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Patch Cables

A project log for DEC H-500 Computer Lab Reproduction

Reproduce the Digital Computer Lab H-500, a training tool from the late 60's aimed at teaching people the basics of logic circuits.

michael-gardiMichael Gardi 05/28/2020 at 16:180 Comments

I started making the patch cables. 

I found some relatively inexpensive 2 mm banana plugs at about 56 cents CDN each. The wire is silicon based and very flexible. From Amazon:

The cables are colored coded by length and are based to the original H-500 except black was substituted for brown and there are no orange cables.  Here is what the original cables looked like (from http://www.so-much-stuff.com/pdp8/computerlab/computerlab.php):

And here are the plugs that were used. If anyone knows what this type of plug is called and where one might find a supply I would be eternally grateful.

As I stated before the 2 mm banana plugs I'm using work great with the rivets so I'm fine with them for now.

Starting with 50 cables.

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