DB-19: Resurrecting an Obsolete Connector (2016)

http://www.bigmessowires.com/2016/06/04/db-19-resurrecting-an-obsolete-connector/

by _cbdev • 8 years ago

118 31 8 years ago

bigmessowires.com

LeonM• 8 years ago

Needs a [2016] tag

sctb• 8 years ago

Updated, thanks!

johncalvinyoung• 8 years ago

Definitely has been on HN before. Cool read though, once again.

kencausey• 8 years ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11839690

Animats2• 8 years ago

It's embarrassing that it's easier to get things made in China than in the US.

I had some 5/16" paper tape manufactured for use in antique Teletype machines. I tried several US paper tape manufacturers. One quoted me $10 a roll, but made a good roll. One sent me a roll with rough edges that jammed in the machine. Most were uninterested, even for a large order. The US companies were really hard to communicate with, too. Getting emails answered was tough. Phone calls usually went to voicemail. I finally had 1000 rolls made in Fujian, China for $1/roll. They worked fine. Much better customer communication, too.

Some of the decline in US manufacturing comes from this sort of thing.

rebootthesystem• 8 years ago

I have been in physical product development and manufacturing for three decades. Doing business with US manufacturers has become more and more difficult over time. What you describe here is very true and only the tip of the iceberg. I have, for example, sent out 50 requests for quotes for machined components only to be utterly ignored by most of the shops I contacted. The same exercise with China results in an almost overwhelming number of quotes received almost instantly. They are open for business. Have been for a while. I, frankly, have no clue what game we are playing.

munificent• 8 years ago

Doing business with US manufacturers has become more and more difficult over time.

Any thoughts on why?

pkaye3• 8 years ago

All the large orders would go the China anyway and nobody can "keep the lights on" with just a small order flow like yours. I remember around 2000 when SV was still full of machine shops that would do prototype and volume manufacturing of parts. Slowly they got moved to Texas and then overseas. Initially the volume manufacturing got moved elsewhere but these shops can't subsist on just prototype volumes alone. Then in a later job, same thing happened to PCBs.

Chaebixi• 8 years ago

I may be totally wrong, but isn't there some pressure in the other direction because of the prototype turnaround times with overseas manufacturing? I've read articles about people claiming they were able to iterate much faster using domestic prototyping.

Johnny555• 8 years ago

Some of the decline in US manufacturing comes from this sort of thing

Are you sure it's not the other way around? That the decline in US manufacturing leads to this sort of thing?

Scoundreller2• 8 years ago

Same thing with spare parts. Need a funky USB to USB cable at a precise length? Someone from China on Ebay will have it.

The "free" shipping time can take 3-12 weeks to Canada. So I always buy extra and re-sell them on Ebay to recover my costs.

I have 4 micro-businesses for beer money of spare parts people are willing to spend an extra $5-10 to get in ~1 week.

Yetanfou• 8 years ago

Yes, this has been here before. Back then I replied that, when confronted with the same problem, I simply took a hacksaw to a DB-25 and had a working connector within a minute. Not as fancy, maybe, but just as functional...

saul_goodman• 8 years ago

Sure, that works for a one-off. Not exactly a good solution though when you are selling a new product. "So, plug the cable into the rough hack-sawed connector on the back of our jankey product".

piannucci• 8 years ago

I wonder if it'd come out nice if you water-jet them in bulk and then glue the halves together.

csixty4• 8 years ago

There's a similar issue going on with the square DIN plug used for power connectors on the Commodore 128 and TED series (C16, Plus/4) computers. Someone found a place in China with old stock and has been buying them. One person is building new power supplies and machining their own connectors.

krallja• 8 years ago

So what’s the follow up? Is OP still happy with their parts? Are they available for purchase at 1/10th the price on AliExpress now? Did they recoup their investment?

jws• 8 years ago

I don't find any DB-19 connectors on Aliexpress or Alibaba. eBay has them for either ~$20 or ~$5.

kup0• 8 years ago

The author recommends buying them from here in the article (that being said, the article is from 2016) so YMMV: http://www.iec-usa.com/cgi-bin/iec/DB19MS

lisper2• 8 years ago

Heh, I've had a similar project on my back burner for a long time having to do with reusable Keurig filters. There are a ton of them on the market, and they all have the same fundamental design flaw: they are just a filter, without the surrounding housing with a small hole designed to hold pressure. So they all make weak coffee (and a huge mess). I would happily sink some money into the design and manufacture of a filter that actually worked. I think it could even be a money-maker, though I'm mainly interested in it for my own personal use. But I have no clue where to even begin looking for someone who could make such a thing. If anyone here has a clue I'd appreciate hearing about it.

kaennar• 8 years ago

This might be an idiot answer, but have you checked your local makerspace? Or contacted someone at a university?

Last year a few of my classmates did an "Aggie Challenge" where they designed something for a private party in exchange for some mentorship and a resume bullet.

We usually do small projects for professors/companies that need help with something simple (like a CAD model/Design).

lisper2• 8 years ago

No, I haven't. I doubt reusable coffee filters are "cool" enough to attract that kind of attention. I need to somehow reach the people who are already making them, and they are almost certainly in China somewhere.

Scoundreller2• 8 years ago

For the moment at least, I have nearly the entire world’s supply of DB-19 connectors, stacked in my living room. I think I’m going to fill the bathtub and swim in them.

And 2 years later, all the stock on Ebay is still from North America/Europe. I'm a bit surprised.

DB-19: Resurrecting an Obsolete Connector (2016)

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