pre-wired molex connector?

[bdsjake]

can these be bought anywhere?

I thought I would try some 9 pin connectors I bought at Radio Shack for a swappable control panel idea I have.  I  bought the same part in male/female so I'm pretty sure I have the rights parts.  But, I'm having a really hard time crimping.  I've read the how to page on Bob Roberts site, but I don't have the right tool.

Anyway, it occurs to me that someone somewhere must sell this prewired?  That would save so much time and aggravation.  I'm desparate enought that I am about to buy several pc power connnects and use them, but then of course I need 3 to get same amount of wires, which starts to defeat the purpose.  

thanks,

[SirPeale]

To properly wire Molex pins, you really need the right tool.  I thought for the longest time that I could just wing it, but the damn things are a PITA.  So I spent the $15 on one.  Nice investment, especially if you're going to do it a lot.

[Ken Layton]

Yup, get the right tool and crimping is a snap!

[bdsjake]

ok, I won't give up yet, I'll stop by Radio Shack on way home today, if they don't have it then I'll get it with next Bob Roberts order.

thanks,

[Minwah]

PITA for sure, but I use some small nose plyers to crimp first, then solder to make a damn solid connection.

I don't trust crimp connections on things which get pulled apart a lot...

[WTFPWND]

best advice I can give is to solder it 1st, which is even easier if you leave them all together on the strip.  Then after you have this long strip with wire soldered to each one, cut them apart and crimp away with a pair of needlenose pliars.

[SirPeale]

I think perhaps we need to hear the words from The Master.

http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/crimping.html

[bdsjake]

I've given up, decided to look into using rj45 jacks, like "doc" on his modular panel.  Frustrating evening tryiing to get the crimp right and then shove it in the molex far enough.  Had a keystone jack lying around from a previous trip to RS and had it wired in less than 5 minutes!

thanks for all the suggestions though!

[Doc-]

I've given up, decided to look into using rj45 jacks, like "doc" on his modular panel.  

Yes,
  I had a similar experience - I bought a single molex just to wire up the trackball and found it so frustrating that I ended up cutting the wires and crimping it together instead.

  I'm sure Molex is a great system if you have the right tool - but the RJ45's seem easier to wire and also quick connect once you are done.

Doc

[ChadTower]

I'm working on a design based on Doc's rj45 interface too... mine for a multivector unit.  I'm definitely going to enclose the panels, though, with an rj45 socket on both the panel and the cabinet so you can use any short patch cable you have lying around.

Doc, when you did this, did you give any thought to a separate jack for every panel you may build?  I'm considering a 1 or 2 jack set for every individual panel and wiring them to the ipac in parallel, for the sake of nobrainer panel swapping.  I'm envisioning drunk inlaws looking at the jack interface you used and not having a clue as to how it works.  It would probably suit them better if I simply had PANEL 1 - STAR WARS and then a proper jack or two,  a PANEL 2 - SPACE DUEL/ASTEROIDS, etc.

What do you think?  Would that be too much parallel wiring to be practical/reliable?  With a vector cabinet I'm only going to have so many panels I can build so the truly modular approach isn't really necessary.

[Ken Layton]

Phone jacks----yuch! They would never last in a commercial environment. I've been crimping Molex pins for years---it's easy and the correct tool is only $15 (which I bought at my local electronic parts jobber).

[ChadTower]

Phone jacks----yuch! They would never last in a commercial environment. I've been crimping Molex pins for years---it's easy and the correct tool is only $15 (which I bought at my local electronic parts jobber).

So rather than rj45 jacks, you'd go with custom molex jacks/plugs?

[Doc-]

Doc, when you did this, did you give any thought to a separate jack for every panel you may build?  I'm considering a 1 or 2 jack set for every individual panel and wiring them to the ipac in parallel, for the sake of nobrainer panel swapping.  I'm envisioning drunk inlaws looking at the jack interface you used and not having a clue as to how it works.  It would probably suit them better if I simply had PANEL 1 - STAR WARS and then a proper jack or two,  a PANEL 2 - SPACE DUEL/ASTEROIDS, etc.

What do you think?  Would that be too much parallel wiring to be practical/reliable?  With a vector cabinet I'm only going to have so many panels I can build so the truly modular approach isn't really necessary.

I really did not give much consideration to a separate socket for each panel.   I have parallel joystick 1, joystick 2, and button 1 sockets, but the others are single threaded.

I thought it would be nice to have parallel joystick 1 and 2 sockets so I could (for example) have a 4 way and 8 way wired to the same inputs.  The worst case scenario I wanted to handle was the dual tank (4 joystick) layout -- but since I can put a joystick into a button port this is also handled well under my existing setup.

I'm not sure you really need more than two parallel sockets for any one set of  inputs.  Also, it would be easy to color code the inputs (red = joystick 1, green= button 1, etc...) to make them more idiot proof.  This would work for all but the more exotic setups.

However, I can honestly say that all of the visitors I've had to the house have had no problem understanding that JOY1 is the player 1 joystick and BTN1 is the player one buttons.  What happens more often is that they mistake a 4 way joystick for an 8 way joystick or a diagonal joystick gets inserted when they want a normal joystick.  Some arrows glued to the top might help with this...

Doc-

[ChadTower]

Yeah, your design has more flexibility than mine will.  Mine has different goals, though.  Being a Vector cabinet (a Space Duel cabinet with fully shopped color XY), I'm not going to need fighter panels or steering wheels.  I'm figuring I likely need 5-6 unique panels so I'm going to go for appearance of authenticity in terms of artwork and layout of the panels.  For panels that can be used for more than one game I'll probably combine original artwork themes to incorporate all of the supported games.  This is why I figure, if I only need 5-6 panels anyway, then I could easily get away with 5-6 dedicated jacks just for ease of use.

Of course, I think my big challenge isn't even going to be arcade, it's going to be a Vectrex controller.