Thread: Which Rotary Switch Spins Forever?

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

I have a very simple question. Will this rotary type switch be able to spin forever. Like basically, if you just spin the knob, will it ever catch on something. Something that I'll be able to spin indefinately such as for volume control or menu selection. I will be using this in a custom hardware project, but never used anything like this. Any help would be appreciated.

With a the specs, no one here can tell you. Also, what are you trying to accomplish. If that is a rotary binary encoder, then spining freely may not help you.

So, what is your application, and a link to specs.

Michael

I doubt it, but it's possible. I also doubt that a switch like that would "feel" very good, and may be a little flimsy if you tried to attach a big volume knob to it.

If you don't care about it being "clicky" as it turns, you might be able to get away with using a rotary encoder intended for a motor.

also, I just found this, which is a small PCB- or panel-mount rotary encoder with 360 degree rotation and 16 counts per revolution:
http://www.newark.com/NewarkWebComme...3909474&QText=

Well I am just going to be starting a random summer project, and I will use 2 of these knobs. One will be for navigating menu selection, and the other will be for incremental adjustments. So knob 1 will be selecting from Time/Volume/Other Stuff and the second one will control The hour/minute/second selction, Volume level, and other stuff.

My idea is very up in the air, and not very solid yet. It is just something to spend money and time on while out of school. I learn best by doing, so I figure why not?!

As for feeling good, I wanted them to be smooth turning (which this one is obviously not seeing as how there are only 16 spaces), but tactile enough to feel the notches as it turns. Feel would be similar to like a volume control on a standard HU.

I realize that a freely spinning encoder will be hard to control, but the idea is for a menu to loop back upon itself, and also for the time selector to go from 0 to 60 back to 0 and so on.

This is the data sheet for that knob. http://jameco.com/wcsstore/Jameco/Pr...dDS/582418.pdf

Oh, and the regular link is the word this in the first post, incase you missed it!

Just thought of another example of what I'm trying to explain. On iPods, the touch jog wheel. I dont have an iPod, but I believe it cycles through the menu and you can "spin" your fingers forever. That type of logic. I could use a touchpanel, but a simple knob would work.

Originally Posted by LiquidKernel

Any rotary encoder spins forever.

I am sure there are some that do not, but MOST due. The problem is gonna be, in your situation, that it is binary encoded. Do you plan on using a PIC or something similar to interperate the turns? I think you want something more like a rotary switch, like from a mouse wheel. Continuous, and just a bunch of "button" presses in essence when you turn the knob.

And, by the way, the ipod, while it continues to spin, does not cycle through the menus. it stops at the top and bottom.

Michael

My opinion, if you want something to spin forever, I'd go with a rotary encoder with detents (little notches that catch it a little bit for some tactile feel and they won't rotate on their own), I'd also get one with the integrated pushbottons. I've got a bunch for my rgb lights, they're pretty easy to read.

These are the ones I used.
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?&han...*&N=0&crc=true