Easily assembled single in-line connector

[ktrussell]

Does anyone know of an easily assembled .1" single in-line cable connector such as would connect to a header on a keypad or an LCD module? For years, I have used a crimp tool and individually crimped-on pins (male or female) inserted into a housing. These items are readily available from Digikey, Mouser, Jameco, etc. (Jameco 743040 for instance).

Making the cables is so tedious and time-consuming. There has to be a better way, even for small production or hobby use.

Thanks a bunch!

[MrAl]

Hi there,


There is another way altogether, i dont know if this will be acceptable
for your app or not...

They make headers just like that that instead of connecting to wires
they have pins like an ic chip and it plugs directly into a PC board.
You could use one of these and make a small PC board that breaks
out into pads for the wires to be inserted into. You would then mount
the header into the small pc board and solder the wires into the
holes in the pads and that would form the connection. No crimping
required.
Of course the downside is that you have to make a small pc board
for each connector, and you'll have to put up with having that extra
mass on the wires too.

[ktrussell]

Thanks MrAl for that good suggestion. If someone knows of a faster connector-only solution, I would still like to hear it but I think I will try your suggestion unless I hear otherwise.

[Robert Reed]

Krusrel
What you show looks like an IDC connector. I had purchased some of these several years ago and they didn't work out for me assembly wise. They require a very expensive crimp tool that appears to crimp the wire after the pins are inserted. I too would like to find a convenientl assembly such as your request. What I am using in the meantime are breakaway SIP male headers and sockets. The assembly isn't bad (Tack solder wire to post and slip on short piece of 1/16" shrink tubing) , but I would prefer something a little more durable. Have you tried theses?

[ktrussell]

I have used double-row IDC's a lot. I have an inexpesive hand-tool ($20.00 or so) that works very well. The connector I am using for these single-row devices is not an IDC. It has individual pins that you crip on each wire after you strip the insulation back. You then insert them into the connector.

I understand what you are doing but I do need something more durable I think.

[Engineer1138]

I have seen solder cup versions of these crimp connectors, but I can't remember where. I'd check the usual suspects.

These days, I use single in line IDC female connectors that take 24gage wire and they work fine.

[ktrussell]

Engineer1128,
I think single in-line IDC with 24 guage wire is exactly what I want. Where can I get them. I have spent countless hours looking at Digikey, Mouser, etc. and not found them in stock or either they seem to take some special tool. Can you point me to a part number? What tool are you using?

[k7elp60]

You might want to consider the MTA series by TYCO(AMP)
A digikey part # is A30994-ND.

I have used a lot of similar ones that used to be made by Panduit.
They were CT100f22-XX. I still have some and the manual insertion tool.
The CT100F28-XX is for ribbon cable. 28 guage wire. The FXX is the wire size. I found them at NEWARK. The part # is CE100F22-2-D they are made by ITW PANCON. I have found a manual insertion tool by Molex that works.
I will try it get the part number for you

[Bob Scott]

You might want to consider the MTA series by TYCO(AMP)

Oh my! The name Tyco/Amp makes me feel sick. Have you ever tried to find anything at their web site? This is such a megalithic conglomerate, if you enter an AMP part number in the search field, they can't find it.

This is the WORST electronics web site. SQUARE D / Schneider Electric is second worst. You can find data sheets faster by random Googling part numbers.

[haklesup]

Oh my! The name Tyco/Amp makes me feel sick.

Perhaps because TYCO expanded too rapidly (mostly during the bubble days) buying up companies and trying to create a kind of one stop shop but as an OEM rather than a distributor (traditional component sales model). I have nothing against would-be monopolies (I play the game occasionally ) but keeping all those part numbers straight must be a nightmare. I predict TYCO will fragment again someday but I don't know if it will be from great sucess and good economy spawning spinoffs or from selling off units of the company to control massive losses in the component industry.

IDC cables are good to an Amp per pin or so, if you needed more, then a pinned connector would be required though the one pictured dosen't support conductors much larger than in standard ribbon (28#). A pinned cable has its distinct advantage if one end is soldered to many seperated points and the other end all together. An IDC you really should use with the pins clustered closely at both ends. The cost and assembly effort are also lower as already noted.

[ktrussell]

You might want to consider the MTA series by TYCO(AMP)
A digikey part # is A30994-ND.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Even though I had looked at Digikey, Newark, Mouser and Jameco a great deal, I somehow had not honed in on the MTA100 or the ITW Pancon parts. Either of those would have worked fine. I now have some 28 AWG MTA100 parts on order to use with ribbon cable and some 22 AWG MTA100's to test with individual wires. I ordered the T-handle tool (Digikey A9982-ND). I think this is going to work well on my current project. I will post here my results in a few days. One thing I didn't do was order .1" pitch ribbon cable because I didn't want to have to buy 100 feet as it seemed I would have to do. I have plenty of .050. I figure I can skip every other one, trimming back the ones I don't use and it look pretty good. We will see.

[Engineer1138]

The part number from k7elp looks familiar. I'm away from my lab now so I can't check.

I didn't know about the T-handle tool at the time and ended up machining my own insertion tool that fits in an arbor press. For $20 it would have been worth it for all the time I spent at the mill building one

[ktrussell]

Must be nice to have a mill! I'm expanding my shop so I can hopefully organize the junk ad have room for some more shop tools.

[haklesup]

One thing I didn't do was order .1" pitch ribbon cable because I didn't want to have to buy 100 feet as it seemed I would have to do. I have plenty of .050. I figure I can skip every other one, trimming back the ones I don't use and it look pretty good. We will see.

50 mil pitch ribbon is used with 100 mil IDC connectors. You already have the right stuff. Same as used on IDE cables in PCs. For the SIPs there is a gap for every other wire to pass through, you should not need to trim in any special way. You can run the cable through the SIP connector to another turned around the other way to get the even or odd pins. If you are assembling both ends of the ribbon, be careful to orient the connectors the right way so you have the same wires at both ends.

[ktrussell]

That makes sense. I had seen pictures like this which obviously is using .1" pitch cable but I understand that the connectors may be made in such a way as to allow the in-between .05 wire to pass through. Thanks!