80 Pin Sockets

[Jon Jones]

I'm after some 80-pin sockets (As used on some of Stephen's kits)

The part Stephen lists is no longer current and looking on Mouser for an alternative, I can only find parts that are around £5 each - which seems very expensive.

Have these really gone up 400% or am I driving Mouser's website badly?

Jon.

[Alan Cox]

Look on eBay. You can buy them in bulk from Chinese suppliers or there are UK folks who bulk import and split.

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[Dylan Hall]

I use Aliexpress for most of my mechanical parts as Mouser seems overpriced for them.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32847413764.html

It's been a couple of years since I purchased any of the 80 pin sockets, so I can't vouch for that seller, but it's probably a good starting point for navigating Aliexpress.

Dylan

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[Martin Israelsen]

Hi Jon,

The kits I received from Stephen all came with 2x40 pin strips instead of 80 pin strips. Seems to work just as well. 

Cheers

Martin

[Ed Silky]

I've purchased both 1x40 and 2x40 (80-pin) versions on Amazon. And I've used both, 2 1x40 and 1 2x80 on boards. If you use 2 1x40 parts, it helps to put some 2xn pin headers in it while you are soldering to assure that the two sockets stay together.

-Ed

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[Earth Person]

Greetings,

Be very wary on the pins you buy. Many are cheap and don't have that "Click" or simple solid feel. I'm usually in the field of you get what you pay for.
I've moved to 3M https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/22500O/3m-tm-boardmount-skt-100-100-x-100-strt-sldr-tails-ts0815.pdf series.

Go via Digikey or others, but I wouldn't skimp on such parts. Just my knowledge and experience I'm sharing.

-William

[Steve Cousins]

I've had problems with the quality of 2 row x 40 pin straight sockets, so now use pairs of 1 row x 40 pin sockets.

Steve

[Ed Silky]

Hi  William,

I keep two different containers of pin headers and sockets, one is 3M/Berg/Amphenol (high quality) and one is Amazon/AliExpress (inexpensive). There is a huge difference in price (sometimes 100x for the quality connectors). I use the first when I build PCBs and the second when I am breadboarding/experimenting.

-Ed

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[David Lochlin]

Aliexpress. Never had a problem with them.

Dave

[Michael A. Druckenmiller Sr]

Jon, asked about Mousers pricing...

I've had so many projects sidelined because as a hobbyist my small quantities wouldn't justify the shipping & handling costs couldn't be justified.

Same with Digi-Key, Newark and even Jameco. But, as a Prime subscriber I don't have to be concerned with shipping and handling costs.

Dave mentioned Ali-Express I haven't had any experience with them. I have bought from Temu and been quite satisfied. Got a single channel O'Scope & DDS Sig Gen.

There was a day when I could go to the corner Radio Shack and get just about anything. Where I live now there was a full service Electronics Bits and Pieces place a block away, the ONLY one in town, but they went out of business.

Such is the life of a hobbyist these days. I save old boards to cannibalize. :)

And, when I worked at various places the sales reps were always handing me stuff to add to my collection. Flash and Micros mostly.

Right now my designing and building has been set aside. Doing a little coding in C# and Python.

Micro Mikie

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[Alan Cox]

On Fri, 22 May 2026, 13:54 'Michael A. Druckenmiller Sr' via RC2014-Z80, <rc201...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Jon, asked about Mousers pricing...

I've had so many projects sidelined because as a hobbyist my small quantities wouldn't justify the shipping & handling costs couldn't be justified.

I've mostly switched to buying direct from China for sockets, connectors and the like. Big bags of perfectly acceptable sockets are available for peanuts with the odd bent pin that needs straightening. Connectors are cheap.

ICs from China though is a different matter. I have done pretty well buying up job lots from UK/EU businesses and the like dumping stock, although I have a lifetime supply of 138, 574 and 688's as a result of a rather good buy from a small business that was discontinuing their through hole production 8)

Alan

[Michael A. Druckenmiller Sr]

Yeah so much is going to smt... Making hobbyists having to design, layout and have boards made.

Environmental regs here in the US have made such costs really harsh. 

When I ordered boards for the Navy I got pretty good pricing from Advanced PCB

When I tried to order for myself the cost was 8 times as expensive as from China.

IIRC I used JLCPCB, the lead time was 'workable', the biggest delay was getting it shipped through "channels".

I prefer my ancient copy of Eagle Cad over Kicad, simply because I already have the parts in Eagle.

Micro Mikie

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[Ed Silky]

One big difference that I notice in (inexpensive) connector pin strips from Amazon (China) versus (higher priced) strips from 3M/Berg/Amphenol, is that the pins in the inexpensive strips will move around in the plastic when they are being soldered if they aren't well supported. That doesn't happen with the 3M/Berg/Amphenol pin strips. The plastic used in the more expensive strips doesn't melt at normal soldering temperatures. (My experience anyway)

-Ed

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