Part Quest

I am always looking for Small Parts for my projects.

For most of my projects I have standardized on a simple Battery connector, it is the same style that is used in many of the Propeller and Arduino Products. The connector is shown here attached to my PA-47, which is a Homebrew 15 Watt HF PA.

The Battery Connector on 
My PA-47 Project

The actual connector that I have been using is a little different than those that are readily available. This connector has smaller tabs that are used to solder it to the PCB. Because the tabs are smaller, this same connector can be use with proto-breadboards (with only a little difficulty) . The tabs are not exactly the size the breadboard would like. but it works. Also, because the pins are little smaller they fit into round drilled holes in the PCB. Note: Most of my PCB suppliers do not allow plated slots as necessary for many other battery connectors.

My Favorite DC Connector
for  Projects
(unknown to me at the time,
this is a PJ-102A)

My stash of these connectors is almost depleted. Somewhere along the way, I got the (wrong) idea that these connectors were called "PJ-007".


A quick (causal) search via FindChips found the PJ-007 was only available from Digi-Key, I had several other parts that I had planned to order from Digi-key, so I ordered 20 each PJ-007's, for about $12.00

 The True PJ-007

Received, BUT NOT!  what I wanted !

I received the PJ-007's, they are a similar style of connector, but they are about 1/2 the size that I was expecting. My quick and "Causal" search was too quick - now I have a bunch of very small connectors that I will probable never use.

I would have to look to my other suppliers and/or try to remember where I had previously purchased the desired connectors.

After several days of searching and trying to remember, I eventually found my source at Adafruit. But, the search of the Adafruit site was not exactly easy, as this part did not match any key words that I tried. I finally gave up and looked at the complete list of available parts, but still no joy.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/80

I eventually found the connector on the Adafruit site as a "suggested part", while viewing the available 9 Volt Battery Clips (which is a nice clip with wires and a end connector).

But Adafruit description of the "suggested part" did not include a manufactures part number, there was just an order ID number - 373. I plan to add a few to my next Adafruit order.




But then:

While attempting to re-layout my PA-47 Board to correct and add some new features, I did a quick check of ALL of the parts and patterns before ordering a new set of boards. While looking at the Library part for the Battery Connector, I noticed that it included a spec sheet and URL for the connector. With a little research of the manufacture I found the desired part is a PJ-102A. A quick check of FindChips.com suggested the part is available from several suppliers.

Several PJ-102A are now on order.

Until next time, my small Parts Quest, . . .  goes on.

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Part Quest

Crystal Pin Sockets

Several days ago, I received my order for Crystal Pin Sockets (see previous post) and have not had time to use them yet. I have been busy working on some projects, and trying to get ready for Salmoncon.


The smaller Crystal Pin Sockets will be used in Propeller Projects, Homebrew PCB Projects, and the larger (longer) ones will be used in Manhattan and Ugly Style Projects. The 2-Pin Header and the single Machined Pin/Post are shown for scale. The crystal leads will be cut to length as necessary for the project.

The Stash

These are by far the smallest mechanical devices in my bag of project parts. And, they are probably the most expensive per weight, at $0.20 each they are several times the price of GOLD. But, . . I only need a few :-)


The first photos shows several styles and sizes that I have obtained. The smaller ones are the style that I had in mind for my initial Part Quest, they fit into 1mm plated holes, and do not protrude much beyond on the backside of the PCB. Others were some initial trial parts.

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Part Quest

I have been trying to find the part number of the Crystal Pin Socket for the Propeller. I want to use similar pin sockets for my small add-on Huff-n-Puff TCVCXO daughter board (see previous posts).

My daughter board was designed to fit existing holes on the Propeller Protoboard. Three of the five pin (holes) already have the correct Voltages/Signals present ( +3.3v, GND, and Xtal Input), only the two I2C lines will be jumpered as necessary.

Use of the very short Crystal Pin Socket will allow for a very low daughter board profile. In the past, I have used salvaged machined DIP socket/pins that stood up about 1/10 inch above the board, their hight make the daughter board a little wiggly.

Crystal Socket - H3153-50
http://goo.gl/NrRrf

I asked the folks at the Parallas Propeller Forum if anyone could provide the exact part number that was used in production. Several user suggestions were provided, and then with a lot of minuet specs comparing, I think I have found an acceptable part - I now have several on order.

Only receipt of the order will confirm. Note: the photo suggests the part is longer than its specs (perceived aspect ratio) . The part fits into a 1.0mm hole and its over all length is only 3.61mm. The Pin Socket accepts a 0.51mm wire pin, similar to those found on small crystals, at 0.47mm dia (measured).

This will be a great (but very small) part to be added to my collection, for this and future projects.

I enjoy chasing/tracking down "small and interesting" parts for my projects. I have blogged about many other parts in the past, maybe it is an expression, or a long lost need, of a "hunter/gatherer". I may make this a re-occurring theme on my blog - Part Quest.

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A Small Part Quest - Cont'd

Jeff - KO7M sent me a link to some nice 3.5mm stereo jack on eBay, 100 for only $20.99 and with free shipping. The PJ3065 jacks are surface mount with 5 leads; ground, tip-and-ring, and two internal switches.

PJ3065
3.5mm Surface Mount Stereo Jacks

Previously I found small jacks (6.2x11.5mm) for my projects, but due to size restraints internal switches are not possible with that footprint. The eBay jacks are a little bigger (9.5x12mm), but they do have the two switches.

I am always looking for smaller parts, for my continued project goal of; making my projects as small as my abilities allow.

A package of PJ3065 Jacks is now on order, and will be a nice addition to my parts box.

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A Small Part Quest

It is the journey or the quest, and not the destination, that keeps life interesting.

Server years ago I started a goal or strategy for my self, by attempting to build my projects as small as possible, using the smallest parts that I could find. But, one particular part has been problematic, that is, I have a problem with the size of the available "1/8 inch stereo jacks".

My early projects contained stereo jacks from Radio Shack or other sources, they were big, clunky and were mostly the panel mount style, they have a large foot print when mounted on a PCB. Some jacks have built-in switches, which is nice but I seldom use.

My quest has been to find a much smaller - 1/8 inch (3.5 mm) stereo jack.

EBay - USB Sound Card

I noticed there are two very nice small stereo jacks used in the very small USB sound cards, which are available from eBay. These small USB sound cards can be purchased for as little as $0.75 each. I have been using these sound card with headphones on my desktop computers.

Because I had purchased several extra USB sound cards, I decided to try to salvage the stereo jacks for one of my small projects. With a lot of time and work, I finished with two slightly mangled jacks.

The Desired Stereo  Jack
found in USB Sound Cards

The difficulty was the small spacing between jacks on the sound card made it extremely difficult to; cut-out, de-solder, or remove the six through hole leads from their small circuit board. The non-lead solder makes the task just that much more difficult.

The image suggests it is a SMD, but the installed jacks in the USB Sound Card are through hole, with small vertical pins. Once removed, I generally cut the pins very short to set-on and solder to SMD pads.

Project Using
Salvaged Stereo Jack

Here is one of my previous projects, using a salvaged part. It is a very small 30m FSK and CW Transmitter, all mounted on the side of a 9 Volt battery.

I liked the obtained salvaged part, because of its very small foot print. I decided to try to obtain new similar parts from the normal suppliers.

But, all I had was my contrived description of what I wanted. Searches through Mouser and other suppliers did not provide help. They had larger parts, and I settled for the smallest part they had, I purchased several.

Mouser Stereo Jack
PN 161-4034-E at
$0.75 in lots of 100

In the drawing, the Mouser parts looks small, but it is actually about 50%  larger than desired. The part used by the USB Sound card must be available from some vendor. But I did not have a part number to help with the research. I searched my standard/normal Local and Chinese suppliers. Again, lack of a part number, made it difficult.

For about a year, several projects were created and laid up with the much larger Mouser parts.

Only recently, did I inadvertently come across a part number of the desired small part on a published product schematic/drawing, it is - PN MJ4435-R.

Now I had something to find. My favorite part search engine is FindChip, which indicated the part was available from Newark at $2.76 each. Dang, I am not willing to pay that much for the jack, when I could salvage two from a $0.75 USB Sound card.

So, back to the drawing board and lay up of PCBs with the larger Mouser part, or I would have to continue to spend time salvaging parts from USB sound cards.

Recently I created a small project that I am thinking of selling. For it, I want the best parts available. The size of the board is smaller than the available stereo jack from Mouser. I will have to bite-the-bullet and purchase the part from Newark at $2.76 each. That, of course, makes my product just that much more expensive. I attempted to placed an order for 10 parts, but then . . .

The BAD News is; there is a $20 surcharge on the order as this part is supplied and shipped direct from a non-US factory. And, there is an additional sales tax on top of that (all of this could make these little parts very expensive).

But, the GOOD News is; during checkout, I noticed that the price is $2.76 for a package of 5 parts !! ( a detail that I missed before). That will make the individual parts much cheaper than expected.

It is more than I wanted to spend (for my initial product parts order), but instead of 10, I ordered 100 stereo jacks from Newark, just to keep the individual price as low as possible. My cost for the stereo jack will be about $0.85 each.

It could be argued that the Mouser part (number 161-4034-E) at the same price is of better quality, but there is a lot to be said for simpler (which I think is a more elegant design) of the MJ4435-J part, which exposes its complexity on the outside and hides nothing on the inside.  I would think the simplicity and unique design of MJ4435-J parts should sell in the US for around $0.40 ea. Especially as two are sold with each USB Sound card that sells for very little money.

So with all of that, and if all goes well, you my soon find an interesting little product, available here, with a very small stereo jack.


So, the quest goes on, for yet, ever smaller parts and small projects.

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Project Parts

I found a couple of inexpensive parts on eBay, which will be used for a planed and future projects.

Links and photos are bookmarked here for later reference.

16 X 2  LCD 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270633029608

2-Bit Gray Code Rotary Encoders
with Push Button

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130545810600

I hope the sellers do not mind as the Photos were copied here from their eBay web page.


UPDATE
I found a interesting Post on Arduino and Encoders, saved here for later use:

http://practicalusage.com/?p=267

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Project Support Parts

I just received new SMT parts from Mouser, these will be used as Support Parts in many of my small projects. These parts are not expensive, especially when they are purchased in bulk (i.e., 10 or 25 at a time).

As previously stated, my Ham Radio Goals, include; I continue to build projects with the smallest parts that I can find.

Project Support Parts

The Coin Cell Battery Holder will be used for low Voltage projects, currently I have an idea for a Key and Keyer that incorporates many published ideas.

The very small push button switch in the center will be used in place of much larger switches that I have previously used in my projects. This switch is about 1/4 of the size of previous used switches, which were more like the lower right switch. This new little switch has a nice snappy feel, it is very small but it provides an easy to press 1/8th inch button (which can not be see very well in the photo). This will become my switch of choice.

I purchased the two push button switches (lower-right) because they were similar to the salvaged switches that I had previously been using, each switch provides dual contacts for the single action. I may not use these much now that I have seen and like the new center switch. The lower-center button is typically seen on small CPU evaluation boards and used as a program set/reset. This switch is physically the smallest switch of the group in volume, but the center switch still has the smallest foot print.

The 1/8 inch stereo connector, photo left, will be used instead of salvaged connectors from old sound cards. This new connector is a bit longer than previously used, but it incorporates a switched element. It will be used for all audio input/output, and/or a CW key input.

The DPDT Switch on the center-right will be used as a mode switch on my beacon projects. It is small enough to easily incorporated into my micro beacons.

The 4 Gang SPST will be used for power ON/OFF and mode configurations for small projects.

Data Sheets and Price for these parts can be found on my Mouser Bulk Order 5/12 Project Cart.

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