Expose Male Pins on 40 Pin HD Cable

  • Thread starter Thread starter John R
  • Start date Start date
J

John R

This might be the wrong newsgroup, but here goes. What is the trick to
remove the plastic cover on a 40 pin cable fitted with female clips on each
end?
 
Easiest way I've found is to create a small fire in your back yard & throw
the cable in it. Come back in 20 minutes & fish out the wires & you'll find
that the plastic has magically disappeared.
If you mean just the black or blue fixtures, then some can't be removed as
they are "moulded" on, on the other hand some are created in two portions
that simply press together, one from each side. If you have that type,
simply use a very sharp screwdriver to seperate the two halves. (Start from
each side)
 
This might be the wrong newsgroup, but here goes. What is the trick to
remove the plastic cover on a 40 pin cable fitted with female clips on
each end?
Click to expand...

As Bruce said, if it's an IDC socket (insulation displacement something)
you can just take it apart.

Of course, you need to be very gentle with it. There's the bottom piece,
that houses the female connectors, and the top part, which is pressed
down against the flat cable, which in turn pushes the top of the female
pins thru the insulation to make contact with the wire.

If you look at the ends of the connector, there's a little latch that
comes down from the top piece and clip on the sides of the bottom piece
to lock it together. You can use a tiny slotted screwdriver to release
the latch and push the end up just enough so it doesn't re-latch. Don't
bend the latch anymore that to clear what it clips on or it WILL break.
The do the same to the other end. Now remove the top clamping piece.

Leave the flat cable the way it is, you will see the metal pins pushed
through the top of the ribbon. DON'T try to pull the flat cable off or
the female pins will be pulled out of the bottom housing. Instead, use
the same small screwdriver, stick it in between the cable and plastic at
one end, on one side...they are double row connectors. Now rotate the
screwdriver slightly back and forth as you are moving across the
connector to remove the cable. You are using the screwdriverto pry the
cable from the connector. Do the same thing on the other row, and when
you get to the end of the second row, the cable will be free and the
connector will be able to be re-used again.

I've removed 100's of ribbon cables like this over the past 20 years.
 
This is for DanS... Can you tell me where I can get a 40 pin IDE cable that
will allow the exposure of the male pins as you described?
 
I'm not Dan, but those IDE cables are in our local dump by the thousand. Any
computer shop would probally toss you a couple for nothing to get rid of
them.
Any old old computer usually has 2 of them in it. I guess you're in USA or
somewhere? Too far for me to throw it!!
Tell everyone what your address is & you might have a pile outside your door
by morning!!
 
What are you trying to do, anyway? Do a search on the net for IDE
male/female adapter or ide male/female cable.

John
 
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