
DB-19: Resurrecting an Obsolete Connector (2016) - _cbdev
http://www.bigmessowires.com/2016/06/04/db-19-resurrecting-an-obsolete-connector/
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Animats
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.

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

Any thoughts on why?

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extrapickles
In my experience, it's a combo of issues.

US manufactures were the first to automate, so many of them are with 1st/2nd
generation gear that is designed for high throughput operation and not around
setup time. These machines can take several hours to change what they make.

Also, manufactures have become jaded with new customers as they are constantly
asking for them to move mountains for overseas pricing. Manufactures typically
have a big enough collection of frequent customers that they can use bad first
customer support as a means to filter out people who will go overseas anyways
after they hear the quote the manufacturer spent a fair amount of time on. If
a customer is willing to pass the gauntlet of trying to contact you, they are
much less likely to disappear after you give them a quote.

~~~
qume
I tried to get some waterjet cut parts about 5 years ago near Santa Barbara.
The only shop I could find that could do it had no way to get the data into
the 486 - yes you read right - other than hand replicating my file in his
ancient CAD program.

My experience overseas is more like fire off an email with an attachment and
have perfect parts a few weeks later.

I believe this is changing though. There are some awesome short run PCB
assembly services in the states now for instance.

~~~
extrapickles
Now that the old equipment is at the end of its useful mechanical life people
are switching.

In the manufacturing I’m involved with recently got rid of their last machine
that used 8080 era processors and character only green CRTs.

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kencausey
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11839690](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11839690)

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csixty4
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.

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lisper
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
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).

~~~
lisper
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.

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Scoundreller
> 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.

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Yetanfou
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...

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saul_goodman
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".

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

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krallja
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?

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

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kup0
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](http://www.iec-usa.com/cgi-bin/iec/DB19MS)

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

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LeonM
Needs a [2016] tag

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sctb
Updated, thanks!

