Elliott Electronic Supply has brought its extensive NOS new old stock of card edge connectors to the web. Vintage card edge connectors are essential, classic interconnect components commonly found in 1970s through 1990s computing and industrial hardware, characterized by their robust design and direct board-to-backplane connection. These rely on a single, female plastic housing soldered to a motherboard or backplane, into which the edge of a daughtercard (usually with gold-plated fingers) is directly inserted.
Key Characteristics and Features Structure: They consist of a long, often green, blue or black, thermoplastic housing (often Phenolic or Diallyl Phthalate) that holds metal contacts.
Contacts: Vintage connectors frequently feature robust, bifurcated (split-tip) contacts designed for durability during repeated insertion and removal. Contact styles included bellows, leaf, and "shepherd's crook".
Pitch: A hallmark of this era is a larger pin spacing (pitch) compared to modern, high-density connectors. The 0.156-inch (3.96mm) pitch is quintessential, along with 0.100-inch and 0.125-inch variations.
Gold Plating: To ensure reliability, these connectors typically used hard gold plating over nickel on the contact surfaces, which helped prevent oxidation over decades. Keying: To prevent improper insertion, slots were frequently "keyed" by removing a contact and inserting a plastic polarizing key to ensure the board was oriented correctly.
Common Applications Computer Backplanes: They were the standard for bus systems in minicomputers (e.g., DEC PDP-11, VAX), mainframes, and early personal computers.
Expansion Slots: Used for ISA cards in IBM PC/AT, Apple II peripheral cards, Amiga and Commodore user ports. Arcade Games: Extensively used in classic arcade cabinets for connecting game PCBs (e.g., JAMMA, Atari).
Industrial Controls: Common in PLC racks and early automation equipment.
You'll also find Card Edge Connector Extender Card Extension Boards