Docking Station Connector Sources .... help!!!

If you are looking for a specific connector to mate with a specific laptop that uses a Hirose connector, your only source is Hirose. These parts are more or less unique.

If you are designing something new, JAE and Yamaichi are options for you to consider, among others. Go to Digi-Key and look for fine-pitch board-to-board interconnects, there's a wide range to choose from.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm looking for a plug and receptacle. I'm prototyping a unique product that requires a docking station connector, that offers self guiding pins.

I've looked at Digikey, but I could only find Tyco products but I was doing a search for "docking connector". I'll try Digikey again and search for board-to-board interconnects.

How about ordinary edge connectors? The "male" is just contact fingers on the edge of a PCB - enclose that in a shroud of some kind, and plug it into an ordinary, run-of-the-mill edge connector, which should probably be recessed.

I've seen this used on video game cartridges. It also has the advantage that bumping into it doesn't bend pins. :-)

If you have an infinite budget, you could look at military connectors - they weren't called "docking connectors", but there were racks on the airplanes that a unit would slide into and a connector at the back would mate. They were very sophisticated, with alignment pins and all mil-spec, of course.

Good Luck! Rich