DFP cabling, Pendant moving, SOLVED.... part 3

Existential Angst · 2013-05-01T04:20:38+00:00

Holy shit..... Previous DFP cable extensions didn't work (not well, at any rate), dfp-dvi adapters didn't work (with DVI cables as the extension), dfp gender changers/hardware almost don't exist..... DVI cables seem to be pinned every way to sunday. And even if they were pinned "correctly", the dfp-dvi *adapter* is hobbled from the gitgo because my dfp cables are 26 pin, and DVI cables (dual link) are 24 pin, so even with the "proper" adapter, you are short 2 pins. And then, there is *at least* one dummy pin on dvi cables, sometimes 10 dummy pins.... So at best, you are short 3 pins, and there is no way of telling what those missing pins are doing/not doing. I was actually at the Microcenter pyooter store, with my dvm, ringing out various dvi cables for their dummy pins, finally concluding that dvi cables were simply not going to work as a substitute for 26 pin dfp cables. The 30 ft dfp replacement cable (nonHaas) worked, but yielded a significantly degraded image, and the dvi's yielded, well, NO image!! Some pretty blinking colors but no image. An effing nightmare, and an expensive one. So the solution turned out to be: NJ Haas just happened to have an oem 13 ft dfp cable for the GR510 lying around, and for a mere $120, they gave it to me. Had they not had it, it proly would have been weeks to get it from CA Haas. We took off one connector on each end (the original and the newly-bought cable), and spliced the two cables together. No mean feat, let me tell you. And not a special cable, either. 13 pairs of 28 ga wire, nothing apparently special, I don't know if the wires were even twisted pairs. The whole bunch shielded. Splicing dat cable was *a muthafucka*, took two of us HOURS to do the job, with multiple soldering irons, vises all over the place, continuity testing *up the ass*.... very time consuming, very niddly work, very easy to make any number of disastrous errors, pinout-wise. Hint to the brave: don't even *think* about a...

May 01, 2013 40 Replies

Rate this thread:

Michael A. Terrell 13 years ago

I started using a drill vise when I was making a lot of DIN cables for the old Commodore 64 & VIC 20. I bought the first one from one of those traveling tool shows for $4. HF wants $17 for one, now.

Vote