question about IDE and Molex

[nomad]

I would like to make a modular control panel using a minipac.  I read on the Ultimarc site that one could use an IDE cable for their own wiring if desired.  But, has anyone taken the IDE cable apart at the end (sorry, I'm proficient with the technical jargon of IDE cables ), at attached a few of those resulting wires to a molex connector or something of that sort?

[froggerman]

If you are looking at the MiniPAC I wouldn't use Molex connectors for the modular control panel. It would be much easier to use IDC DB connectors. The DB connectors come in many sizes such as 9, 15, 25, 37 pin configurations. The nice part if this is that you take a piece of ribbon cable and put a double row IDC connector on one end and an IDC DB connector on the other end. No little pins to crimp!  

To wire from the DB connector to the control panel you just get another IDC DB connector and another piece of ribbon cable. Separate all of the wires, route them to your controls, cut the wires to length and then attach the quick disconnects.

The only issue here is attaching the quick disconnects. Ribbon cable is normally 28 guage wire, sometimes 26 guage. This is a bit smaller than the quick disconnects like. Sometimes folding the wire over before placing it in the quick disconnect is enough to solve to problem. There are smaller quick disconnects available, they are just much harder to find.

[nomad]

Thanks for the great response!  I will definetly do that for my control panel

[froggerman]

If you are looking for the correct quick disconnects to use with ribbon cable have a look at the Digi-Key catalogue.
http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T041/0201.pdf

Look for part numbers WM18235-ND or WM18236-ND.

The differenct being the .250 or .187 terminal with on the microswitches used on your buttons and joysticks.