MIL-C-38999/24 Connectors

This family is a group of extremely common parts. Many designers at Raytheon have their own copies of these parts which they have created. They are not a simple part to create, either. Each part takes up at least one quarter of a megabyte of space. With the nine members in the family, that adds up to over two megabytes of space per set. Some people have even created the parts multiple times, because they were created for a certain project, and when that project was finished, they were removed from the system and archived to tape. To get that part back, the designer would have to search for the part name from the previous model, send in a request to have the part put back on disk, and wait for the request to be filled. This can take days at times. At this point, it is easier and less time consuming to recreate the part. The size of the model may not seem like very much space, but multiply that by every project for which a designer has created a new part, often several different connectors per part, and the space and time used starts to add up to a significant amount. With the family in place, designers can remove old connectors from their personal libraries or from projects they are working on, and replace it with the library part.

By using a library part such as these, the designer also doesn't have to track down all the necessary dimensions to build the part. The military specifications give enough data for the designers to use the part, but often not enough to build it. Dimensions have to be gathered by referring to other specifications such as those for the mating connectors, for the nut to secure the connector, or even by finding an actual part and measuring it. All of this effort is saved by having the standard part. It also ensures consistency among designs. A D38999/24B connector will be exactly the same in every project that uses it.

This connector also needs a nut to secure it to the panel. By not including the nut in the connector model but placing it in a separate model, the same nut can be used for the other connectors it matches, again cutting down on disk space. The same part can also be included in exploded views of the project. If the nut were modeled with the connector, this would not be possible, and it would unnecessarily increase the size of the connector model.

Last Modified: Wed Aug 28 14:41:29 EDT 1996