So I found myself in need of a breakout for my Raspberry Pi's GPIO. The Pi Cobbler from Adafruit.com would be perfect. I am a little strapped for cash, but have quite the collection of spare parts, so I decided to get to work to see what I could come up with. Those ribbon cables that connect hard disc drives to a motherboard would be perfect, despite a slight overhang. While digging through my scrapheap, I discovered the control board to a set-top box that also had a ribbon cable to attach to the main board. To my surprise, it is a 2x13 connection (just like the Raspberry Pi). Score!

Step 1: Just to Be Sure...

Making sure that I indeed have lucked out...

Step 2: Aligning the Headers...

Another thing I was in need of was headers...I had about half of what I needed unused, so I sorted through some PCBs and found the rest. No problem... So all I need to do is solder em up to a PCB and cut it down to size.

Step 3: This Was the Hard Part...

Soldering all the connections was a little tricky considering the tight space I was working with. Although after everything was said and done, I had myself a working homemade Pi Cobbler! All in all, it was a fairly easy build that can be done in about fifteen minutes (thirty if soldering isn't a major forte).