[vcf-midatlantic] gold fing-ers

[Henry S. Courbis]

Herb,

You can usually request boards in varying thicknesses of gold plating.
Most will "flash" gold to a pin for cheap I have found.  It does kind of
look like gold, but as you said it's thin and won't withstand any real
abuse.  I always request 2u" (.002 mils) of plating on edge connectors.
This isn't as good as hard gold, however I have tested a board with 100
inserts and removals with no issues.  And it may even make 200 times, but I
never tested that far.  So that seemed a good compromise on price and
longevity.

Of course this doesn't help if you have boards already made.  In the future
I can recommend MakerFabs.com for low runs and even assembly.  Jonathan's
recommendation of PCBCart.com is also a good outfit but at a higher price.
Quality was slightly better I believe, but not amazingly so. However they
do offer hard gold as an option and at a good price too.

$.02



Henry S. Courbis

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On Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 9:39 AM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> Thanks, Corey for the info on that pen technology. Prices seem to be
> higher than you suggest. I'll email you with some questions, I'll share
> some results - don't want to clutter this list with details.
>
> Also thanks, Jonathan, same deal. The boards I'm getting are not
> expensive, I think making one or two of my own would not be cheap. We can
> discuss wear and tear on edge connectors. I deal with some of those issues
> on my Web site, some pages discuss use of cleaner/lubricants like DeOxit on
> corroded IC sockets and (solder/tin coated) IC pins.
>
> Metal plating is interesting technology. And it's a means to repair some
> vintage equipment, so it's relevant here.
>
> herb
>
>
> --
> Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA
> http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net
>