+wood_jl Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 (edited) Trouble: ST floppy drive cables are too short! Too short to flip inside STf for replacement mech. Too short inside SF354/314 for floppy emulator. So how do you guys do it? I've seen pictures of people with the HxC sitting outside their STf - with the power and floppy cables sticking out the drive slot. Did you: 1) Build an extension cable for the floppy cable, with a male on one end a female on the other? 2) Carefully pry up the plastic clip on the motherboard (what if it breaks?) and just replace the cable with a longer one? 3) Cut and splice the power cable? Build an extension? Where did you find the connectors to build an extension????? I'd prefer to build extensions for BOTH the data and power. That way it's easily reversible to put the stock drive back in. Trouble is, I haven't fooled with floppy cables since the days when you could walk into CompUSA and buy those connectors and loose flat cable - and make your own. Do "they" even make floppy power extension cables? Are those connectors even common anymore to make your own? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. I have never ordered from those electronics suppliers (mouser/digi-whatever/jameco) so I thought maybe a superior intellect could point me to which of them (or somewhere else altogether) has this kind of stuff, or is more likely to. Regards! Edited June 29, 2010 by wood_jl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I used some PCB mount pin headers to make a connecting block for the drive cables. You can buy the pin headers in strips and cut to the required number of pins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 I used some PCB mount pin headers to make a connecting block for the drive cables. You can buy the pin headers in strips and cut to the required number of pins. Good idea!!!! Thanks! C'mon everyone else. I know this is a stupid thread, and perhaps beneath your dignity and expertise to reply to such trivial stuff. I'll admit I'm a dummy, and I should already know where to get this stuff. Maybe I can get it anywhere. It just seemed that asking where to start would meke me less-dummy, if only slightly. Muchos gracias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 I initially was going to use pin headers to join two F/F floppy connectors together as well, but digging through the cable bin I remembered I had a few floppy cables with a male connector on them (for connecting old tape drives that ran off the floppy controller). I removed one of the headers and stuck it to a short length of floppy cable that had been cut in half for some other project. You can also buy a male connector like this one: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 290442385471. As for the power extension I used an odd fan power splitter that had an SP4F on one end and an SP4M and a three pin connector on the other. This was a rather handy thing to have in the cable bag. If I didn't have that I probably would have scrounged a 4 pin header off a dead drive or possibly used a bit of pin header strip and soldered that to an SP4F cable end salvaged from a floppy/HD power splitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 I'll be damned, Remo..... I did not see that and I thought I had searched Ebay. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! - for pointing to that, and the other suggestions. You guys are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 (edited) You can also buy a male connector like this one: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 290442385471. Shit. I ordered 3. They refunded. Out of stock. No more on Ebay. They had not only the individuals, listed under the auction above, but they had bags of 10 as well. Now the listings have been made inactive. Said "more than 10 available" as a stock level on everything, too. So much for ever believing that phrase again. PJAJ INC dba Parts Paradise (ebayquestions@partsparadiseinc.com) has issued a full refund for your payment. Message from merchant: We have exhausted our supply of this item and must refund your purchase as we are unsure about when they will be back in stock. Edited July 1, 2010 by wood_jl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted July 2, 2010 Author Share Posted July 2, 2010 (edited) Ok, so here's my order recipe. I certainly hope all this stuff is the correct stuff. Hopefully, if anyone else is using the HxC floppy emulator, they can learn from this experience in making it easy to hook up. I'll let you know what I actually receive. (1.) The 34-pin male floppy connector. Not available anymore on Ebay. BUMMER because it was cheap and the shipping was more reasonable. Found it at "cablesandconnectors.com." They have a minimum $7.50 shipping charge (was afraid of that) so I ordered 3 for the hell of it in case I need more. Also want parts to build floppy POWER extension cable, so I saw I could get them as well in the same shipping charge. I saw listings for .100-inch and .156-inch spacing on the header, and I didn't know which so I ordered both. Kind of expensive, but I really want this done right; already spent so much on floppy emulator! (2) Now need a floppy cable. Bulk floppy cable is ***EXPENSIVE*** and in great qty. and on heavy rolls, so decided on a pre-cut cable that comes with one female end that can be used. These on Ebay look to NOT have the drive-select twist in the cable, which is perfect! [at least I hope they do not have the twist] Free shipping, too. