topic Re: Custom Ribbon Cables in Inventor Forum

Custom Ribbon Cables

tmillward — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:32:44 GMT

Is it possible to create custom ribbon cable in Cable & Harness?

The current library contains only a small range of 28AWG types, 10, 14, 16, 20, 24 way etc

I need a 15 way ribbon for a 15 way IDC D-Sub connector. This is all standard stuff so thought it would be in the library!

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

IST-WK — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:44:02 GMT

Yeah, having just delved into this segment of Inventor, I am now confused as to why ribbon cable standards were not followed in the generation of the pre-loaded ribbon cable styles.

For D-Subminiature Connectors, there are 9-pin, 15-pin, 25-pin, 37-Pin, and 50-pin connectors.

The existing ribbon cable options are:

28AWG_10Con

28AWG_12Con

28AWG_14Con

28AWG_16Con

28AWG_20Con

28AWG_24Con

28AWG_26Con

28AWG_34Con

28AWG_37Con

28AWG_40Con

28AWG_50Con

28AWG_60Con

28AWG_64Con

Where are 28AWG_9Con, 28AWG_15Con, 28AWG_25Con???

Is it possible to edit some of these to get the desired number of wires??

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

NigelHay — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 14:25:55 GMT

9, 15, 25, 37, and 50-pin is standard for D-sub but IDC type PCB connectors for ribbon cable have the pin No's listed in the OPs post & more, from 2 to 30 pin (Samtec connectors, others may vary).

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

IST-WK — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:15:51 GMT

Okay, I'll put it another way.

I need to know how I can edit the existing ribbon cable files so that I can make the ones for all of the D-Sub connectors that exist. I am currently at an impasse because these are not available, and my work has ground to a halt because of it.

How can I find the files that make up these ribbon cables and edit them?

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

IST-WK — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:38:08 GMT

@johnsonshiue can you point me in the right direction, please?

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

IST-WK — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 19:19:50 GMT

Okay, so after doing some "poking around", I found the solution on my own.

In the "Cable and Harness" environment:

Step 1: On the "Cable and Harness" Ribbon, click on "Library".

Step 2: In the dialog box that appears, in the top-left area of the dialog box, select "Raw Ribbon Cable", and in the window below, select the only thing available: "Standard Gray"

Step 3: Pick the closest pre-existing ribbon cable type to the one you need to make. I selected the "28AWG_16Con" to make the subsequent 15 wire ribbon cable I needed.

Step 4: Click the "Copy" button on the top-left side of the dialog box>

Step 5: Select the copy that will appear just below the original one that was existing, and click "Edit"

Step 6: Edit the "Properties" and "Physical" fields as needed to create the new Ribbon Cable file, and then click "Save".

This should yield the correctly sized ribbon cable with the correct number of wires.

The Library Button

Edit the Properties and Physical Attributes & Save

Re: Custom Ribbon Cables

SEC_MECH — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:53:37 GMT

Thank you so much for the steps.