12 Aug
2012
12 Aug
'12
3:50 p.m.
On Sun, 12 Aug 2012, Tony Duell wrote:
That's why I first began making those MMJ (6P6C offset) to 6P6C standard
plug cables. People asked me if I could make cables that could be used
with 6P6C to DE-9 or DB-25 rewirable adapters. I later had enough demand
for them that I began pre-wiring 6P6C DE-9 adapters as H8751-J work-alike
adapters and pairing them up with a cable. These were moderately cheap for
me to make when buying the materials in bulk and they sold for $15-20 in
my eBay store (which covered my costs, including the stuff people often
overlook such as the eBay listing fees and shipping supplies...that is
until eBay raised their fees through the roof). I actually had a hard time
keeping up with initial demand for those cables and shipped them all over
the world. Note that those DE-9 connectors used crimped pins (AMP) and not
soldered/spliced wires. They are a pain to assemble (even with AMP's own
d-sub pin tooling), but I had zero complaints or returns for defects or
bad connections.
http://strudel (dot) ignorelist (dot)
com/~tothwolf/classiccmp/H8571-J_BC16E_work_alike.jpg
http://strudel (dot) ignorelist (dot)
com/~tothwolf/classiccmp/H8571-J_BC16E_work_alike_unfinished_1.jpg
http://strudel (dot) ignorelist (dot)
com/~tothwolf/classiccmp/H8571-J_BC16E_work_alike_unfinished_2.jpg
For a normal
MMJ to MMJ cable, I'd suggest starting with a 10ft cable.
That seemed to be the most versatile length and was the most popular
length that I used to sell in my eBay store. The DE9 to MMJ cables I sold
were slightly longer at 14ft, which people really seemed to like (I sold
100s of them).
I owuld gues a lot of people could solder the other end of the cable to a
DE9, DB25, or whatever, it's getting and crimping the MMJ that is the
problem. So a long-issh cable (3m or so) with an MMJ on one end only
would be useful. The purchaser cuts it to length and solders the right
conenctor on the other end. My cheap-ish Multicomp (Farnell own-brand) crimp tool
claims to do 'DEC
plugs'. I've never tried it, and have no idea which make of MMJ it likes.
It has woreked fine on every 4p4c, 6p4c, 6p6c aed 8p8c I've thrown at it
though.
Even without seeing it, I would say with 99% certainty that your crimp
tool handles the WE/SS variety and not the AMP/Tyco type plugs. Most all
the "generic" plugs on the market use the WE/SS die nest form, so unless
someone is making these kinds of cables regularly, they may never even run
across the AMP type plugs.
That said, AMP plugs have some benefits (such as the double strain reliefs
on the 8P8C plugs) and there are tons of their connectors on the surplus
market. You can also be certain that when they say they have 50 microns of
gold plating over nickel, over phosphor bronze, that that's what you are
really getting. Some of the really cheap Chinese-made plugs on the other
hand are just gold flash over brass, and you can pick these out pretty
easily when you unplug a cable and find that the contacts have corroded
green right through the gold plating. This is why I'm so picky when it
comes to using decent quality modular plugs and contacts, even though to
some people it might seem as though I'm being a little _too_ picky ;)