[Info-vax] RF35 drive in BA213 cabinet

Alan Frisbie Usenet03_REMOVE at Flying-Disk.com
Wed May 20 13:43:28 EDT 2015


I am trying to replace a dead RF31 drive in a BA213 cabinet
(a VAXstation 3400) with a RF35 drive.

The RF35 is a 3.5" drive versus 5.25" for the RF31, but that
is a small matter of some adapter sheet metal, which I can make.

The problem I am having is the small (10 conductor) ribbon cable
that goes from the Operator Control Panel (OCP) to the drive.
The connectors on both the OCP and the RF31 are 10-pin, as is
the cable.   No problem.   The RF35 drive, however, has a 20-pin
connector!   How do you connect 10 pins to 20?

According to the fine manual (EK-RF72D-IM "RF Series Integrated
Storage Element Installation in BA200 Series Enclosures"), the
cable has a different part number (17-03413-01) than for all
the other DSSI drives (17-01936-01).

Since I have plenty of ribbon cable and connectors, I am reluctant
to pay $30 to $115 for one from an online vendor, when I can
simply make one.   If I only knew how they get from ten pins
to 20.

Can anyone help me, either with the connector arrangement, or
by loaning me a cable that I can clone?

Thanks,
Alan Frisbie



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