Projects:

[introduction] cad/cam, modeling, software

[press fit structure] laser cutter, vinyl cutter, plasma cutter/router

[printed circuit boards] pcb fabrication, board stuffing

[cables] making molex<->serial and soic8<->parallel cables

The purpose of the fourth project was to make cables for linking a PCB to a power source (which in this case was a computer). Objective: make a programming cable and a serial cable Materials: heat gun, soldering iron, solder, DB25, ribbon cable, 3M programming clip, Molex 4 pin housing, rubber shrink tubes (1/8” and 1/4" diameters) Procedure 1: make a programming cable Remove the springs from the DB25s that you’re going to use Clamp the DB25 (female head with 25 strands) to a piece of 3’ long ribbon cable, either end Use fab website (fab.cba.mit.edu/fab) to figure out which 5 wires are needed for DB25 (male head) Separate 5 wires from the rest of the strip (about 2”) and cut off unneeded part of the strip Strip 1” of the casing off the wire Solder each ribbon to the appropriate clip Cut ½” (5 pieces) of shrink tube for connections Use the heat gun to shrink the tubes over the connections, ensuring a tight, sure fit. DONE! Procedure 2: make a serial cable Get a serial connector and 2’ of ribbon cable Pry open the solid end to feed cables through Tear off any group of 9 wires, all the way down the strip Cutt off the wires you don’t need about 1” down (5 of them) Peel off (strip) the tips of the remaining wires (4 of them) Slide a 1” long piece of shrink tube (1/4” diamter) over the tip of the ribbon cable with the 4 wires exposed Connect 4 wires to a Molex 4 pin housing Make sure cables are oriented w/ ground (GND) 1st Clip off excess metal so each cable is free Slide each of the 4 cables into each of the 4 slots in the Molex housing and use tweezers to completely push the toothed heads in. Use the heat gun to shrink tubing over cable but be careful not to melt the Molex head!!! DONE!

 

[programming/parallel cable]

 

[programming/parallel cable]

 

[serial cable]

Links:

cnc router tutorial (N51)

www.matthewtrimble.com