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Two drive packaging projects: RX180 (for VT180) and M9058/RX33/RDnn (for qbus 11)

L

Lou - N2MIY

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Folks,

Paul was interested in an old project of mine where I packaged Tandon TM100 drives in an enclosure and made a cable to use them on my Robin (VT180) in lieu of a real RX180. The cable is simple. The cable/connector pinning of the DC37 to 34-position cardedge connector on the back of the drives is 1 to 1. That is, DC37 pin 1 connects to pin 1 on the cardedge connector, 2 to 2, etc. It seems a little counterintuitive since the row of pins on the DC37 are numbered sequentially from one end to the other along each row while the cardedge connector switches back and forth from side to side. This precludes use of ribbon cable and IDC connectors. Dig out the pin crimper!

This project is documented in this album : http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=375&attachmentid=39826

Will was interested in an enclosure I built where I placed an M9058 in an external enclosure with the drives instead of in the qbus backplane. Although the M9058 has a dec backplane cardedge connector (usually plugged into the BA123 backplane), it only takes +5V and does nothing else. It can easily be placed elsewhere as I have done here. I then used all-50-pins-through SCSI cables to connect from the RQDXn to the external chassis. I should note that Malcolm's RQDXn breakout board is much more versatile, but I built this thing almost ten years ago (same with the homemade RX180).

This project is documented in this album : http://www.vcfed.org/forum/album.php?albumid=376&attachmentid=39832

Lou
 
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Two very neat solutions - thanks for sharing the details.

I'd really like to find an enclosure similar to the one you have used for the 2 x TM100s. Do you recall where this one came from?

Also - do you have a part number for an affordable crimper, for the pins at the 0.1" header end of the DC37 cable? I always end up soldering the pins as I don't have a crimper that does the job neatly (mine tend to fold the ears over, rather than curl them inwards).
 
Mal said:
Also - do you have a part number for an affordable crimper, for the pins at the 0.1" header end of the DC37 cable? I always end up soldering the pins as I don't have a crimper that does the job neatly (mine tend to fold the ears over, rather than curl them inwards).
Click to expand...

I was going to ask a similar question. If you buy the connector manufacturer specified hand tools, for example from AMP / TE Connectivity or Molex, they can be several hundred dollars and require specific dies for each type of connector.
 
Gents,

The drive enclosure is from the 90s. I bought it at a computer show way back then. I would doubt any such things are made anymore. However, it is simple folded sheetmetal. I you have access to a shear and a brake you could make one.

On the pin crimper for the Berg end, sadly I can't recommend anything inexpensive. My crimper is my from my father (who was with DEC field service). It's a very nice ratcheting AMP crimper. On the D-sub end, there are many inexpensive crimpers available. Ones like this one from Jameco work fine : http://www.jameco.com/z/HT-213-R-Ha...-Sub-Pin-and-Socket-Tool-20-28AWG_159266.html

Lou
 
Lou - N2MIY said:
On the pin crimper for the Berg end, sadly I can't recommend anything inexpensive. My crimper is my from my father (who was with DEC field service). It's a very nice ratcheting AMP crimper.
Click to expand...

I've just purchased a set of "PA-09" crimpers. These are easy to find on eBay for about US$50. I used these yesterday to make up 3 cables with Berg-style connectors at one end. The 1.6mm slot on these crimpers worked well with 22-26 AWG "AMPMODU Mod IV" series contacts. The contacts that I used were TE Connectivity P/N 1-141708-2, but there are many other AMPMODU Mod IV contacts that can be used instead.

The photo below shows the finished result (click for larger view), using the PA-09 crimper.

crimped-pin-cropped-90.jpg
 
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