PCB Interconnect Cable and Connector Components

Cabled DIL Header pins in rows of two on 0.1" spacings along with female IDC connectors on ribbon cables are the most commonly used and easiest to find type of PCB interconnect. Examples include IDE hard drive cables from the motherboard of a PC to the controller board of the Hard Drive, and the PC end of the standard floppy controller cable on PC's that actually still have floppy drives.

Cabled SIL Headers exist, for example; the PC end of the cable for the internal PC speaker, but the cables are harder to make as few IDC version of those connectors exist and special tools are often required to insert the wire into the terminal edge. Keywords for finding these connectors are "AMP MTA IDC" or "MOLEX KK IDC" or "C-GRID IDC" or "Berg IDC"

Another issue is that the spacing of a standard ribbon cable is twice as dense as the SIL header so individual wires or a special 0.1" pitch ribbon cable (aka round conductor flat cable) must be used for an IDC connection.

More often, individual wires are crimped to an individual pin or socket terminal using a special tool and that is inserted into a housing.

There do exist housings with terminal recepticals pre-inserted and with access for a special crimping press to make entire cables at one pass do exist, but are apparently impossible to find.

See also:

• http://www.marvin3m.com/connect/ More than you thought you needed to know about header cables.
• http://www.makingthings.com/teleo/products/documentation/teleo_user_guide/cable_construction.htm SIL MTA

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