Well, I managed to find the very basic design of the control dial, all I need now are the numbers. These can be gained without opening up your dial control. All you need is a multi-meter capable of measuring resistance values and a protractor 😀. I don't know if the plug is 2 connector or 3 connector, but the images of the ACM suggests 3.
Basically what is needed is the minimum and maximum resistances between each connector with the dial at both extremes (as far as possible clockwise or right, and counter clockwise or left,) for a total of 6 numbers. Though, one pair of numbers should be identical, and the other two pairs of numbers should mirror each other. The only other number is an approximation of the range of motion in degrees (that's what the protractor is for.) I imagine that none of the numbers has to be exactly precise. If you want to be completely thorough, measurements at regular intervals would also be appreciated 😀 That would be a measurement taken with the dial set to each mark around the dial. Also helpful, would be if the dial switches fully "off" and/or fully "on" - this is usually signified by an increased resistance at either end, followed by a click. Fully "off" would completely disconnect, while fully "on" would short the connection. If this is the case, measurements pre and post click are really needed.
The three points would be tip-middle, tip-inner, and middle-inner. chances are that one of those will be the same regardless of where the dial is, and would either be infinite (no connection,) or match the maximum setting of the other 2 measurement points. Lets assume that middle-inner is the one that doesn't change and is 1kOhm (1 kilo-Ohm - can't find the Ohm symbol, and the number is probably higher than that.) Then the measurements for tip-middle could range from 10 Ohm (again, an arbitrary number,) with the dial all the way left and 1 kOhm with it all the way to the right. The final set (tip-inner,) could be 1kOhm when all the way left, and 10 Ohm when all the way right.
The reason that stepped measurements are preferred, is that some pots do not have a steady increase in resistance as the dial is turned. If it does (have a steady increase,) then you can save yourself some typing by just giving the low & high end values 😀 But some will increase slowly at first, and faster later on. So, the change from 0 to 1 (counting marks around the dial,) could be 10 Ohm, then the change from 1 to 2 could be 20 Ohm, then 40, etc... Also, it cannot be assumed that the lowest setting is 0. There might be a current control resister added to protect from accidental shorts in the pot. Though if a fully "on" position is provided (click to short,) then that protection is probably on the board.
For those interested, the way the circuit works:
A capacitor is added into the circuit that basically cuts the current until fully charged, then it discharges. This introduces a delay in the current flow. The capacitor is fed current in 2 parallel lines. One line is a fixed resistance, while the other is variable. The higher the resistance on the variable line, the longer it takes the capacitor to discharge (the longer the delay.) I don't know how the cards are actually designed, but if I was doing it, I would have put both lines on the external dial. With a circuit on the board to detect when it wasn't plugged in, to kick in a default (or maybe calculated,) delay setting. By putting both lines on the dial, higher resistances could be provided for even faster systems in the future. But I doubt they did that, considering the patent design states that the 3rd connector isn't used. That's looking at the patent assigned to Creative Labs in 1999 (I honestly thought it came out before that.)
p.s. Oops, hit submit to soon.... Also helpful would be which board the numbers are for. Thrustmaster ACM, Gravis Eliminator, or some other board I don't currently know about.
Thank in advance for anyone willing to take these measurements for me (and anyone else on this board that needs them.) 😀