Author Topic: Which end of these do I solder?  (Read 3071 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline knotlogicTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 193
  • Country: sg
Which end of these do I solder?
« on: November 08, 2019, 02:23:55 am »
This is probably a very dumb question, but which end of these turned pin headers is meant to be soldered into my PCB and which end is for plugging into other parts?

I picked up a bunch of these cheap for proto boards that get plugged into breadboards.  I was finding that regular square pins were a pain to plug in/pull out of the breadboards I have and was worried about breaking something.
 

Offline gamalot

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1397
  • Country: au
  • Correct my English
    • Youtube
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2019, 02:30:30 am »
I don't know what's the name of it in English, may be the end look like "stepped shaft"?
I'm a poet, I didn't even know it. |  https://youtube.com/@gamalot | https://github.com/gamalot
 

Offline knotlogicTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 193
  • Country: sg
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2019, 02:49:21 am »
I don't know what's the name of it in English, may be the end look like "stepped shaft"?

Honestly, as a native English speaker, I'm not sure how to describe it either!  The bit on the right?
 

Offline SL4P

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2318
  • Country: au
  • There's more value if you figure it out yourself!
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2019, 03:19:21 am »
They’re interesting headers...
They look like they’re probably intended for wire wrap on the shorter ‘rough’ end.
That’s the side I’d solder on, and leave the smooth ‘round’ pin for the breadboard.
Don't ask a question if you aren't willing to listen to the answer.
 

Online MarkF

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2764
  • Country: us
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2019, 04:36:44 am »
They’re interesting headers...
They look like they’re probably intended for wire wrap on the shorter ‘rough’ end.
That’s the side I’d solder on, and leave the smooth ‘round’ pin for the breadboard.

Not wire-wrap posts.  All wire-wrap posts are square so the corners dig into the wire.

The side with the larger diameter is for soldering.
The side with the smaller diameter is meant to plug into an IC socket.

Here is an example USB Adapter board from DLP Design:

   
 
The following users thanked this post: knotlogic

Offline Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12413
  • Country: au
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2019, 04:43:30 am »
Not wire-wrap posts.  All wire-wrap posts are square so the corners dig into the wire.

Just so.  Square posts are the secret to the success of wire-wrap!!
 

Offline EEEnthusiast

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 381
  • Country: in
  • RF boards, Precision Analog, Carpentry
    • https://www.zscircuits.in/
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2019, 04:51:35 am »
The conical end stands above the board. The cylindrical one is closer to the solder joint. As I see on the picture posted, the right side is where the solder connection is made.
Making products for IOT
https://www.zscircuits.in/
 

Offline magic

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7454
  • Country: pl
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2019, 07:38:37 am »
I have seen them called Single [Row] In-Line connectors, SIL in short.

As others said, the thick side is soldered, the thin side goes into a SIL socket. They can also be plugged into breadboards or DIP sockets.
 

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13157
  • Country: ch
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2019, 12:01:33 pm »
This is probably a very dumb question, but which end of these turned pin headers is meant to be soldered into my PCB and which end is for plugging into other parts?

I picked up a bunch of these cheap for proto boards that get plugged into breadboards.  I was finding that regular square pins were a pain to plug in/pull out of the breadboards I have and was worried about breaking something.
Not a dumb question at all.

As others said, the thicker side goes in the board, the thin conical side are the pins.

Your worry about square pins (or the thick side of these male headers) damaging things is valid: while I've found that breadboards seem to handle it OK (at least if they're of decent quality), if you insert the thick side into a female turned socket, you will permanently damage the socket. I learned this the hard way when fiddling with them. (Luckily, before soldering the sockets into anything!!)
« Last Edit: November 08, 2019, 12:06:58 pm by tooki »
 
The following users thanked this post: knotlogic

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13157
  • Country: ch
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2019, 12:05:21 pm »
I have seen them called Single [Row] In-Line connectors, SIL in short.

As others said, the thick side is soldered, the thin side goes into a SIL socket. They can also be plugged into breadboards or DIP sockets.
I think they weren't talking about what the whole device is called, but rather what to call the shape on the board-side half of it!  ;)

(As for what the whole thing is called, I'd call these "machined headers", by the way, in this case, a male one.)

I don't know what's the name of it in English, may be the end look like "stepped shaft"?

Honestly, as a native English speaker, I'm not sure how to describe it either!  The bit on the right?
I'd say maybe the side with the flat shoulder.
 

Offline knotlogicTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 193
  • Country: sg
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #10 on: November 10, 2019, 10:42:29 am »
Thanks all!

Your worry about square pins (or the thick side of these male headers) damaging things is valid: while I've found that breadboards seem to handle it OK (at least if they're of decent quality), if you insert the thick side into a female turned socket, you will permanently damage the socket. I learned this the hard way when fiddling with them. (Luckily, before soldering the sockets into anything!!)

It's not just the damage to the breadboard putting square pins in, I've had plenty of problems pulling them out as well.  I had a protoboard that was essentially a 40 pin DIP which I've had to lever out very carefully.  (Plugging it in also came with risk of damage to my fingers.)  Built up another with the turned pin SIL connectors and it was a lot easier to plug in/out.
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki

Online ggchab

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 283
  • Country: be
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2019, 04:53:21 pm »
I think they are supposed to be used with female tulip pin headers. Try one and see which side fits best and solder the other one  ;)
 

Offline Kirill V.

