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Best way to go from ribbon cable to individual conductors?

Cole2534

Diamond
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
Updating the controls on my plasma table and the new controller board uses 8pin ribbon cable for I/O, while the drive use single conductors.

What's the professional way to bridge this gap? I'm thinking rail mounted terminal blocks, but that seems bulk and unnecessary. IS there a better way?

Thanks, Cole
 
There are a lot of adapter boards out there with a ribbon cable connector on one end and terminals on the other. Try some of the hobbyist sites like Adafruit.com to see if they have what you need. Phoenix Contact makes this kind of stuff too. You also can put crimp ferules on the ribbon conductors so you can do a good job with a terminal block that has box style connections. 15mm Din rail style is what I use in junction boxes. The Euro style terminal strips can work but they kind of suck in my book.
 
Very dated response but I have found the breakout boards from Winford Engineering to be far superior to anything on the market w/r/t functionality and price. I use breakout boards from them for ribbon cable & ethernet cable. I also use their relay boards. All great stuff for CNC. You can find them on the web.
 
Very dated response but I have found the breakout boards from Winford Engineering to be far superior to anything on the market w/r/t functionality and price. I use breakout boards from them for ribbon cable & ethernet cable. I also use their relay boards. All great stuff for CNC. You can find them on the web.

Excellent resource, thanks!
 
In a pinch, you can get these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Salon-Header-Breakout-Terminal-Connector/dp/B00SUXYN2K

You can also get blank IDC connectors and crimp a bunch of individual wires to them if you need a space-efficient solution. Those connectors can be terminated with just a small bench vise and don't really require a precision crimper like many others do.

If you have the right tip, the common "punch down" tool that can be configured for either/both of Krone or Siemon telco and LAN blocks can attach individual wires fanned-out by hand from a flat ribbon to IDC connector. It's easier-yet with a more slender tool common to soldering operations. Round tip, hole up the center, skirt split with a cross-slot. No need to make anything "special", but a machinist surely could do.

Usta have to do a LOT of those to re-map wire to a different pattern than straight 1:1 across, even when both ends were same-same ribbon IDC goods. Simplest of examples a "null modem" on RS-232 9 pin or 25 pin "D".

The normal backing & strain relief then get pressed-down after it is done AND tested.

Advantage is minimal "extra" termination hardware, nor space for them required, less delay for go-fetch = reduced down-time.
 








 
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