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Hello, I needed to get some advice.

I want to make something to that can fit in my pocket to test exp pedal functions when I go out pedal shopping.

With a 10k pot with the 3 lugs pointing at me, leftmost gets soldered to the back of the pot as ground, middle soldered to tip, and right lug to sleeve?

hangwire wrote:With a 10k pot with the 3 lugs pointing at me, leftmost gets soldered to the back of the pot as ground, middle soldered to tip, and right lug to sleeve?

I believe the universally agreed upon format has the middle leg/wiper connecting to the tip, yes.

I'm not 100% clear on the orientation of the pot you're describing though (we can conceptually flip that pot in a dimension not defined in your statement, thus reversing the order of clockwise and counter-clockwise lugs). It's not critical though, for a tester, to have counter clockwise as full "off".

If you want CCW as full off/down position, place the pot on a flat surface in front of you with the shaft UP and the lugs pointing at you - then your originally described orientation will be correct.

Also, I wouldn't bother with soldering that lug to the back of the pot, just make sure it connects to the SLEEVE of your connector.

crochambeau wrote:

hangwire wrote:With a 10k pot with the 3 lugs pointing at me, leftmost gets soldered to the back of the pot as ground, middle soldered to tip, and right lug to sleeve?

I believe the universally agreed upon format has the middle leg/wiper connecting to the tip, yes.

I'm not 100% clear on the orientation of the pot you're describing though (we can conceptually flip that pot in a dimension not defined in your statement, thus reversing the order of clockwise and counter-clockwise lugs). It's not critical though, for a tester, to have counter clockwise as full "off".

If you want CCW as full off/down position, place the pot on a flat surface in front of you with the shaft UP and the lugs pointing at you - then your originally described orientation will be correct.

Also, I wouldn't bother with soldering that lug to the back of the pot, just make sure it connects to the SLEEVE of your connector.

glad i posted, so left and right both connect to sleeve of jack and middle to tip?

yes, with shaft up orientation

Left lug: sleeve
Center lug: tip
Right lug: ring

You want a TRS connector hanging off that pot, otherwise you'll be shunting any reference voltage to ground with the tip/sleeve cable (which itself may work fine for more primitive circuits)

crochambeau wrote:Left lug: sleeve
Center lug: tip
Right lug: ring

You want a TRS connector hanging off that pot, otherwise you'll be shunting any reference voltage to ground with the tip/sleeve cable (which itself may work fine for more primitive circuits)

no ring connector, just standard 1/4" audio jack for this tester (like needed on an EHX memory boy exp pedal or line 6 M9) unless I am mistaken. i built a momentary exp pedal for my M9 without TRS, and I think the standard exp pedal i have for that also does not need TRS.

I think if you are building this tool for devices that do not require a TRS expression pedal, that leaving the right lug of the pot unconnected (or tying it to the wiper) may give you better results.

Otherwise, if you connect the two outer lugs together the wiper will exhibit its maximum resistance while centered (for linear taper) and both full CW and full CCW rotation will amount to exactly the same thing.

crochambeau wrote:I think if you are building this tool for devices that do not require a TRS expression pedal, that leaving the right lug of the pot unconnected (or tying it to the wiper) may give you better results.

Otherwise, if you connect the two outer lugs together the wiper will exhibit its maximum resistance while centered (for linear taper) and both full CW and full CCW rotation will amount to exactly the same thing.

so with shaft up orientation:

left - typically ground but here solder to sleeve
middle - solder to tip
right - leave alone, don't connect to anything

hangwire wrote: so with shaft up orientation:

left - typically ground but here solder to sleeve

Yes, sleeve is ground (and the body of the pot will be floating). You can connect the body of the pot to sleeve as well if you wish, if you run into issues with hum and noise, but unless that expression circuit is actually passing a signal through the pot it should not be a problem. I tend to not do it unless absolutely necessary, since it requires a fair bit of heat to do it right.

hangwire wrote:middle - solder to tip

Yes.

hangwire wrote:right - leave alone, don't connect to anything

Yes, or connect that lug to the wiper as well.

duh, sleeve is ground... man I'm glad I double checked before wasting materials.

i'll leave right alone... as i am not sure what connecting it to the wiper means or looks like. haven't run into that before with guitar wiring.

thanks again!