There ARE long-travel sliders, like the ones usually found for level on mixers, but those have even more open area for dirt to enter than the small ones. 

Moreover, slider pots are made for articulate and smooth finger control.  They are not made for the brutish sudden jarring contact of the shod human foot.  Chances are high that the "wand" attached to the wiper will be easily broken within a short time.

I like the visual aspect of slider pots as much as the next guy, but what you are planning will just work its way inexorably to hearbreak.

[Purple People Eater]

They lok great, but are a PITA in general. Susceptible to bending, lots of dirt, etc. Might be fun for a light duty pedal though.

Ibanez used to use them.

[petemoore]

  ...Make a mechanism which will allow control, but limits the motion within the natural movement of the slider...ie...a heavy duty slider above the slider pot, or some type of 'sprung' system which only puts a small spring pressure at the ends of travel, and pushed perfects up and down, never pushes to the side.
 At which point a standard pot or wah pot with treadle starts looking like a comparably difficult manufacturing process.

[frank_p]

Or big knobs with rubber like on The MXR Dist +  .

[Mark Hammer]

Even if you could surround the slider wand with foam rubber, you'd have to do a lot of searching to find something that could withstand sideways jolts.  Rotary pots are designed to provide suitable physical resistance to lateral pressure.  Not so with sliders.

[petemoore]

  I used rubber bands.
  But springs would be better.
  That way I got enough push to push the slider, never anywhere near more push than the slider stop could withstand, side deflections near zero pressure also.
  I was talking about a whatever you could make it outta, say wood 'carriage' and then precision stops with a heavy duty slider type arrangement above the potslider arrangement driving it up/down only [near zero side force] stops 'margined' 1/6'' using sponge pads to 'loosen' the amount of precision between the two slider top and bottom stops controlling the potwiper postition.

[sean k]

I think, for starters I'd mount the slider pot sideways so the tongue is horizontal and not vertical then drill a hole in the tongue and have a shaft going down into it. That way your extra slider is not directly above the gap in the pot. As for how to make it slide and what sorts of rails to use have a look at Mums curtain tracks or track rails in file cabinets. Graphite powder and bronze and nylon are slippery things to use. And aluminium can have some useful extrusions that are made to slot together.

[DougH]

My tascam portastudio 4-track had a slider for a motor speed pot. It was the first thing to go...

[petemoore]

   I  should note that I never built the second concept, the first was ugly, I have no working examples of any of that here.

[earthtonesaudio]

I have an old sewing machine pedal with a cheapo slide pot inside, it's actuated by a lever or something, and it has a spring return.  I'm still thinking about what to put inside...

[Evad Nomenclature]

Points well taken.
I just love the idea of having foot control.  For instance, I have a kill switch installed in my guitar, but had to make a floor model since all I could do with the onboard one was tap it while I was holding chords.  (I'd rather be using 3 extremities than 2!)
I know what you guys mean with the durability factor.  I remember having the old boss EQ pedal and I definitely had a bent slider and a couple of the rubber caps missing.
.. still thinking

[frank_p]

So, the question here is: having control with foot, ( not one control, but more (two at least I suppose)) "having that foot activated pot-conrol like in a wah or volume pedal..."
That was the idea of the MXR knobs I suppose...
But if you think at it in a mechanical point of view, standards pots are still a better option than sliders pots: in your first point of view (Like M.H. said..).  Unless you can provide some kind of mechanical protection.
You can get a lot of leverage on those (rotary pots) with different sizes of wheels that you can fix on those pots...
One question that would go hand in hands with your question would be: how to get those pots to be very effective with a light "kick"...:
Or easy control without a rocking pedal.
No ?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I saw a guy play once, solo with a shitload of pedals - he was barefoot & tweaked as he played, using his toes, which through practice were pretty flexible.
I've never felt quite the same about secondhand pedals after that..