Alps RK168 rotational torque

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If 6 mm axles and the specific bushings are used things should work out OK. I never needed to polish 6 mm axles so are you sure you used the right bushings? Maybe things mix up with the hand/feet/thumb/finger unit system and good old metric? Please show a picture of the bushing.

Normally the materials of the axle and the bushing are adapted to each other. Some materials don't like each other. Stainless steel axles go well with plated brass bushings. Aluminium axles go well with nylon bushings. Zinc plated steel axles don't go well at all and I don't use them.
 
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Thanks for the pointer
I saw the MSDS for Simichrome...
Finely levigated alumina (rounded grains, not sharp) in an oily base with a bit of a surfactant.
Abrasive (tooth whitening) toothpaste has the same ingredients in a water base.
During last year's lock down I got locally made silver polish, it worked, only about 80 cents for 50 ml...
Here a Chinese substitute is also available it seems, in Bombay, 400 km away.
It is $24 on Amazon here, and as usual Amazon is only the trading platform, they are not responsible if the seller sells fakes.
$32 from traders in Bombay (Mumbai now) and some others may offer from other places.


It seems Flitz is a similar product.

I use these as the final cleaner/polish after the 1 micron abrasive stage in polishing.
The substitutes need a little more effort at times, but 3 minutes in place of 2 is no big deal.
The other problem is fakes, my regular supplier died, and I am not taking a risk with fake stuff corroding my moulds.
 
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I had a problem like this on my 1501 line level preamp with the Alps RK27

If you tighten the nut that holds the pot in place too much, the motor will not be able to turn the shaft. So, I make mine a little more than finger tight and then secure the nut with a dab of nail varnish.

I suspect when you tighten the nut too much, the bushing and/or the metal part of the housing it is mounted to is deformed causing the issue.
 
I use rubber cement to lock nuts.
Some are cast muck metal, sometimes they break, which is a problem.
So I use a socket screw diver, and once satisfied, use rubber cement in the threads, after opening them out. Tighten after putting adhesive.

Easier to open than nail varnish.
Some people use thread lock, even RTV silicon.


Sometimes the bush is compressed on to the shaft, causing sticky movement, so a dry run should be taken before using any kind of thread lock.
 
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Obviously Alps don't longer listed this 6-ch potentiometer from RK168 series: RK16816MG - go to
https://tech.alpsalpine.com/e/products/category/potentiometer/sub/01/series/rk168/
This means for me, this model is obsolete.
Only on the supplier under
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/pote...hmic-motorized-potentiometer-100k-p-2553.html
still offers this 6-ch version - probably only for a limited time.
Datasheets you will find in post #6 under
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...udness-effect-what-rules.365053/#post-7491947

Channel-matching of this 6-ch version in the lower control range up to around the 9:00 position isn't really good, but this can be improved by connecting a resistor from the output of the potentiometer to GND in parallel (for each channel) - about 5-10% of the resistance value of the potentiometer.
This means that the most used control range for manual or RC controlled rotation used shifts more towards the middle.

Are there other manufacturers of such 6-ch potentiometers ?