Method of making an encoding substrate

A rotor (100,200,300l ) for a stator (50) of a rotary switch (10) includes a substrate (106,216,302) having a continuous conductive surface over which a profiled dielectric layer (110,218,316) is molded which includes arcuate groove segments (118) along concentric circles which expose portions of the continuous conductive surface and define switch-encoding circuit paths (120,222,322) for brush contact portions (66) of the stator (50). The dielectric material at the ends (122) of each groove segment (118) deflect the brush contact portions (66) away from the conductive surface during rotation of the rotor (100,200,300), and the brush contact portions thus do not engage corner edges of discrete circuit paths. Each layer (110,218,316) can have an annular detent surface (132,234,324) of a plurality of pointed embossments (130,230,326) defining radial grooves (136,232,328) therebetween at switch locations, cooperable with detent (74) of the stator (50) to accurately position the rotor (100,200,300) upon rotation. A method for making the rotor (100,200,300) includes variations for the conductive surface of the substrate to have electrically isolated inner (212,310) and outer (214,312) segments, where the inner segment (212,310) comprises the switch-encoding circuit paths (222,322) and the outer segment (214,312) underlies the detent surface (234,324) and enables electrical verification of the rotor attaining a switch position.