Model T Parallel Cable:Other Sources

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Other sources for the parts to build a parallel printer cable for "Model T" computers.

Few places have all 3 parts in one shop.

  • The 26P Female IDC connector is common and available from countless places. Yet they are not all the same. Things to look for:
  • 26 pin, Female, IDC, 2.54mm
  • polarity bump
  • strain relief
  • gold contacts
  • The Centronics connector is less common, and most places that even have a 36P Male Centronics IDC at all, don't have one with a strain relief clip. Things to look for:
  • Centronics, 36 pin, Male, IDC
  • bail locks (ears with C-shaped openings that the wire bails on the printer clip into)
  • strain relief
  • The cable is common 1.27mm flat cable, 25 or more wires.
It's simpler to use 26-wire cable but technically the minimum you need is 25. The crimping directions do not change, in that case, you still put the colored wire in the first position at the pin #1 mark on both connectors.
You can get cable with more than 26 wires and just peel off the extra wires. It may be more useful to buy a 100ft roll of 40-wire cable and use that for many projects, than to buy exactly 6 feet of exactly 26-wire cable.

DigiKey

Must peel 4 wires off the 30P cable to make a 26P cable.
If you peel off from the colored wire side, you can make a cable that is all black. But if so, be careful to manually keep track that db25 pin 1 connects to centronics pin 1, because you won't have the colored wire to identify pin #1.
This centronics connector does not include a normal fold-over strain relief, but the crimping part does include a type of strain relief based on plastic pins piercing the insulation between the wires.

Amazon

Phoenix

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