The $11185 Connector

#1

Post by zdw » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 11:35 PM UTC

Re: The $11185 Connector

#2

Post by swamp40 » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 12:29 AM UTC

I think you might be better off a) finding and contacting an original mfg who still has the tooling, or b) making some kind of adapter board by pulling the pins from a DB25 and soldering them onto a pcb.

I wouldn't be shocked if you paid them and got the first parts and had a problem.

Then they will point to your lack of tolerance or chamfer specs or somesuch and then want more money to modify the tool.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#3

Post by fubarred » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 12:51 AM UTC

I worked in the nuclear industry a long time ago. The reason some parts are expensive is the documentation (chain of ownership) and testing involved. Some parts must be flame tested (set on fire and self-extinguish in X seconds), so that 50% of the batch are destructively tested in order to meet specific requirements. It doesn't justify excessive profiteering on a setup or per-part basis, but there is reason for connectors costing $90/part.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#4

Post by DangerousPie » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:01 AM UTC

Presumably the reason that the other factories did not make an offer was that they would have had similar set up costs and already expected that the volume wouldn't be large enough to make this viable...

Re: The $11185 Connector

#5

Post by Yetanfou » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:04 AM UTC

DB-25-connector, meet hacksaw and belt/disc sander. Welcome, DB-19 connector!

While this would be a no-go for a 'regular' product, it would be perfectly acceptable for the niche application - floppy emulators for old personal computers - these connectors are used for.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#6

Post by blackguardx » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:04 AM UTC

For a completely custom connector, that seems like super cheap NRE to me. I work as an EE and have paid more than that on small run prototype stuff that is simpler to manufacture than a connector (think prototype circuit boards). Connectors require multiple sets of tooling and specialized processes unique to the connector industry. Even getting the tooling for the simplest plastic part is goig to be thousands of dollars.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#7

Post by daeken » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:08 AM UTC

I'd strongly recommend looking into 3d printing these. You could pretty easily 3d print a plastic version of the connector itself (and shell, if male), then add aluminum tape to the inside if you need EMF protection. Then you just pop in pins (which you can get at Fry's by the hundred for a couple bucks), and you have a finished connector. A few hundred dollars in setup and you're done, with a unit cost of under a dollar, all in.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#8

Post by Alupis » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:22 AM UTC

The title is very misleading... it's not an $11,185 connector, that's the price of setting up custom tooling for this component. After-which the factory quoted a very reasonable $0.13 per piece.

The author went into this stating he'd be willing to pay for their tooling... then is sticker-shocked when they quote him for so. It's like the author went into this thinking they'd pay a few hundred bucks (for the custom tooling) and get a short fab run (The reason these connectors are difficult to find (if possible at all) is people aren't buying them... so you have to make it worth the factory's time to custom fab them for you. And if they think you're going to be a one-time-run, then you aren't going to get as good of a price as if you signed some long-term production agreement (10,000 a month for 12 months, etc...),

He also didn't go about finding a fab in the best way.. he went to Alibaba which is essentially the Amazon of factories... definitely not the "best price" you can get.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#9

Post by bsder » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:23 AM UTC

Talk to Sullins Connector Corp directly. http://www.sullinscorp.com/

The last time I had a connector I needed, they took something they had off the shelf, milled it, stuffed it with different pins, and charged me $100 for 5.

I was stunned. I haven't had customer service that good in decades.

Really. Call them. Even better, take a factory tour.

They may not be able to do it, but they have 30 years of designs archived. One of them will probably work.

Re: The $11185 Connector

#10

Post by bwldrbst » Sat, Feb 07, 2015, 1:25 AM UTC

Yetanfou wrote: post #5

DB-25-connector, meet hacksaw and belt/disc sander. Welcome, DB-19 connector! While this would be a no-go for a 'regular' product, it would be perfectly acceptable for the niche application - floppy emulators for old personal computers - these connectors are used for.

I did pretty much exactly this a few weeks ago to make a DB-23 video cable for an Amiga :]