IIci etc. ATX to 10pin Adapter

[Phipli]

I'm considering organizing a group soldering party to build a few of these. Could somebody please help catch me up on differences between the different versions? Is this correct:

Original Version by George Rudolf - https://github.com/GeorgeRudolf/OldMacATX

• two-layer PCB
• 0805 SMD components
• uses Mac's soft-power on circuit
• "alternate" PCB version supports real Molex 10x2 connector or low-cost Chinese 10x2 connector

@Melkhior Version - https://github.com/rdolbeau/IIci_ATX

• four-layer PCB
• 0603 SMD components
• has a switch to select between Mac's soft-power circuit or always-on behavior
• has a power-good LED
• 10x2 connector support???

I'm not sure whether any kind of SMD soldering is reasonable to expect from people who may not have much prior soldering experience.

People mostly just get JLC to provide the SMD parts and solder them, then you add the molex connectors yourself.

I soldered the SMD stuff myself, but I'm cheap. The NOT is a little small for beginners. Order half assembled, half not? Then people can either do just the molex, or the SMD and molex?

I recommend using the design that accepts third party connectors as the real ones are expensive.

Thing to watch is JLC weirdly use a different rotation standard to some common Layout software, so you have to check the orientation of parts. It isn't bad, you can verify and rotate / move on the JLCPCB order website as you go.

 

[Melkhior]

@Melkhior Version - https://github.com/rdolbeau/IIci_ATX

• 10x2 connector support???

I'm not sure I understand the question - that's a standard ATX 2.x female (motherboard-side) 2x12 on top, and a 2x5 (10 pins) for Mac on the bottom. Should work with any not-too-old ATX PSU. Exact SKUs should be in KiCad.

If you mean the older ATX 20-pins, then in theory it should work as it's a subset of the 24-pins (or rather, the 24 is an extension of the 20-pins). I don't think it's ever been tested though. OTOH, the entire design in KiCad is in the GitHub, so it should not be very complicated to change it to accept a 20-pins connector instead.

I'm not sure whether any kind of SMD soldering is reasonable to expect from people who may not have much prior soldering experience.

I can't solder SMD myself, all the SMD components were soldered by JLCPCB for me. I paid $19.53, shipping included (to France), for 5 of those - worth it for me! I did solder the through-hole connectors & the switch as JLCPCB didn't have them in stock and that was easy enough (the 120-pins DIN connector for the '030 PDS are lot worse... so many pins...)

EDIT: also for the 4 vs. 2 layers, I wanted plenty of copper to pass the power & ground from one connector to the other. I didn't run any number, it just felt right & it's not that much more expensive anyway.

EDIT2: speaking of the switch; I didn't reuse that particular one, footprint is a bit large. For the IIsi stuff, I use a SSAJ110100 surface-mount switch that's really small. But it's an extended part at JLCPCB, so there's that extra fee...

 

[Melkhior]

Thing to watch is JLC weirdly use a different rotation standard to some common Layout software, so you have to check the orientation of parts. It isn't bad, you can verify and rotate / move on the JLCPCB order website as you go.

+1. That's the one issue I have with the KiCad/JLCPCB combo; nearly all SMD chips are in a wrong orientation :-( It's easy to fix in the website as you said, and it's so cheap, in particular if you pick 'basic' parts as much as possible, that's there's no competition. The SBusFPGA and NuBusFPGA V1.0 were from SeeedStudio and were significantly more expensive, although the process was more comfortable for a beginner IMHO.

 

[bigmessowires]

$19.53 for 5 PCBs including components and assembly and shipping?! What kind of crazy universe is this? Wow... ok. Where have I been... how are they not losing money at that price, I don't know. But it sounds good.

I'm not sure I understand the question - that's a standard ATX 2.x female (motherboard-side) 2x12 on top, and a 2x5 (10 pins) for Mac on the bottom. Should work with any not-too-old ATX PSU.

The George Rudolf PCB has two versions - one that requires a "real" Molex ATX connector and one with oval-shaped holes that can also accommodate cheaper third-party knockoff ATX connectors. I was wondering if your version also had that ability or if it only fits genuine Molex.

I didn't notice that your version is also 24-pin ATX while the George Rudolf version is 20-pin. I'm not sure what's more common. The ATX supply I have for reference has a 20-pin plug and a separate 4-pin plug.

 

[bigmessowires]

I'm perfectly happy to solder the SMD parts, and I'm only planning to make about 10 of these, so it's not much work. But if JLCPCB can do the soldering work for me for pennies, then why not?

 

[Melkhior]

$19.53 for 5 PCBs including components and assembly and shipping?! What kind of crazy universe is this? Wow... ok. Where have I been... how are they not losing money at that price, I don't know. But it sounds good.

JLCPCB price are *really* good, and they seem to furnish you with an endless supply of $9 coupons, I quoted the final price after coupon. Buying just five is actually expensive compared to buying larger quantities, in particular for assembly due to fixed cost.

The only components included were the soldered SMDs, BTW. The Molex I got from Mouser, and those were a majority of the costs, IIRC. The switch also, I think.

I was wondering if your version also had that ability or if it only fits genuine Molex.

No idea, I did the design to fit the Molex I could get from Mouser and that I was confident would work... I did not try to optimize for cost, I just wanted something that would work-for-me and not burn the IIci and/or ATX PSU There's one in the wild that was confirmed working including soft-power (my IIci soft-power is dead, I use the 'always on' setting and the PSU power switch).

BTW, if you want to change something for cost or other reason, feel free. It's on GitHub so that it can be leveraged/improved upon.

