I have always used ordered my jumper cables ready made and have a selectionof M-F, F-F and M-M of various lengths. However, I recently bought a crimping tool and dupont connector kit with 2, 3,4,5,6 and 7 pin housings. It has simplified a lot of my projects by connecting, for instance, GRND, VCC and Signal pins by plugging in a 3 socket housing rather than fiddling about with 3 single pins or sockets. Up until now I have simply been modifying bought jumpers and I am well pleased with the results, but decided to start making the cables myself from scratch to a) save money and b) to have any length I choose. So I ordered a roll of jumper cable advertised as being suitable for Dupont connectors and breadboarding. What I got was a roll of really thin cables that were almost impossible to separate from each other and anyway were far too thin to crimp using the Dupont crimping tool.
So before I order another roll I would like to ask the experts here if they know where I can get a roll of the proper Dupont cable. The jumpers I bought online are advertised as being 20AWG and measure about 1.4mm across the insulation. I would like something similar in a roll.
Those wires are meant for IDC ribbon connectors, the whole cable gets inserted and crimped inside a connector with "x" spades/knives that cut through the insulation, into the conductor.
Not a good photo, but you can see how the knives are alternating top row, bottom row, top row, bottom row... so at the other end, you need to get the opposite pattern to make it a straight-through, or learn to macrame. : )
Well, yes I assumed that that cable was for another type of connector. What I would like to know is where can I get a roll of cable suitable for Dupont connectors and my Dupont crimping tool.
Search on core (number of conductors) and AWG, for example "wire 8 core 20awg flat" and you will find more than what you want. Nobody but you knows what you want, not even the sellers. You must be specific, or you will get the wrong item.
The cable in your link looks absolutely the same as the cables in ready-made jumpers. If you write that they are too thin for your crimper - you probably bought the wrong crimper.
Please clarify - have you had to use a crimper before? It's not as simple as it seems, I started getting normal homemade jumpers only after changing three crimpers and ruining about a hundred connectors
And I can't imagine what kind of problems there might be in splitting this cable into separate wires...
Dang. Somehow I managed to do some measuring and reading, and I found what I needed (even using the stuff you don't like), but even with help you "can't," and expect me to just dump a number in your inbox? Have you considered taking up painting?
Some are meant to separate. Some are meant to have crimped connectors with knife/spades. These wires do not separate well, or cut well. It is actually better to use a dull cutter to force the wire insulation apart than a sharp cutter that cuts where you start the bite.
The crimper for the spade connectors is a hand-held vice that crimps the whole connector in one (hard) squeeze, like pressing in a bearing on a wheel.
Single-pin cripmers need a very fine die (the thing that fold the wings of the individual pins) as well as pins that crimp to the size of the wire.
Thanks for the responses but I still haven't been able to find a roll of cable with 10 or more different coloured wires which each measure about 1.4mm across the insulation. I believe the wire should be 24-26AWG (from information I have received here) but I have ordered both 20 AWG and 28AWG from Amazon and the rolls delivered were the same and both far too thin to crimp.
Crimping sets and tools for both Dupont and Grove connectors are available all over the internet, I don't understand why the wire is so difficult to find. Here is photograph showing the cable type I seek crimped to a Dupont and a Grove connector.
The cable you mention is the nearest I've found to what I am looking for, but it is only 1.07mm across the insulation whereas the cables I have bought are all around 1,4mm as I mentioned in the OP. So I'm not sure they will crimp. Which may be the reason for the problems you have with crimping that you mention in post #9.
I will order a length and see if it works and post the result here.
The trouble I have is the way that that back part crumples and, depending on precise placement, mangles.
The wire crimps, the insulation-related strain relief ("back crimp") is cocked at best.
If you want beauty, perfection, quality, then buy Molex - or, maybe, the automated tooling they use at 'Elegoo'.
Using my cheap Dupont crimping tool I can crimp the cut off ends of the bought cables perfectly! Which is why I am looking for a cable/wire with a diameter across the insulation of 1.4mm, which all of the advertised Dupont and Grove cales have.
Maybe it is too late if you have already invested in a crimping tool but one other alternative is to buy standard, ready made cables which have the single connector terminations. These are usually in 10, 20 and 30CM lengths. Remove the housing of the single connectors (push a small blade screwdriver in the window of the housing then pull) then use these cables with raw terminations to populate housings of your choice, that is the 2,3,4,5,6 or 7 pin housings you have already mentioned.
EDIT
Having said all that, dupont connectors are really only for experiments and test circuits. These are not very robust and tend to fall off. For production quality hardware then you really want some sort of locking fastener (Molex etc. but plenty of others such as KF2510, XH2.54 - search on aliexpress) , many of which are available with 0.1" pitch and the terminations will (probably) be compatible with your crimping tool.
