Companies that provide PCMCIA (not verified)

Morethanall appears to provide a range of card headers, casings/covers and sockets for PC Card applications. For example:

Useful drawings are in section P of their drawings archive.

ITT Cannon have PC Card cover kits:

Hirose have a variety of products in the IC1 family for the board connectors and the NX1 family including what they describe as a Connector Frame Assembly Kit For PCMCIA:

Remarks

According to the PC Card Primer, PC Card dimensions are 54mm x 85.6mm with an "interconnect area" of 54mm (width) x 3.3mm (height), within which the 68-pin connector is situated. Details of the other horizontal dimension of the interconnect area are typically left rather vague, and it may be somewhat dependent on the specific card cover product, but estimates can be made:

Similarly, the opposite edge of the card will also have height and board use restrictions depending on the card cover product.

The PC Card standard describes three card thicknesses applying to the region beyond the interconnect area:

  • Type I: 3.3mm
  • Type II: 5.0mm
  • Type III: 10.5mm

These thicknesses or heights impose limitations on the components placed on the circuit boards within the card casings. The above dimensions all relate to the total volume of the card, with the inner volume within the casing obviously being somewhat reduced. Casing walls themselves may have a thickness of 0.2mm, thus reducing the available space within a casing by 0.4mm or more. The card cover may impose a reduced height within a particular area, requiring tall components to be situated within a particular zone.

Thus, the usable region for tall components might be as restrictive as around 70mm (length) by 45mm (width), height/depth depending on the card type. According to the What do 1,000 EOMA68-A20 PCBs look like? crowdfunding update, the manufactured EOMA68-A20 board size is 78 mm x 46 mm x 1.2 mm.

Headers

Card header connectors have a height (the space perpendicular the the circuit board) of 3.3mm and can be found in variants that are mounted on circuit boards using either one or both sides of the board. The depth of a header (parallel to the length dimension of the board) may impact the length of the board, depending on mounting arrangement and other factors.

Single side mounting

Where the mounting uses only one side, the resulting pitch of the connecting pads along the board edge may end up being 0.635mm, this being half of the 1.27mm horizontal pitch of the connector pins. However, such an arrangement permits the connector to be vertically offset from the board, trading vertical space on one side of the board for space on the other. For example, the Morethanall PCC-SWA04-68 employs an offset of 0.4mm, effectively transferring this space (plus the thickness of the board itself) to house components from the lower to the upper side of the board.

An offset may dictate the maximum board thickness. With the offset plus board thickness occupying the lower half of the connector's vertical space, the combination of these may not exceed 3.3mm / 2 = 1.65mm.

Both side mounting

Where the mounting uses both sides, the connecting pins straddle the board, typically connecting to pads with the same 1.27mm pitch as the connector itself. However, this appears to confine the board to the vertical centre of the connector, imposing more severe space requirements on components placed on the upper side of the board. Moreover, there may be limitations about board thickness imposed by the nature of the connecting pins.

Internal space

Given a board thickness of 1.2mm, the following observations can be made.

Type I

A Type I card without any connector offset (described above) affords 1.65mm to each side of a board, disregarding board thickness and casing requirements.

For a board positioned along the vertical centre of the connector, the available component space would be 1.65mm - (1.2mm / 2) = 1.05mm on each side of the board.

With a connector offset of 0.4mm, available space would be 1.65mm - 0.4mm - 1.2mm = 0.05mm for the lower side, 1.65mm + 0.4mm = 2.05mm for the upper side.

Type II

A Type II card adds 1.7mm to the upper side space of Type I, and without any connector offset affords 1.65mm to the lower side and 3.35mm to the upper side, disregarding board thickness and casing requirements.

For a board positioned along the vertical centre of the connector, the available space would be 1.65mm - (1.2mm / 2) = 1.05mm for the lower side, but 2.75mm for the upper side.

With a connector offset of 0.4mm, available space would be 1.65mm - 0.4mm - 1.2mm = 0.05mm for the lower side, 3.35mm + 0.4mm = 3.75mm for the upper side.

Type III

A Type III card adds 6.2mm to the upper side space of Type I, and without any connector offset affords 1.65mm to the lower side and 8.85mm to the upper side, disregarding board thickness and casing requirements.

For a board positioned along the vertical centre of the connector, the available space would be 1.65mm - (1.2mm / 2) = 1.05mm for the lower side, but 8.25mm for the upper side.

With a connector offset of 0.4mm, available space would be 1.65mm - 0.4mm - 1.2mm = 0.05mm for the lower side, 8.85mm + 0.4mm = 10.25mm for the upper side.