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New Amiga DB23F video connectors soon available


Jeff_Birt

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I realized today that I had not posted about this on AtariAge so I apologize. I'll start the story at the beginning and then catch you up at the end. I am also unsure if this is better here in the Amiga section or should be in the marketplace section so feel free to move it.
 

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Francis Gradel from Retronic Design and Jeff Birt from Soigeneris. For months we have been working on getting Amiga DB23 Female video connectors reproduced. We started working separately on this project, but then through a twist of fate we joined forces to bring this much needed connector back to the Amiga community.
 

This has been an arduous process. We contacted and interviewed many manufacturers. We also did destructive tear downs on many different connectors to find a manufacturer who could build high quality connectors at a reasonable price. With a specialty connector like this the tooling is a significant investment so we wanted to get it right.

We started accepting pre-orders two months ago and after another hiccup with a manufacturer we now have the first samples DB23F connectors manufactured in decades. We will be testing these over the next few weeks before greenlighting full production. There is still time to pre-order, link below.
 

Now that we are at this stage with the connectors, we are again turning our attention to the matching DB23 hoods. What would you say to a close replica of the original hood from Commodore in metalized plastic? It would have our logo not C=.

Pre-order link: https://www.retronicdesign.com/en/db23f-amiga-video-connector-pre-order/

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They're looking good :) I've been following you guys with interest on this one. Metallised hoods always look nice :) I might suggest that the hood be designed with enough space to fit a small PCB holding a buffer chip, for those who would like to buffer the HSync and VSync signals when making VGA cables. Standard 25-way hoods have plenty of space, but the screw pillar in the centre probably gets in the way on the Commodore hoods. Totally appreciate that it's a bit of an edge case though!

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7 hours ago, Daedalus2097 said:

 I might suggest that the hood be designed with enough space to fit a small PCB holding a buffer chip, for those who would like to buffer the HSync and VSync signals when making VGA cables. Standard 25-way hoods have plenty of space,

That is a very good point. We also have to be cautious about using standard DB hood hardware or the tooling cost will be through the roof.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Francis and I have been busy experimenting with the pre-production connectors. Some were torn down to inspect the parts, sad to do on such expensive connectors, but all in the name of science. The quality of the metal stamping, injection molding, etc. are all similar to other 'name brand' DB connectors I have taken apart. I really like the quality of the female sockets, they wrap almost all the way around the male pin and make a snug fit. We found that there is a huge difference in contact quality between manufacturers with the worst being a a flimsy two pronged fork looking contact. They also did a great job with the gold plating, other manufactures we got samples from used the term 'gold plating' very loosely.

Francis also built some of his Amiga RGB to component adapter PCBs up and tested them. The fit to the PCB was tight and he reports the display is quite nice. BTW, this is an Uzebox he reprogrammed/modified to output Amiga RBG and uses as a test rig for his boards. We both also tried the connectors on various Amiga platforms and found they fit snugly. 

Next step is mass production...stay tuned.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update 11/28/2020 -- Breaking news!

We are very pleased to announce that we are expecting the first production run of the NEW Amiga DB23F connectors to arrive in North America mid-December of 2020. It has been an incredible amount of work, creating mechanical drawings, finding the right manufacturer, getting the tooling made, testing the first sample connectors and then finally getting them into full production. But, encouragement from the community saw us through the struggle.

Once the shipment is received, we’ll begin filling preorders. There are still a few weeks left to get your pre-orders in at the special preorder pricing. Remember if we reach our pre-order goal everyone will get 10% more connectors for free. We have had some folks ask about adding more connectors to their pre-order. If you wish to do so let us know as soon as possible.

https://www.retronicdesign.com/en/db23f-amiga-video-connector-pre-order/

 

Mise à jour 11/28/2020 – Bonne nouvelle!

Nous sommes heureux de vous annoncer que nous recevrons la première production des nouveaux connecteurs Amiga DB23F à nos entrepôts en Amérique du nord à la mi-décembre 2020. Cela aura été un nombre incalculable d’heures de dessins mécaniques, trouver le bon manufacturier, faire fabriquer les moules, tester les premiers échantillons et finalement les faire produire en quantité.  Nous tenons à remercier l’encouragement soutenu de la communauté face à nos efforts.

Une fois le premier lot reçu, nous enverrons en priorité les paquets à nos acheteurs en prévente. Notez qu’il reste encore quelques semaines pour faire vos précommandes à prix réduit. Notre but de prévente n’a pas encore été atteint, mais si c’est le cas avant 2021, tous recevront 10% plus de connecteurs gratuitement (ou un rabais équivalent). N’attendez plus, c’est le bon moment maintenant!

https://www.retronicdesign.com/fr/pre-commande-de-connecteurs-video-pour-amiga-db23f/

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  • 2 weeks later...

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