 

[Phipli]

No idea, I did the design to fit the Molex I could get from Mouser and that I was confident would work...

The cheap molex has a different pin spacing, so if it isn't designed for it, they won't fit.

 

[Jockelill]

I’ve built several of @Melkhior adapters, they are actually made to that the SMD stuff should be soldered by JLC, there is even a BOM with the files. Then you just have to mount the connectors and switch.

 

[bigmessowires]

I ordered 20 of the George Rudolf alternate from JLCPCB. This should make a nice little project or prize for the Mactoberfest event. Or maybe I'll give some away as stocking-stuffers this Christmas! The total cost was $27.70 including shipping, $1.39 per board. I'll be using some of @MrFahrenheit's leftover supply of 20-pin ATX connectors, so I only need to source some 10-pin connectors to make a complete set of kits.

 

[Phipli]

I ordered 20 of the George Rudolf alternate from JLCPCB. This should make a nice little project or prize for the Mactoberfest event. Or maybe I'll give some away as stocking-stuffers this Christmas! The total cost was $27.70 including shipping, $1.39 per board. I'll be using some of @MrFahrenheit's leftover supply of 20-pin ATX connectors, so I only need to source some 10-pin connectors to make a complete set of kits.

QTY (20) 15-24-7101 MOLEX 10 POSITION DUAL ROW 5x2 RECEPTACLE HEADERS 4.2mm | eBay

20 PIECES 15-24-7101 MOLEX. DUAL ROW (5x2). RECEPTACLE HEADERS. 10 POSITION. W/ SNAP-IN PEGS.

www.ebay.com

 

[bigmessowires]

QTY (20) 15-24-7101 MOLEX 10 POSITION DUAL ROW 5x2 RECEPTACLE HEADERS 4.2mm | eBay

20 PIECES 15-24-7101 MOLEX. DUAL ROW (5x2). RECEPTACLE HEADERS. 10 POSITION. W/ SNAP-IN PEGS.

www.ebay.com

Those are Molex 15-24-7101 rather than 15-24-7100. Any idea what the difference is?

Molex 15-24-7100 and 15-24-7101 seem identical except for the color (white or neutral). Datasheets are identical.

 

[Phipli]

Those are Molex 15-24-7101 rather than 15-24-7100. Any idea what the difference is?

I did a while back, but forget specifically. Part number changes for plastic colour, pin coating and some other stuff.

It's a datasheet trawling thing to check. Not helped by a large number of errors on supplier websites (they list the wrong drawing for similar but different molex parts).

Basically, use the molex site, not digikey/mouser/farnell.

 

[bigmessowires]

I finally found time today to assemble and test this ATX adapter in my IIci. It worked great after I remembered how to remove the old PSU. The ATX fan is soooo much quieter than the existing PSU's fan too. I'll have 20 more of these kits as give-aways for the meetup next month.

I think this is more useful for bench testing purposes than as a full PSU replacement, unless you want to go the extra mile of fashioning custom brackets to secure the ATX PSU inside the case.

 

[Phipli]

I finally found time today to assemble and test this ATX adapter in my IIci. It worked great after I remembered how to remove the old PSU. The ATX fan is soooo much quieter than the existing PSU's fan too. I'll have 20 more of these kits as give-aways for the meetup next month.

I think this is more useful for bench testing purposes than as a full PSU replacement, unless you want to go the extra mile of fashioning custom brackets to secure the ATX PSU inside the case.

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If you put a new PSU inside a IIci style case, make sure you remember to keep the original fan or a similar arrangement. PSU fan cools the rest of the case. Best bet is to put new guts in the old case, and keep the stock fan. Bit of cutting likely needed for clearance for the adapter.

 

[ScutBoy]

I ordered 20 of the George Rudolf alternate from JLCPCB. This should make a nice little project or prize for the Mactoberfest event. Or maybe I'll give some away as stocking-stuffers this Christmas! The total cost was $27.70 including shipping, $1.39 per board. I'll be using some of @MrFahrenheit's leftover supply of 20-pin ATX connectors, so I only need to source some 10-pin connectors to make a complete set of kits.

If you have spares, I'd happily pay for a couple plus shipping to me. If not, I'll just go ahead and order up the stuff and make my own.

 

[bigmessowires]

They're all earmarked for Mactoberfest give-aways, sorry. But even if they weren't, it's literally cheaper to have new ones made and shipped by JLCPCB than for me to mail one to you. The harder part is sourcing the connectors, but they're not too difficult to find.

 

[Quadraman]

Any chance of an adapter for a IIfx?

 

[Erreth Akbe]

Hi all, new guy on the block here, but I’ve been using the wisdom collected on this site for some time to help me with my vintage Apple stuff. Just wanted to say thank you to the folks on this thread. Thanks to you I took the plunge and placed my first ever order for PC boards from JLCPCB, ordered the Molex connectors from Digi-Key, soldered them up and hooked up an ATX power supply…and my dead IIci sprang to life! Woot! I went with the George Rudolf updated Gerber files. I have a few extras since the minimum order was 5, but all in I’ve only spent about $60. Well worth it. I also have the Pico ATX PSU on order and plan to fit it into the stock PSU case. This will also give me the needed cooling fan.

 

[sunaiac]

Hello all,

anyone has a spare they would sell for my Quadra 800 ? (https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/quadra-800.46448/)
I'm a total noob with PCB stuff and have no idea how to use the github sources

 

[timtiger]

I am still waiting for the atx connectors to be delivered. Everything else (pcb, 10-pin connectors) has already arrived and is waiting to be assembled. And of course it has to work afterwards

If you don't mind a higher price per adapter (import fees): I have 2 left and could work out the price.