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Forum Index : PCB Manufacturing : Female PCB Contact
| Author | Message | ||||
| Andrew_G Guru  Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Hi all, One problem I come across is how to place a female header on the Cu side of a single sided PCB (home made). I came across these :  at RS (Au$31.70 for 100). They have a contact within the barrel which passes though a hole in the the board so that several of them side by side would form a “header”. This should allow one to have the “header” on the Cu side. Do any of you have any experience/comments (before I buy a bevy)? Cheers, Andrew |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
I use these Female Headers and matching Male Pins Cheers Mike |
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Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1064 |
Are you looking for something like This ? BigMick put me onto the male version Here ChopperP |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Mike and Chopper, many thanks. Mike - can you get under the plastic to solder it so that the socket (and component) is on the copper side? Chopper - yes BigMick introduced them to me too. They, or Mike's, could work. The beauty of the ones above is that they allow a smaller vertical spacing, ie as the male pin is actually through the hole in the board. Cheers, Andrew |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
Havent used those particular ones, but used a very similar style for 3mm screw connections in industrial pcb's in the past, they work ok, but we found they really need plated through holes, soldering them on the opening side on the Cu side of the pcb had issues with flux.solder wicking into the hole on enough to be annoying (might not be so much of an issue on hobby boards, but in a production line build, was a pain) |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
That may be a problem, easier to snip the pins free of the plastic and solder, however watch out it doesn't wick into the interior. Used to be able to get gold flashed female wire-wrap pins, that were easy to solder both sides, not sure who sells them now, no one uses wire-wrap anymore. |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Mike and Boppa, Many thanks - good advice re wicking into the interior. I'm tempted to get some of each and report back (they each have their application). Cheers, Andrew |
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bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2916 |
Hi Andrew, Yes they can be soldered under the plastic quite easily BUT you need to be able to get acces to poke your iron in from the side.. Solder them in FIRST as It would be difficult to get to the pins if , for instance you had some Big Electro’s or other components in the way. Read the manual for my Mik-Matrix as I use these for the Bi-Colour LED Matrix mounting and solder from the top of the header. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Hi all - and Happy Father's Day to all the "father" TBS members. Mick is too modest to plug his wares, but I am not! I have found them to be very useful and well made (I'm using at least four "Serial Backpack"s for this project). Here is a link to his site and No. 11 is the Matrix. The pdf manual shows how the legs can be soldered on either side of the board if they are early components to be soldered. Thanks Mick and cheers, Andrew |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1064 |
Has anyone purchased the male pins below from either RS or E14? I couldn't find them at RS. |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Be careful guys.... There are two fundamentally very different types of female headers, and getting it wrong can cause you a lot of grief. Some just have a plain smooth round hole and only work with something like the flat leg of an integrated circuit or ribbon cable plugs. The flat thin pin has sharp corners that gouge their way into the round hole and deform in the process, and lock the pin pretty rigidly into the hole. Its not made to plug and unplug THE SAME integrated circuit into and out of the same hole dozens of times. Think about it... Then there are the female headers with the springy internal finger contacts that wipe the entering pin and maintain electrical contact even if there is movement or slight misalignment. The springy fingers also help stop the pin from falling out. These are what you should be using for round and rectangular pin header plugs that have solid rigid pins. Its not the slightest use plugging a smooth round pin into a smooth round hole, it will either not go in at all, or be so loose its just going to fall out. Plain smooth round holes for integrated circuits and ribbon cable plugs only with thin flat pins. Springy female finger contacts for round (or rectangular) rigid male pins. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1064 |
Hi Tony, Understand what you are saying. BTW, your link doesn't work  Brian ChopperP |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
That was actually not a link, but these are the springy finger type of header sockets, these all have square holes:  They also come with extra long pins for wire wrapping. Should be pretty easy to solder onto the top layer of a through hole board, then snip off the extra length. That would be my first choice.  As previously suggested, there are also the proper surface mount type, but may not line up very well with a straight row of fairly small round pads.  Plenty of choices out there, but beware of anything that has just a smooth round hole in it, unless its for a very specific purpose. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
The ones in my post few comments back, do have the springy internal fingers, 4 fingers per socket. Ones outlined by Warp, used in Arduino's etc probably better if being used all the time. Cheers Mike |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Hello all, Sorry to have been missing in action but sometimes "life" (or near "non-life") gets in the way! Jackie now has a new hip and I have a stent (after months of lung tests). All is now good. I have been receiving a variety of headers from China and I can now summarise my findings: - the ones I started this thread with are OK for small male pins (eg ICs) but not square header pins, as others have said, one must read the fine print on the datasheet. - in the image below all the headers take square male pins - you can see the difference in the depth of plastic. Either shorter male pins can be used or trim them to length.  .The one on the left is a Samtec CES-148-02-T-S-RA (the "48" means 48 pins - other pin counts may be more readily available, the RA is right angled - I got mine from Mouser but they now have none in stock) The one in the middle is a straight – I go it from AliExpress here The one on the right is a conventional RA female. Cheers, Andrew |
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