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hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:17 am
by tones
I've recently purchased a Bourns EM14 rotary encoder to play with: http://goo.gl/1PpR5

The 6 pins are spaced at .05", instead of the .1" that I'm used to. Consequently, the component won't fit into any of my breadboards or interconnects.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to jack this component into a prototyping system so I can begin to experiment with it. Any suggestions?

Bourns makes an inexpensive cable that would be perfect (http://goo.gl/y7S0K ) but I can't find anywhere that currently stocks it.

One option would be to just buy a cable connector with the correct pitch and enough channels to accomodate the EM14 (for instance http://goo.gl/odtrd ) but I'm wondering if there's a simpler method that I haven't considered.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:22 am
by esklar81
tones,

I don't seem to be able to pull up the datasheets ATM, so I can't see how long the leads are.

If they're long enough, you can bend them to form a 2 X 3 matrix on 0.1 spacing. That doesn't solve your breadboard problem directly, but you could then fit a 2 X 2, 0.1-spaced female connector.

Alternatively, you could bend the pins in alternating directions from the line that passes through them, then attach either individual leads (either leads with female connectors, or by wire wrapping) or 2, 1 X 3, 0.1-spaced connectors.

Eric

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:19 am
by tones
Thanks for the reply!

Bourns.com was down earlier today, but appears to be back online now. The datasheet is here:
http://www.bourns.com/pdfs/em14.pdf

Unfortunately the pins are quite short, only .048" (1.22mm). So I don't think it's possible to bend them in the way you suggest.

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:21 pm
by langwadt
standard ribbon cable is 0.05 pitch, strip the cable a few mm solder it to the pins, put a 2x3 connector on the other end

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:58 pm
by tones
Good idea. I was hoping not to damage the component in the process. But I guess the ribbon cable can be desoldered later.

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:58 pm
by esklar81
@langwadt:
That's a good point about ribbon cable. Unfortunately, a 2 X 3 connector isn't a convenient thing when working on a breadboard; a 1 X 6 is. One could, however, fan out the ribbon cable to get 0.1 spacing. If the fanned-out leads are tinned heavily enough, they should work in a breadboard.

I was trying to provide a method that doesn't require soldering to the component. Do you think the component's leads could be persuaded to fit into the cable side of a ribbon connector?

Eric

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboard?

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:37 am
by tones
Instead of using a 2x3 connector, I was thinking I'd just strip the ribbon cables and insert them into the breadboard individually.

Good news though -- I contacted Bourns and they offered to send me a few free samples of their prototyping connector cables. So, problem solved.

Re: hacking a .05" pitch component into a .1" pitch breadboa

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:35 am
by JoeN
This is the appropriate cable...

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDet ... 52-H-190-2

Too late to help most likely but I found this on a search so I thought I would post it for the next guy.