On Tue, Apr 04, 2000 at 09:36:51PM +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
> > >....although we also use DIN plugs on consumer-grade stuff....
> >
> > Thankfully they seem to have gradually fallen out of favour in recent years,
> > I *HATE* wiring the damn things up!
>
> There's only one thing worse than wiring up a DIN plug. And that's wiring
> up a mini-DIN plug. Those darn things are impossible to wire without
> melting the plug, melting the cable, and burning your fingers. And the
> connector itself is hardly good...
No kidding. I made the mistake of trying to use them for the connection
of my packet TNC to one of my radios. Oddly enough it actually works,
but it's touchy - has to be fully seated and if I bump it a little it
loses contact on one pin. I'm going to rewire it with a fullsize DIN
with the standard TNC pinout one of these days. Something to hold the
connector while you solder it is indispensible; like one of those two-
armed alligator-clip holder thingies from Radio Shack. Or a hemostat,
suitably propped up by other pieces of debris on your workbench.
Also had to fabricate an ADB cable a while back because they are hard
to find (I still have no idea where to get them locally, just on ebay).
Fry's had the connectors and I used 4-wire telephone cable. It was
for a touchscreen so didn't have to be flexible. Then I discovered that
an svideo cable has the same pinout, so maybe it could double for an
ADB cable. I haven't tried it yet. (Since the Mac is an LCIII we are
back on topic now, cool!) The pins on the mini-DINs are actually little
tubes but I've yet to use wire fine enough to fit inside the tube for
soldering; the phone wire had to be soldered onto the outside of the tube,
making it even harder than it's supposed to be. First you get solder on
both the wire and the tube, then touch the wire to the side and simultaneously
reheat it with the soldering iron. Since both hands are tied up there is
no way to apply more solder while doing this. Needless to say a piece
of shrink tubing over each wire is a necessity afterwards; and of course
I always forget to put it on the wires in advance, and have to do the
job twice. (But I do that with all connectors; there's always some sleeve
or something that has to go on first, and I nearly always forget it the
first time.)
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Received on Tue Apr 04 2000 - 16:27:19 BST