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 118
  • Country: ru
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2019, 06:41:34 pm »
Oh, someone mentioned the method of wiring invented by IBM for their mainframes. I very much doubt that in the 21st century someone will produce accessories for this. And these connectors have nothing to do with such a method.
The side that has flat pads on the contacts should be adjacent to the board. A flat PCB goes perfectly with flat pads of contacts, in my opinion:)
 

Offline kjr18

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 205
  • Country: pl
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2019, 09:25:53 pm »
So flat side to the board. But what if I want to use them with female machined pin headers? Those longer pins are too loose in mine, and these shorter ones are much better fit for those.
 

Offline magic

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7454
  • Country: pl
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2019, 12:08:59 am »
If you stick the thick end into a female socket then only the thick end will ever work in this socket ;)

It's not how they are supposed to be used, but you can.

Another abomination I have seen: transmale connectors :scared:
Slide a cable into a female socket, solder it in, stick the mounting pins like a male plug into a female socket.
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13157
  • Country: ch
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #15 on: November 11, 2019, 01:38:30 am »
I think they are supposed to be used with female tulip pin headers. Try one and see which side fits best and solder the other one  ;)
Tulip pin?? Is that autocorrect of “turned pin”? (Which we all already knew.)

But as magic just said, and I said a few days ago: if you stick the thick side of these male headers into a female turned socket, you WILL permanently damage the socket, and the socket will never again accept the thin (correct) side, nor actual ICs, correctly.

Oh, someone mentioned the method of wiring invented by IBM for their mainframes. I very much doubt that in the 21st century someone will produce accessories for this. And these connectors have nothing to do with such a method.
Are you talking about wire wrap? That wasn’t invented by IBM. It’s certainly quite rare today, but many parts are still made. Look at the full Mill-Max catalog, you’ll be surprised at how much wire wrap stuff they still make. And you can still get wire wrap tools.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2019, 01:41:03 am by tooki »
 
The following users thanked this post: Kirill V.

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13157
  • Country: ch
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #16 on: November 11, 2019, 01:42:53 am »
So flat side to the board. But what if I want to use them with female machined pin headers? Those longer pins are too loose in mine, and these shorter ones are much better fit for those.
Did you insert the thick side of the male header into the female turned header, even just once? If so, the female header is ruined and must be replaced.
 

Offline Kirill V.

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 118
  • Country: ru
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #17 on: November 11, 2019, 03:55:53 pm »
Quote
Are you talking about wire wrap?
Yes, I talked about it. As far as I know, IBM used it. For some reason I thought they invented it.
Wire wrapping was used in the USSR and books were written about it. I read these books.
 

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13157
  • Country: ch
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2019, 10:57:23 pm »
Quote
Are you talking about wire wrap?
Yes, I talked about it. As far as I know, IBM used it. For some reason I thought they invented it.
Wire wrapping was used in the USSR and books were written about it. I read these books.
IBM definitely used it, but it was invented many years earlier. Wiki says Bell invented it.
 
The following users thanked this post: Kirill V.

Offline DBecker

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 326
  • Country: us
Re: Which end of these do I solder?
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2019, 07:11:02 pm »
Wire wrapping was used in telephone central offices long before it was used for the general purpose electronics.

I used wire wrapping in the early 1980s.  By then it was mature, with a body of knowledge from decades of experience.  There was a large, detailed set of rules to make reliable connections.  The pin and wire plating, wire gauge, insulation type and thickness, etc were precisely specified and standardized.  If you followed the specified techniques, the result would be very reliable.  Not quick, not easy, not easy to debug, not inexpensive, but very reliable.

For my hobby projects I had one of the inexpensive double-ended hand wrap tools.  One end was for unwrapping, the other for wrapping, with a wire stripping groove in the middle.  I think that most hobbyists of the era had that tool and a spool of the blue insulated silver-plated 30 AWG wire.  A hobby alternative was a soft insulation wire intended to be used without stripping, with the square post cutting through the insulation, but that wasn't considered as reliable.

The setup I used for large boards was typical for commercial prototyping.  There was wire storage, and the X-Y assembly machine.  Wire storage was a panel with storage tubes for pre-cut, pre-stripped wires.  Each tube held a different length, and the pre-cut wires had insulation color coded for their length.  (Hmmm, DigiKey still sells the wire packs.  $9.50 for 50 pieces of the shortest length, which is about what it cost "back in the day".  For a typical 2000 wire board that's $400 for just the wire!)  The assembly frame had two stepper motors that moved an L-shaped bracket.  A tap on a foot pedal moved the bracket to the origin location and flashed the wire length on a LED display.  A line-powered wrap tool ($$$) was used to spin the wire down.  A second tap moved the bracket to the destination, which was always lower and/or left. That allowed for "Manhattan routing" (e.g. always horizontal then vertical) of the wire while the guide was slewing to the new location, and reduced the chance of damage from tapping the pedal a little early.



 
The following users thanked this post: Kirill V.


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf