Help identifying these socket pins

Posted by MommyNeedsCoffee617@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 6 comments

I'm hoping to reproduce the "Killy Clip" used to attach early Macintosh accelerators to the 68000 chip. But I'm stumped about the pins they used. They're longer than regular socket pins and really thin metal. Does anyone know where I could find a modern equivalent?

(Altoids tin for scale)

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JustDaveIII@reddit

I was looking for this type to recreate the socket for the kinds used on a MacSnap ram board, a while back. Didn't find anything close. Best I could inagine would be is to take the pins out out a DIP socket and cut off half of it.

While not ideal, consider the socket & pogo pins used for https://github.com/Stephen-Arsenault/CloneyClip

I did 3D print it, just for fun. It should be able to scale up for the 68k clip.

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MommyNeedsCoffee617@reddit (OP)

3d printing and using a different kind of pin might be my only option. I was hoping to cast & mold the original Killy Clip socket in resin but that's turning out to be the easiest part.

Standard DIP socket pins are way shorter than these pins. The clip would have to be on pretty tight for it to have a good connection. Maybe if I took wire wrap pins and cut them?

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JustDaveIII@reddit

Another thought. Look at using a PCB edge connector. A double sided one so threre are two rows of contacts. Split it in half. Finding one with 1.78mm spacing will be the quest. Or just harvest the pins as they look very much like what's needed.

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MommyNeedsCoffee617@reddit (OP)

You're right. PCB edge connector pins look like they may be exactly what the Killy Clip creator used! I don't have any handy but I'll order a few from Digikey and tear them apart.

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JustDaveIII@reddit

I hadn't thought of that. My ww sockets are at another location so I'm unable to check.

Another thought: Molex connector pins. Like the kind that are in an atx power connector that plugs into a motherboard. Unbend the upper bend (of the two) leaving the 2nd bend to provide spring tension to the cpu pin. See https://mm.digikey.com/Volume0/opasdata/d220001/derivates/1/003/251/073/08-50-0106_sml.jpg

I would make a rectangular thing the size of the cpu chip, make cutouts for the pins along the edges, then another outer shell piece that holds the pins in.