Large Bread Board from IDE Cables, breadboard on the cheap

This was inspired by the original ide bread board by stone3408ide bread board by stone3408 I thought it was such a simple idea to recycle the mass of old ribbon connectors I had laying about.

Sorry in advance about the image quality, I must get a proper camera & stop using the phone

What you will need
3 IDE hard drive cables depending on the number IDC of connectors (SCSI or FDD cables could be used for a different sized board)
This uses 8 IDC connectors.

A small flat screwdriver to take the connector apart
A vice or something to apply pressure when re assembling.

Step 1: Disassemble the IDC connectors

Use the flat screwdriver to ease off the cable grip, conductor cover & lift the wires slightly from the cable.
Pull the ribbon cable off by folding it back; this helps to keep the pins in place.

Comments

[greypoet]

You just cleared my biggest hurdle in attempting electronics. Thank you!

[KevinAlien26]

I just finished one using 4 of the connectors. Great Ible it's surprise what a bit of innovation and creativity can do

[Rayzor910]

 Great idea.  Question - Can you expand on the 'Squeez Together' part as I am a little confused.

Also, drinking coffee while trying to put the wire in each pin is not a good idea.  Serious coffee jitters....

[KevinAlien26]

I think by squeeze together he means to try to keep them close together so there is little to no gap between them. Not necessary but does make it look a bit nicer.

[ratgod]

I just published a similar instructable, but mine requires you to solder wires onto the spikes at the bottom to configure your connections.

I didn't see this instructable until I had published and saw the "related" list on the side.

Yours is an excellent instructable, I've never thought of doing it like that.

I put a link to this page on my instructable to inform people of the alternate way of doing it from mine.

Peter

[stone3408]

I like the idea of jumping the pins with the left over ribbon wire.  Great for when your in a bind.

[balno]

A very useful instructable ! Many thanks for sharing. Squeezing metal grips is not easy... For my next project I guess I'll strip a small portion of the ribbon and wrap the cables two by two before soldering them rather than using this method. Anyway, a very nice work and a great idea.

[b2gills]

Just pull out half of the connector pins, and put them in the other way around, to connect the even numbered pins to the odd numbered pins.

[juggler4real]

WHERE CAN I GET IDE CABLES FROM

[johnfromnj]

Good move ! Bigger is always better, size does matter !

[Derin]

XD EXPENSIVE CARDBOARD BOX Sorry,I just had to do that.

[obj126]

u should have negative on 1 side and positive on the other

[trialex]

This is actually a really clever idea. Not the most practical in all situations, but excellent reuse of materials.

[baneat]

Damn I thought you mean a geeky toast rack XD

[killerjackalope]

To make the power rails easier a piece of magnet wire with coating removed or something else like a small metal rod would allow you to solder all the pins together without fiddling with jumper wires. Nice job overall, I always wondered if this could work after seeing someone I know do the opposite.