As I mentioned in a previous post, it seems that it’s totally possible to convert a NVME SSD to a CFExpress Card. So here’s my first take on that.
J1 is the PCB edge connector for the CFExpress card, J2, J3 are FFC (ribbon cable) connectors, and J4 is the M.2 connector.
I’m 99% sure that this will not work on the first try. But I think it has a good chance of working after a few iterations. I have sent my gerber files to OSHPark for fabrication, wish me luck.
Recently got the DJI Osmo Pocket on a sale. Always wanted something that’s not my iPhone which can record 4K/60 so I jumped on the boat.
Anyway here is a demo video of the Osmo Pocket. I’m generally happy about the performance, but wished that it can do a bit better with noise.
One of the downsides of the K40 is the electrical outlets: they are not grounded. This is somewhat a issue because by duct fan has a grounding prong and I cannot connect that to the included outlets. So time to add an actual real electrical outlet.
It even comes with 2 extra USB ports in case I need those.
The K40 (or at least the version I have), has a pretty insufficient / badly designed ventilation system. It features a fan that just barely moves air, and a metal shroud that is supposed to direct the fumes toward the fan but unfortunately blocks the working area by about 1 inch (the working area is not very big in the first place mind you).
So there are two issues needing two solutions. (Duh.)
For the fume shroud, I attempted to cut it down with a circular saw. It almost killed my hearing and barely dented the shroud. (Kudos for using 1mm thick stainless steel, my K40 manufacturer!)
Time to design a new shroud and 3D print it!
Model is here.
Getting some M4 metal inserts in (I used this set of metal inserts on Amazon)
And we also need to augment the wimpy fan, so I bought a 4” inline fan from Amazon, and along with that some extra duct.
Now it works better!
It seems like CFexpress is going to replace CFast and CF card as the new de-facto DSLR storage medium, at least for Japanese camera manufacturers. The Internet kept its mouth very shut about what this CFexpress Card actually is, with specification no where to be found.
However, piecing a few separate pieces of information together, we can make up pretty much what the specification is: it’s more-or-less M.2 with non PCI-e pins removed, with a new “INS#” pin. It’s also single sided, and utilizes a PCB edge connector.
The connector looks like this:
Here’s the pin assignment table:
| PIN | Signal | I/O Direction | Required on Media? R/O/NC | Required on Host? R/O/NC | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GND | R | R | ||
| 2 | PERp1 | O | O | R | |
| 3 | PERn1 | O | O | R | |
| 4 | GND | R | R | Tie to ground if lane 1 present | |
| 5 | PETn1 | I | O | R | |
| 6 | PETp1 | I | O | R | |
| 7 | Reserved | NC | R | ||
| 8 | Reserved | NC | R | ||
| 9 | PERST# | I | R | R | |
| 10 | +3V3 | R | R | ||
| 11 | CLKREQ# | O | R | O | Active Low. Pull-up of >5kOhm on Host |
| 12 | INS# | O | R | R | Active Low. Tie to ground on media side. Pull-up of 100-200kOhm on Host |
| 13 | REFCLK- | I | R | R | |
| 14 | REFCLK+ | I | R | R | |
| 15 | GND | R | R | ||
| 16 | PERn0 | O | R | R | |
| 17 | PERp0 | O | R | R | |
| 18 | GND | R | R | ||
| 19 | PETn0 | I | R | R | |
| 20 | PETp0 | I | R | R | |
| 21 | GND | R | R |
Host-side dimensions drawing:
(From: http://www.rego.com.tw/_admin/upload/product/rego_15562428745ngxni.pdf)
It seems trivial to make a dummy CFexpress card and just use a NVMe drive instead. Project for another day?