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 190381574662 (3) Finally, need the power cable extension itself. This on Ebay seemed to have the longest (10 inch) length of floppy power cable to cut off and solder to the 4-pin header to make actual extension. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 220591913460 I hope all this stuff works. I'm not too experienced, here. Thanks to all for suggestions! Edited July 2, 2010 by wood_jl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Looks like you're on the right track. You can also use older IDE cables for the ribbon part if you peel off 6 of the wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Finally got my deal worked out tonight. The floppy cables, power extensions, and 4-pin headers came. I am totally inexperienced and absolutely suck at soldering. I was not able to solder the wires to the 4-pin headers. I don't know how people do this kind of thing. The solder just wouldn't stick to the 4-pin header. I tried getting it hotter, but it just melted the pins out of the plastic. I know I'm out of my element doing this stuff, but how are you supposed to use something like that? So, I just cut the power plug off the drive and soldered the wires of the extension to them. Yes, I can solder two wires together, even if I seem like a fool to you. I was planning on "dedicating" this SF354 to HxC use anyway, and planning to cut a hole in the top for the LCD and buttons, etc. I like this setup where you can turn it on before the ST, and since my ST of choice is the original 520ST (no internal drive) this will work out dandy! The floppy cables from Ebay did have a twist, but it was right near the end where the connector was, and there was no 2nd connector in the way. They're nice and long. So now I have a little room to play around with this thing; I spend most of the day playing ST games!!! Lots of stuff works on a 512K 520ST, but I'd like to get a RAM upgrade one day. Did you know one of the world's great mysteries is how to upgrade the RAM on the 520ST/STm (not fm)? So now I have this: Where before, with the twist in the cable and no extensions, it would barely plug in, with the cables pulled tight and this very un-kosher setup: It's a little easier to push buttons/etc. when it's flat on the table! I'm not very good at this stuff, but I am excited about trying to build it into the drive. Not sure which I should mutilate first - this SF354 for the HxC Floppy emulator, or an XM301 for SIO2SD! Wish I had the skills of flashjazzcat! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredder11 Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 I am totally inexperienced and absolutely suck at soldering. I was not able to solder the wires to the 4-pin headers. I don't know how people do this kind of thing. The solder just wouldn't stick to the 4-pin header. I tried getting it hotter, but it just melted the pins out of the plastic. I know I'm out of my element doing this stuff, but how are you supposed to use something like that? I'm very inexperienced at soldering but back in 2004, my uncle brought me along with him to his workplace where he taught people how to solder to industry standards, with gear that was cutting edge and used by large corporate companies. Anyway my uncle sat me down and showed me the basics of soldering; he did not have much time to spend with me as he was busy with the students. I found that very quickly I could solder pretty well; not very fast but done properly which is what counts. Back home I achieve terrible results, so it must be the difference in quality of the iron and solder that I am using. However my uncle has since given me a Weller soldering station which I have not used yet, so maybe I can start to do some half decent soldering at home. So maybe you just need to buy some decent gear to do the soldering with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 (edited) I need to figure out how I am going to connect mine from the internal floppy header in my STe, I don't really want to desolder the current cable (I would probably screw something up) so I need to figure out how to connect the existing female connector to another floppy cable. [edit] Wonder if this would work if I plugged it into the female header on the current floppy cable (or it might be too loose?) anyone tried that? http://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/IDCMH34RA.shtml Edited July 29, 2010 by orpheuswaking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Wonder if this would work if I plugged it into the female header on the current floppy cable (or it might be too loose?) anyone tried that? http://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/IDCMH34RA.shtml That might just do the trick for connecting two female cables together, depends on how long the header pins are. If I had a header like that laying around I probably would have tried it. If it does work you just need to make sure you secure it and insulate the exposed connectors there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 well well, look what I found today... eBay Auction -- Item Number: 120593355553 Perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 I can recommend AmigaKit (Yeah, just pretend its AtariKit - dont have a brain aneurysm) for buying cables. Got a few 2.5" IDE cables for my Falcons there. AmigaKit Weblink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 well well, look what I found today... eBay Auction -- Item Number: 120593355553 Perfect! Ummmm so yeah... don't buy this, the bottom pins are too wide to fit a female floppy cable. stupid ebay sellers LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 (edited) Update to this thread! I ordered a couple of cased (Lotharek) HxC SD-card Floppy emulators, from Lotharek, on Ebay. