QUOTE(AfterTheInsanity @ Jan 19 2006, 10:18 PM)

You do know you can get the MAX232 chips for free right? "Free Samples." The company (in this case, Ti) thinks youre going to sample the chips, then buy more from them. I think you can get up to ten at once. Ive got some on the way

Yeah, I have done that a few times and the MAX232 is not a great expense anyway, just $0.25 each when I got them. The killer for me was playing with PCB prototyping (Which I wanted to anyway so it was just an excuse

) and all the fancy connectors I wanted on it.
If I just used a punch board with standard capacitors and IC without custom cables then I would say that it shouldn't cost more than $7.00 US with taxes and shipping (If relevant). I just wanted to make something that will handle the wear and tear of 50+ connections, simple to use and easy to store... OK, I just wanted to play...
I'll post a few pics of the boards, I really wish I could of got the current out of the USB that I needed but saylavi and I'm now adapting molex splitters to work.