Molex PicoFlex IDC connectors

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ruffrecords

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
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Location
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In my mixers there are many connections between the front panel PCB and the main PCB. To date I have made these by hand using Molex crimp connectors. I am now quite good at crimping but it is a very boring and time consuming task so I have been looking around for simpler alternatives. An obvious next step is to move many of the connections to ribbon cable and use IDC connectors. That way you can make all the connections at one end in one go. Much faster.

Initially I have been looking at 6 way 1.27mm pitch IDC connectors as these will suit many different requirements which is when I came across the Molex PicoFlex range. There is nothing particularly special about them, but what attracted me to them is that Molex also supply pre-made cables in lengths from 100mm to 250mm. This could mean I would have to hand build practically zero cables inside a module. Very attractive. So I purchased a few PCB mount connectors and some 100mm ready made cables.

They arrived this morning. I plugged in a cable into a PCB mounting connector and it snaps in easily. The problem is I cannot get it apart again. I cannot see any mention of this in the data sheets so I am probably doing something silly. Does anyone have experience of these connectors and can help me out?

Cheers

Ian
 
I think I answered my own question. Looks like you need a special insertion/removal tool. Just ordered one. Let's see if it works.

Cheers

Ian
 
I used 1mm FPC sockets and cables because they're very common. Search Ebay with keyworks like ffc, fpc, 1mm, 1.0mm for good large pictures. They have a little zif socket that pivots and then closes in tight on the ribbon cable end (although you do need to be careful about pulling one out or not seating it properly in the first place). They're not IDC so there's nothing to crimp or un-crimp. The cables just have exposed pads on one side of each end. Connectors come in all combinations of through hole vs smd, right angle vs vertical mount and pin count. Cables are same-side or opposite. The lengths are somewhat quantized. I suppose that's the main downside. I standardized on 8 conductor and ended up much preferring the vertical mount through hole (I used a lot of molex 52030-0829) because the sockets can be mounted in either way to accommodate more cable combinations. But I had trouble finding cables that were exactly the right length / polarity and just used something a little longer than it needed to be. Lengths do max out at about 300mm or so IIRC which might be a problem with a bigger project.

I never used ribbons for signal though - only data, leds and relays.
 
ruffrecords said:
I just realised FPC stands for flexible printed circuit which what the 'cables' are made of.
Right. Is that bad? The ones for these ziff style sockets come in two thicknesses that handle 1A and 1.2A respectively. But I actually prefer the thinner ones because they're easier to fold which is often necessary to make a flat turn. So you can bend them completely over flat on themselves and not just at right angles. You can make a flat turn as little as about 30 degrees or so. Below that and it becomes hard to make the edges flat because it's not folding over on itself enough.
 
I did a stint at Avalon Design as their head tech any pots were wired to and from the motherboard via solder pads.  the way their units fit together and the parts used, it is easy to do it that way. You can pre solder all the pots on and then just bolt/screw them into the chassis.
 
pucho812 said:
I did a stint at Avalon Design as their head tech any pots were wired to and from the motherboard via solder pads.  the way their units to together and the parts used, it is easy to do it that way. You can pre solder all the pots on and then just bolt/screw them into the chassis.

I am not sure am am understanding you. Were the pots soldered directly to the motherboard or were they solder to another PCB which had some solder pads and these pads had wires soldered to them and  the other end of the wires were soldered to the the motherboard?

Cheers

Ian
 
ruffrecords said:
I am not sure am am understanding you. Were the pots soldered directly to the motherboard or were they solder to another PCB which had some solder pads and these pads had wires soldered to them and  the other end of the wires were soldered to the the motherboard?

Cheers

Ian

All pots used were made by Bi, they came prewired and we would just solder those wires into the pcb.  No crimps, no nothing. Just wires between the pot and the circuit board.  Same for connectors
 
pucho812 said:
All pots used were made by Bi, they came prewired and we would just solder those wires into the pcb.  No crimps, no nothing. Just wires between the pot and the circuit board.  Same for connectors
OK, got it. So who supplied the pre-wired pots and connectors?

Cheers

Ian
 
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