Actually, by not over constraining the problem with imaginary requirements that don't yet exist I'm allowing more potential solutions.
Good product design arises from good requirements engineering. The entire point of design is to narrow things down until the ideal solution emerges.
Since you’ve rescinded the requirements in the opening post, then you are basically saying that you have practically zero constraints of any kind, other than “not 3D printed”. It could be any connector of any kind, with any pin count, at any price point, in any kind of “small” enclosure, of any material.
How do you expect anyone to make useful recommendations when the problem space is basically infinite?
In such a situation, when you’re asking people for help, it’s best to tell them
what you want to do, not
how you want to do it. You came in with a very narrow requirement (a d-sub enclosure for a PCB, with no cable exit) that suggests an exotic application. But the more we probe, the more we discover that there is no need for this narrow requirement, so we are trying to find out what your actual requirements are — even the requirements and assumptions you have in your mind without realizing it.
I not only don't have to connect to a specific DSub connector on a specific piece of equipment, I don't have any specific connector requirements at all right now. If you had read my post which you just quoted, that would have been very clear. Any requirements you think I have that I didn't specifically state you made up on your own.
I read your post thoroughly.
Not “making up”, but
inferring logically from what you
have provided. See the point above about your initial narrow requirement.
Again, if you read my post, which you obviously didn't, then you would see that I specially only talk about HDDSub. I point out that HDDSub15 and HDDSub26 are both viable (again because I don't have an actual connector requirement) and those are indeed different sizes. I've been making products with HDDsub for decades at this point, so ya....
I did read your post thoroughly.
You have waffled between d-sub and d-sub hd throughout the thread. Regardless, my point was that d-sub and d-sub hd shells are the same size (just not at the same pin count, obviously): you questioned whether an HD-15 enclosure exists, but obviously they do, since DB-9 enclosures exist.
Someone who’s worked with d-sub hd for decades should know this by now, no?
What size connector? We know it’s d-sub HD, but as you know, the 15, 26, 44, 62, and 78-pin versions have different widths…
15pin minimum, so HDDsub15 +. Probably not bigger than 26, but if the right housing showed up at the right price I could see what it would look like with more pins. And I specifically mentioned HDDsub15 and HDDsub26, so ya...
Does it
have to be d-sub hd? If you could use non-hd d-sub, you could then use an off-the-shelf backshell and solder the PCB between the rows. There are manufacturers that make blind plugs for the cable holes in their backshells.
How will it be used? Does it need to have thumbscrews to screw directly onto some device’s d-sub port? Or could it be used with a cable?
I don't have any specific requirements, again. So board-to-board? Sure. Wire-to-board? Ya, it will likely be wire-to-board but you can also plug a wire-to-board connector into a board-to-board configuration, so sure. Does a DSub stick out the end of an OTS housing that doesn't require me to modify anything? Cool, then I'll take a look and see if it will work. Just so I've fully answered all your specific questions so I've satisfied your demands and you don't need to infer anything... Thumb screws? Sure, should work. No Thumbscrews? Sure, should work.
Then you need to think about your application more and determine what situations matter and which don’t. Because no, a wire-to-board connector may not work as board-to-board if the enclosure mechanically interferes.
If you look at my initial question/request it actually relies on having zero information about the application. I'll restate it here:
I'm looking for a small off-the-shelf enclosure with a single D-Sub cutout/port that can take a board-mounted DSub.
Your initial post certainly does not state that you have zero information about the application.
And you need to understand what I am telling you: getting useful responses from people relies on them having information about the application. What you’re doing now is just gratuitous wasting of others’ time, of the very worst kind: asking essentially open-ended questions and then barking at people when they ask for additional information.