High-density pins -- how to?

[Paul Eastham]

Hi,
I'm thinking about adding a CDI to my Garmin 430 (I was thinking of just using the Dynon software HSI, but now reconsidering). This will entail adding about 15-20 pins to the back of the garmin. Unfortunately, they are the super-small *high-density* d-sub pins.

I've added a few pins back there already, using open-barrel pins, but crimping them with my molex-style crimper was a nightmare -- I'm pretty sure the dies are too big for such a small thing.

Does anyone have an idea on how to do this job better? I know Stein sells a HD crimper, but it's super expen$ive. Is there a cheapo crimper out there for the HD barrel pins? A tiny set of open-barrel dies? Or can I get "solder cup" style HD pins? Any avionics shop willing to sell 3-foot lengths of 24AWG with a pin on the end?

(Also, any opinions on the GI-106A CDI -- is there a better or cheaper solution out there for VOR/GPS nav, gs and loc?)

Thanks for ANY ideas!
Paul

[jcoloccia]

With all the work I've done with robotics and electro-optical systems, I've built and debugged many many many cables over the last 10 years and can do this stuff in my sleep. That said, for something like this I would just buy the stupid thing from Stein. To do it right, you really do need the correct crimpers and dies. Also, he can probably do it for not much over what it'd cost in parts to do it yourself (not including the tools). Don't quote me on that...it's just a WAG.

I know you can get the connectors themselves with solder cups.

http://sacramentoelectronics.com/pan...older_tin.html

You can probably find better pricing. I'm not sure about solder cups pins that you then insert, if that's what you're looking for. Then again, I've never really looked.