Bending thin ribbon cable

[N_Cook]

Any tips for forming a crease in the brown phenolic? type of ribbon ? Not an
exact replacement of course so right angle crese in a new place. I'm
thinking of heating with the barrel of a soldering iron, practising first on
some scrap, folding over a soft edge with a radius, perhaps1/16 inch thick
softish material. While at it, how to bend the thin white or clear ribbon,
same but lower temperature ?

 

[Meat Plow]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:35:29 +0100, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk>wrote:

Any tips for forming a crease in the brown phenolic? type of ribbon ? Not an
exact replacement of course so right angle crese in a new place. I'm
thinking of heating with the barrel of a soldering iron, practising first on
some scrap, folding over a soft edge with a radius, perhaps1/16 inch thick
softish material. While at it, how to bend the thin white or clear ribbon,
same but lower temperature ?

I'd try to bend it in the place you wanted and make a loop then heat
it with a hair dryer on the edge of the loop and see how soft it gets.

 

[N_Cook]

Meat Plow <meat@petitmorte.net> wrote in message
news:335b24.rs6.19.3@news.alt.net...

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:35:29 +0100, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk>wrote:

Any tips for forming a crease in the brown phenolic? type of ribbon ? Not
an
exact replacement of course so right angle crese in a new place. I'm
thinking of heating with the barrel of a soldering iron, practising first
on
some scrap, folding over a soft edge with a radius, perhaps1/16 inch
thick
softish material. While at it, how to bend the thin white or clear
ribbon,
same but lower temperature ?


I'd try to bend it in the place you wanted and make a loop then heat
it with a hair dryer on the edge of the loop and see how soft it gets.

I don't think hair drier is high enough temp.

One thing I did notice, luckily, is that the bend is always on the side
where the fine conductors are, not on ground side, so forcing the ground
side to stretch , not the conductors, compressing them if anything.

Used a 300 degree C soldering iron barrel, no damage/ melting to the
phenolic and took it in 3 stages, heat bend 1/3 way and repeated twice
until a tight radius bend giving about 1/16 inch gap. Just did freehand in
the end, no 1/16 inch wide edge. At 300 deg there was still a fair amount of
resistance to bending, hence 3 attacks.
Permanent bend and no breakage in the 0.1mm conductors


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

 

[Meat Plow]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:37:46 +0100, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk>wrote:

Meat Plow <meat@petitmorte.net> wrote in message
news:335b24.rs6.19.3@news.alt.net...
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:35:29 +0100, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk>wrote:

Any tips for forming a crease in the brown phenolic? type of ribbon ? Not
an
exact replacement of course so right angle crese in a new place. I'm
thinking of heating with the barrel of a soldering iron, practising first
on
some scrap, folding over a soft edge with a radius, perhaps1/16 inch
thick
softish material. While at it, how to bend the thin white or clear
ribbon,
same but lower temperature ?


I'd try to bend it in the place you wanted and make a loop then heat
it with a hair dryer on the edge of the loop and see how soft it gets.


I don't think hair drier is high enough temp.

One thing I did notice, luckily, is that the bend is always on the side
where the fine conductors are, not on ground side, so forcing the ground
side to stretch , not the conductors, compressing them if anything.

Used a 300 degree C soldering iron barrel, no damage/ melting to the
phenolic and took it in 3 stages, heat bend 1/3 way and repeated twice
until a tight radius bend giving about 1/16 inch gap. Just did freehand in
the end, no 1/16 inch wide edge. At 300 deg there was still a fair amount of
resistance to bending, hence 3 attacks.
Permanent bend and no breakage in the 0.1mm conductors

Maybe my hair dryer is too hot? I can burn tissue with it (not to
ignition) if held close to the barrel. I also have a heat gun that I
use to shrink tubing if there is a lot of it to shrink as in making a
16 connector audio snake. Anyway, looks like you've got it handled.