USB parallel interface adapter cable for MAC

[Cromag]

My usb to parallel cable for my roland CX-24 got ran over by my plotter cart and the cable pinched. Its shot now. To my dismay Roland wants $199 for a replacement. I picked up a standard usb to parallel adapter from Frys and it doesn't work. *Sigh*.

The Roland part is a USB-PIA-MAC USB parallel interface adapter cable for MAC (Still using my mac running os9 in emulation mode.).

Does anyone know where I can get a comparable replacement without getting completely shafted financially?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Techman]

re splice the cable.. or traces out the pins and make a new one.. All too easy.

 

[Cromag]

re splice the cable.. or traces out the pins and make a new one.. All too easy.

I'd love to but thats beyond my technical ability. Have a suggestion on where I might be able to take it to have this done?

 

[Typestries]

My dog keys (no kidding) chewed my $200 usb PIA cable, right after she joined our family. I was so steamed!!! After some thought....I cut out the damaged section, stripped back the outer cable sheath, stripped each individual conductor, and soldered them back together with a cheapie $5 radio shack soldering iron. After soldering, taped it all up with some black vinyl and it was good as normal.

It's not hard at all. cut and strip, use an xacto for the outer sheath. Tape the cable down to a glass top table, with each conductor separated. Heat up your iron, then hover the iron over the conductor, touch the solder to the iron, and let the molten solder drip onto the stripped wire. Do this on both ends. Then, put it together. Touch the two matching conductors together, then give a quick touch with the soldering iron. Since you pre-"tinned" the wires, they'll fuse quickly and easily.

Yeah, there are better ways to solder stuff together. BUT, this will work, will take only 20 minutes or so, and will save you $200. Really, try it, it's not that hard.

Sorry for the typos, I have a 1 month old on my lap.

want a real tutorial? check out
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/01/its_learn_to_so.html

 

[signage]

Typestries you want to heat the wire and let the solder melt to the wire. The way you did it you stand the chance of a cold solder joint that can cause all sorts of problems!

 

[Typestries]

thanks, signage...ill try that next time!.....like I said, there are better ways!

 

[signage]

Just thought I would let other know the correct way to use a soldering iron, I have been working the electrical field my whole life. Cold solder joints cause all kind of intermittent problems and can sometime be hard to find!

 

[Cromag]

Broke out the soldering gun this morning and gave it a shot. I was thinking there was going to be more wires in there than there was. In the end I fixed it and got it working again. Thanks for the advice.