frechett@snoopy.Colorado.EDU (-=Daemon Slayer=-) (08/26/90)
Just a note on serial cables. I posted the instructions for building a
serial cable a while back. Well, I have just found something that is really
slick to help a bit. Hotmelt Glue Guns. This is what my cable looks like now.
Computer/Modem end is just standard 25pin serial connector.
Wire is four strand color coded flat wire. Abot 2 1/2 feet. The color
coding helps you keep track of which way to put the plug on the hp end in. (I
know that the red wirc has to be on the I/R side of the port) Also, since the
four strands are all connected flat, it is impossible to mix up the pins.
The connector at hp end. Started as four relativly thick brass pins that
bit. I also found that the pins would touch each other if I just stuck them
in and are too big to wrap all of them. SO, I shrinkwrapped every other
pin and soldered them to the wire. I used it this way for quite some time
with good success. Getting all the pins to line up to plug it in
could be a pain though. I noticed that we has a Hotmelt Glue Gun at work and
I played around with it for a while and realized that it had fantastic
potential.
I plugged the pins in, and put a small amount of the hot glue on the pins
just outside the HP. Let it cool a bit, then put a whole bunch of the hot glue
all over pins. I built it up to be a good deal bigger than the port one the
calculator. Let it cool. Take a razor, and shave it down to exactly the
size of the port. Now you have a nice clear, indestructable plug. Also
since the glue is slightly rubbery, it will actually stick a bit in the port.
I can dangle the hp from the cable with complete confidence.
I orriginally suggested epoxy, and having dealt with epoxy for a long time,
I think that for this application, the Glue Gun is much better.
I just thought I would post this because I like my cable so much. I
regularly transfer stuff back and forth over the modem to my UNIX account
and it has saved me some grief. And so far the cable that has allowed me to
do this has cost all of $3. I figure this is pretty good.
ian frechett@snoopy.colorado.edu
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-=Daemon Slayer=-