Viddovation
Veteran
As I'm sure you all know, I have a running thread on my exploration of the F35 dock communication. I'm creating a separate thread for the following information, as I beleive it may be useful and important to a number of us, and I don't want it buried in the middle of the other thread.
Until recently I had presumed the layout of the F35 dock was highly proprietary, and that therefore, it would be impractical to make my own replacement. What I have determined is that the component parts Sony used are readily available, mostly leaving the hassle of creating a circuit board.
This could be useful for a number of reasons -
1. Sony charges close to $300 for replacement dock connector boards (IF or VTR) and the parts cost far less
2. Sony may run out of stock of these boards and not make any more. In which case, it may be neccessary to make new ones if they can't be salvaged from old equipment.
The pertinent information:
The dock itself is a D-subminiature connection (D-sub) with a size five shell. Sometimes referred to as DD50. The mixed assortment of 17 small pins and 7 large pin holes is called 24W7. These are readily available from a number of electronics suppliers, and typically the plug (male connector) that is desired comes with the 17 small pins, and 7 empty holes for the user to install coax (SDI in our case) or power ports, with what they call a size 8 diameter. You then get 6 PCB termination right angle coax ports (the 50ohm ones look visually right, but I haven't bought any of this stuff yet.
I'm having a more difficult time getting an exact name for the center ground pin.
I've attached a document with relevant info from one manufacturer (there are others).
EDIT: Further research indicates the ground pin is likely an "early make, late break" 10amp "high power" pin, designed as a D-sub contact pin, size 8. The version on the Sony boards is a right-angle for PCB solder. So far I can't find this variation available for purchase, but a straight solder pot version is the FMA026P103.
http://www.mouser.in/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMvbyfi+uF0jic6WxLiHuK3/v1qlNBwxSlA=
"Early make, late break" is essentially what it sounds like - this pin touches first on connection, and breaks last on disconnect. Contextually, it makes sense for the ground pin to connect first and break last.
Approximate part costs for physical dock minus the PCB:
1x 24W7 DSub Housing - $20 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/DDM24W7PP/IDDM24W7PP-ND/2582199 *Alternate modesl possibly as low as $10, high as $30.
6x Male Coax Contact - $44.10 (approximately $7.35 each) http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/131J25019X/131J25019X-ND/1209764
1x 10amp Early-Make Late-Break Power Contact $2.05 approx http://www.mouser.in/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMvbyfi+uF0jic6WxLiHuK3/v1qlNBwxSlA=
That's about $67 in parts. Probably at least $75 with shipping. Then you need a circuit board to fit them all to, and said circuit board would need to provide outputs for all your power and communication requirements.
Certainly this is all a pain in the butt. However, making a replacement dock circuit board should be *possible*.
Until recently I had presumed the layout of the F35 dock was highly proprietary, and that therefore, it would be impractical to make my own replacement. What I have determined is that the component parts Sony used are readily available, mostly leaving the hassle of creating a circuit board.
This could be useful for a number of reasons -
1. Sony charges close to $300 for replacement dock connector boards (IF or VTR) and the parts cost far less
2. Sony may run out of stock of these boards and not make any more. In which case, it may be neccessary to make new ones if they can't be salvaged from old equipment.
The pertinent information:
The dock itself is a D-subminiature connection (D-sub) with a size five shell. Sometimes referred to as DD50. The mixed assortment of 17 small pins and 7 large pin holes is called 24W7. These are readily available from a number of electronics suppliers, and typically the plug (male connector) that is desired comes with the 17 small pins, and 7 empty holes for the user to install coax (SDI in our case) or power ports, with what they call a size 8 diameter. You then get 6 PCB termination right angle coax ports (the 50ohm ones look visually right, but I haven't bought any of this stuff yet.
I'm having a more difficult time getting an exact name for the center ground pin.
I've attached a document with relevant info from one manufacturer (there are others).
EDIT: Further research indicates the ground pin is likely an "early make, late break" 10amp "high power" pin, designed as a D-sub contact pin, size 8. The version on the Sony boards is a right-angle for PCB solder. So far I can't find this variation available for purchase, but a straight solder pot version is the FMA026P103.
http://www.mouser.in/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMvbyfi+uF0jic6WxLiHuK3/v1qlNBwxSlA=
"Early make, late break" is essentially what it sounds like - this pin touches first on connection, and breaks last on disconnect. Contextually, it makes sense for the ground pin to connect first and break last.
Approximate part costs for physical dock minus the PCB:
1x 24W7 DSub Housing - $20 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/DDM24W7PP/IDDM24W7PP-ND/2582199 *Alternate modesl possibly as low as $10, high as $30.
6x Male Coax Contact - $44.10 (approximately $7.35 each) http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/131J25019X/131J25019X-ND/1209764
1x 10amp Early-Make Late-Break Power Contact $2.05 approx http://www.mouser.in/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMvbyfi+uF0jic6WxLiHuK3/v1qlNBwxSlA=
That's about $67 in parts. Probably at least $75 with shipping. Then you need a circuit board to fit them all to, and said circuit board would need to provide outputs for all your power and communication requirements.
Certainly this is all a pain in the butt. However, making a replacement dock circuit board should be *possible*.
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