thin flex IDE cables

**[H]Bugster** · 03-30-2004, 09:54 PM

Does anyone know where i can get thin flex ide cables for ata66/100 drives? I would love to have access to these cables to use with my slim hdd and dvd drive. I was looking inside of a Dell Optiplex sx270 computer, and the slim hdd in that computer was using one of these cables. I NEED one for my custom car computer.

Here is an example picture of what im talking about. Its not an IDE cable, but i want something similar in IDE form.

**tom2112** · 03-31-2004, 12:28 PM

Bump!

Me too. I wish I could buy sheets of the stuff, so I could cut off however many conductors I wanted and the length that I wanted. I could really use some for my in-dash monitor.

**kiltjim** · 03-31-2004, 05:17 PM

Digi-key has the stuff. I don't know about sheets of the stuff, but you can get it with pretty many contacts.

I'm thinking about replacing the round 'discrete' cable in my LCD with the stuff. Has anybody done this?

**[H]Bugster** · 03-31-2004, 06:40 PM

Whats the correct term/name for these type of cables? I dont even know what to search for.

**TruckinMP3** · 03-31-2004, 06:55 PM

Ribbon cables?

**ktritz** · 03-31-2004, 07:35 PM

Flexible Printed Circuit Cable? (FPC)

http://www.alancomputech.com/noteboo...ble--fpc-.html

**tom2112** · 04-01-2004, 09:36 AM

There's a couple names for these things. Here's what I found out from a friend that makes PC components.

www.digikey.com sells them (mostly in large quantity) and calls them Flat Flex cables.

Parlex makes them. (http://www.parlex.com/laminate_cable.htm) and calls them laminated cable products.

My problem is that I can't find anywhere that sells them one or two at a time. On digikey I found the cable that I want, but their minimum order for that part was 4000!! That would be one heck of a group buy!

Does anyone know other places to get them? I've got an email in to Parlex sales, but they're not too helpful.

**tom2112** · 04-01-2004, 09:50 AM

Hey!! I found another section on www.digikey.com that calls them Flat Flex Jumpers. They sell them in small quanities (like 1!). So I am going to order 2 for my in-dash screens. (Part number HF20U-06-ND) should work. Maybe the longer one (P# HF20U-08-ND) at 8" will be better for me. So I'll order them both, at about $5 each, I'd rather have both than wait to reorder the right one.

The only 40 wire (they call them positions) ones I could find were 6", 4", or 2" long. I don't know if that's what you're looking for or not. Here's some part numbers:

HFF-40U-06-ND
HFF-40U-02-ND
HFF-40U-02-ND

**[H]Bugster** · 04-01-2004, 11:35 AM

hmm...i MIGHT be able to work with 6"...but finding an IDE connector to work with the cable is another problem

**tom2112** · 04-01-2004, 01:36 PM

Bugster:
I'm thinking your best bet would be to make a small breadboard. Mount the flat flex cable socket and an IDE 40 pin socket on the breadboard and wire the connections between them. That way you also have something firm (the breadboard) to bolt down to the case/frame/whatever.

You can get the sockets from DigiKey too. Or if breadboards aren't your thing, you can get the flat flex cable with solder tab pins on each conductor. That way you could easily cut the end off of a normal IDE connector, and solder each wire to each conductor's pin. Then you have a flat flex cable with an 40 pin IDE connector on the end.

Download section A of DigiKey's catalog.
http://dkc1.digikey.com/us/PDF/T041/Section.html
It's amazing! You can get just about any cable/connector that you can imagine. They've got everything from the 40 pin IDE headers to flat flex cables with ends already on them. The only limit is your wallet!