Introduction: How to Make a MODELA Serial Cable

About: I'm a 18 years old high school student who is acting a 23 years old graduate student in Japan.

When you want to use fabmodules for your MODELA, a suitable 9pin-25pin serial cable is necessary.
But it is not attached to a MODELA (only a USB-serial cable is attached) and, if you buy one, it cost about $100!!

However, Roland is kind enough to show how each pin is connected in the cable.
Here is how to make it.


References
http://www.rolanddg.co.jp/support/3d/modela/FAQ_mdx1520.html#37991
http://www.rolanddg.co.jp/support/images/cable_info.gif
http://progmatter.com/drupal/?q=node/2
http://cratel.wichita.edu/cratel/reference/eagle


Parts
(marutsu in Japan)
http://www.marutsu.co.jp/shohin_40110/
http://www.marutsu.co.jp/shohin_13950/
http://www.marutsu.co.jp/shohin_13955/
http://www.marutsu.co.jp/shohin_10482/
These are what I bought above but there are a lot of alternatives.
What you need to be careful is only the size of the connector.
If it is too small, the connector won't go through your MODELA box's hole.

(digi-key)
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?vendor=0&keywords=AE09M-300-ND%09
Or, you just need to prepare 9 wires which is long enough.
And they should be stranded wires.
Also, I recommend you to use wires with different colors. It will be very time-consuming to distinguish each wire if they are all in a same color.

Step 1: Solder Wires to the Pins

See Roland's image of how each pin is connected.
(This image is from http://www.rolanddg.co.jp/support/3d/modela/FAQ_mdx1520.html#37991)
9 pin is female and 25 pin is male. This is why the order of pin numbers is opposite to each other.
These images are connection side(face), not soldered side(back).

Solder wires according to the image.
The upper one is 25 pin and the lower one is 9pin.

Pin1 of 25 pin and Pin9 of 9 pin are not connected to any pin.

Pin20 of 25 pin and Pin4 of 9 pin should be connected to 2 wires, it will make soldering easier to put the 2 wires inside the pin hole firstly, then solder them.

Step 2: Assemble Your Connectors

Assemble your connectors.

Step 3:

Connect your cable to your PC.


If you use fabmodules, a 9pin-USB cable should be this one.
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-RS232-Serial-Adapter-Cable/dp/B000067SNB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373946539&sr=8-1&keywords=startech+232+usb
(If you live in Japan, it cost less to buy this on Amazon US even including its delivery charge. If you buy this on Amazon JP, it costs ¥8,385!! http://www.amazon.co.jp/Startech-ICUSB232-USB-%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%ABPDA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%80%E3%83%97%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC-%E2%96%A0%E4%B8%A6%E8%A1%8C%E8%BC%B8%E5%85%A5%E5%93%81%E2%96%A0/dp/B000067SNB)

By the way, when I connect the serial cable and the 9pin-USB cable to my PC,
I should have typed
sudo chmod a+xwr  /dev/ttyUSB0
on terminal.
Otherwise, terminal will say Permission denied for the USB device.
(/dev/ttyUSB0 this will be different with each computer setting,
check a name of your USB device with
ls /dev/
with connecting your USB device and
ls /dev/
again without connecting your USB device.
If something appears when with connecting it and disappears when without connecting it, this is the name of your USB device.)

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