Heathkit PCB Wire-to-Board Connectors - Still Available? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Vonsgarage
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 29, 2022, 11:16:40 pm
content: Good day.I can not figure out how to describe these things to find them at part suppliers. Seems like something Miller or Smith may have made but no success there.Heathkit used them on PCB's to allow the use of solid wire jumpers for testing and circuit function selection. Wire size around 22AWG.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2022, 12:28:00 am
content: Those look like socket pins, I've bought something very similar years ago that I used for some nixie tubes, I forget who made them though. They're essentially slightly larger versions of the standard machined pin IC socket contacts.

author: WattsThat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2022, 04:27:19 am
content: Yup, designed for solid #22 or 24. Heath used ALOT of Molex products and that was one of the many one-off products they used back in the day. Right up there with the staggered pin ic sockets or the super crappy ic pin socket roll stock, that was 100% Molex. That stuff is long gone in today’s market.Any round, screw machine pin socket could be substituted. There’s a bunch of Chinese stuff available on eBay in 40 piece strips. Samtec or Mill-Max would have individual sockets but the prices will not be cheap.If you need a few pieces to restore a kit, PM me, I can send you some. They used to send floor sweepings from the kit packing areas to the stores for use anyway we saw fit. I still have some stock ;-)

author: edpalmer42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2022, 07:25:35 am
content: Keystone has similar items.https://www.keyelco.com/category.cfm/Micro-Pins-Jacks/Micro-Jacks/p/459/id/466/c_id/806Ed

author: Vonsgarage
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2022, 10:20:30 am
content: Thank you all for the timely and informative reply. What a pleasure to be able to access information like this from such smart people.> james_s: I know about the Nixie pin sockets. And it's funny; I also can't remember where I got them, either! Nixies Rock!> WattsThat: Molex you say? Now that I think about it, that certainly makes sense. And having built ALOT of Heathkits I can agree on your assessment of the quality of the stuff they decided to go "economy" on. And "floor sweepings" sent to you? You've got to share more about that story with us! Your offer to provide an item that is vintage, no longer made, and as a consequence quite valuable is amazing. I'm OK with stock but nevertheless find it super cool you offered to part with some. Heathkits Rock!> edpalmer42: Those little fellows on the link are pretty darn close. 22AWG claims to be .0253. Keystone IC pins max-out at .025 and I remember that IC pins repurposed as substitutes for whatever Molex called these things back in the Heathkit days are a very tight fit. Keystone next jumps to .025 > .037 which may be a tad loose. But I will certainly throw a bunch of those things on the next Mouser or Digikey order to try-em-out. Great info; Keystone added to the bookmarks tab. If I remember I'll circle around to this post and update all on the fit.Thank you all.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2022, 02:32:14 pm
content: Mill-Max and Preci-Dip make wide arrays of PCB sockets.If you’re after something designed for lots of mating cycles, I’d go for the little breadboard sockets sold by 3M (for exorbitant prices) or Adafruit (at very reasonable cost). They solder into a PCB.

author: Vonsgarage
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2022, 09:17:33 am
content: tooki; Thank you. Another bookmark (Adafruit) added to the browser.Appreciate all the info. Thanks to all.

author: Classic-mac
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 21, 2024, 08:05:25 pm
content: Quote from: WattsThat on March 30, 2022, 04:27:19 amI'm looking for Heathkit part # 432-120, the female connector. Trying to restore an HW-202 2 meter FM Transceiver. Hoping to find some of these in old stock.

author: Vonsgarage
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2024, 11:02:28 am
content: Classic-mac: Have any luck yet? Can you include a picture or description of the part you are looking for?

author: WattsThat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2024, 03:20:18 pm
content: I’ve been in touch with classic-mac via pm and provided him with a Molex/DigiKey part number for the connector he has been seeking.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/molex/0002091102/467794

author: Classic-mac
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 12, 2025, 03:32:23 pm
content: We got the DigiKey part that WattsThat recommended, and it’s close. Very close. But still too big, both in length and diameter. We'll keep trying….

author: WattsThat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2025, 04:12:15 am
content: I would be very interested to know exactly what was dimensionally incorrect as I compared the drawing to old stock that I had and they matched up. The wire strain relief was slightly different but not enough to affect usability.

author: Classic-mac
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 21, 2025, 10:29:43 pm
content: It wasn’t your measurements, it was our drawing that was off. I’m trying to get more information to clarify but running into file size limits.