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 170680648937 I originally bought the 1st-gen HxC Sd-card emulator, in March of 2010 - it's pictured earlier in this thread, of course. I think the 1st-gen of this was Red, the Rev B was Black (???) and the Rev C is blue. You can't see the board, of course, in my Ebay link for the cased one. Somewhere along the way, they added Amiga write support, which is what you get now. I had planned to put it in a gutted SF354 case, and use it with an original 520ST (no internal drive) but since getting the RAM upgraded (even to 1MB) would require an act of Congress, I have abandoned that idea and moved to 1040STfm, 1040STe, and Mega STe. It seems the easiest thing to do is have this sit outside the computer's case, on the desk, in its own case. With the 1040s, just remove the internal drive and run the cable out the drive slot - simple as pie. Haven't thought about the Mega STe yet, probably do the same. So, we need extension cables for the floppy, for both power and data, as before. I wasn't able to locate a "floppy cable power extension cable" before, but I since have. Before, I ordered molex 4-pin Y-adapters for PC power to split the PC's full-size 4-pin to a mini-sized floppy power, and then I cut the floppy power lead off, and I made an extension and soldered (this is about all I can do in this regard) this to the Atari's power wires, which I had cut. I was afraid to solder to the motherboard, lift a trace, etc. How nice that I have since found (probably was always there) bonafide floppy power extension cables, on the web. Performance PCs.com link This is nice, so no cutting or modding on the original machine at all, now. They are $5 for the foot-long, and can be ordered up to 3-feet long. They have a nice appearance. For the floppy data extension cable, nothing has changed, from before. I cut female one end off a single-floppy ribbon and pressed on a male connector. Floppy cable is still available on Ebay, $2 shipped...... eBay Auction -- Item Number: 190381574662 I still run floppy drives in my desktop computers (primarily for writing disk images for old computers, sometimes for BIOS drivers for old versions of Windows) so I wanted 5 of these. It's $1 each, plus $1 shipping for the first, and $0.50 each for additional. That'd be $5 + $3 shipping. For $8.50/free shipping the same seller sells 10. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 190381575522 so I guess I won't be ordering any more of these, for the rest of my mortal years. That leaves the male press-on connector, not a high-demand item, to be sure. Fortunately, it's still available at cablesandconnectors.com as before, and not cheap, at $3.99 each. There's also a $7.50 minimum shipping charge. I don't want to go through this again, so I ordered 5 of them, to distribute that shipping charge, and to throw in the parts drawer. I don't know if I'll ever run across an Amiga 500 (mint condition, and cheap, of course) but it's nice that this stuff (the cased floppy emulator, and the extensions) will work for it and with write support, since it's the later revision. Edited August 11, 2011 by wood_jl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredder11 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Thanks for the info as I have a HxC SD Floppy Emulator board in red I think, which I want to share between four types of computer; Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3; Amstrad CPC6128; Atari STE and Atari Falcon 030. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 So are you selling your old hxc? Interested if you are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredder11 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 It's sat in the box it came in waiting for me to use it, which I definitely will. I've been preoccupied with my Falcon since last year, but I do want to try the HxC in one of my dual TOS STE micros to do some gaming. Any reason why you prefer the red ones? The firmware needs updating for starters as it will be quite old now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Union NJ Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I used some PCB mount pin headers to make a connecting block for the drive cables. You can buy the pin headers in strips and cut to the required number of pins. Good idea!!!! Thanks! C'mon everyone else. I know this is a stupid thread, and perhaps beneath your dignity and expertise to reply to such trivial stuff. I'll admit I'm a dummy, and I should already know where to get this stuff. Maybe I can get it anywhere. It just seemed that asking where to start would meke me less-dummy, if only slightly. Muchos gracias. Asking grasshopper can only bring you more knowledge so nothing is to dumb to ask.. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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