I'm getting completely fed up with mechanical potentiometers -- even supposedly high quality ten turn ones -- that physically go bad after just a couple of times soldering them into and desoldering them out of various circuits. I then need to physically pull on the pot's lugs, or twist the shaft outside of its aligned axis of rotation, in order to try and deform the pot mechanically so that some semblance of temporary contact can still be made. That then works for a few minutes, until the internal contacts come loose again. Very annoying.
I found this video which shows a homebrew potentiometer made with pencil lead and 3D printing. I might give it a try. I do wonder how long such a contraption will last in practice -- but on the other hand, it can't be much worse than the woefully high failure rates I've been having with commercial pots.
I have also had issues with modern potentiometers.
I know DC is not to be applied across a pot, but the older parts had some tolerance for this that the modern stuff seems to not tolerate very well at all. I do tend to use the very inexpensive stuff from AliExpress, so that may be contributing to my problems, but, for the last couple of years, EVERY audio problem I have chased in a homemade rig, has ultimately turned out to be the volume pot.
They can be intermittently intermittent, just go completely open, and, in one instance, seemed to work okay resistance wise, but contributed raspy distortion (somehow) to the output. I have also observed that manipulation of the lugs can sometimes bring one back to life again. For awhile.
Maddening.
Win W5JAG
That is crazy cool. If we can build our own parts, we won't be as beholden to suppliers. Now, somebody , make an FET 😀