[Elecraft] Panel Knob Replacement Technique Sought

[Paul Clay]

Hello, Elecrafters.

A while back while working on another piece of 
gear (my keepsake Heath HW-101), my soldering 
iron got lose and burned one of the small panel 
knobs on my K2 (the RIT knob). :=(   It's hardly 
noticable, but the rig being only a couple of 
months old, and me being me, I want to replace 
the knob with a new one I got from Elecraft.

Now my question.  I remember from building the K2 
that it was a bit of a tricky operation to get 
the small knobs on their pots without damaging 
the pots.  The manual even warns you to be 
careful not to damage the pots as I recall, as 
you do a kind of push in and twist on install  (a 
couple required a pretty good push).  Any 
suggestions on how to perform the knob swap out 
as safely as possible?  Is their a better method 
than simple reversing the process by which the 
knobs were installed in the first place?

Knowing what a total bear it would be to replace 
the RIT pot if I damage it, I welcome your 
suggestions (including "Ignore the minor cosmetic 
imperfection and leave the old knob on, you 
fool!)

Regards to all,
Paul, N6LQ