Creating a Ribbon Cable Connector

Add a connection point of type Electrical with sub-type Ribbon Cable to designate a part as a ribbon cable connector.

If you add ribbon cable data to the cable/wire library first, then you can use that data to set some connection point attributes, rather than entering the data manually in the Connection Point PropertyManager.
To access sample connectors provided with the software, on the Design Library tab of the Task Pane, browse to routing\electrical\ribbon cable.

To add a connection point:

  1. Open the part you want to designate as a ribbon cable connector.
  2. Click Create Connection Point (Routing Tools toolbar) or Tools > Routing > Routing Tools > Create Connection Point .
  3. In the PropertyManager, under Selections:
    • For Select a plane or face and a point, select a point to define the origin of the route and a plane to define the direction in which the route exits the connector.

    • For Select route type, select Electrical.
    • For Sub type, select Ribbon Cable.
  4. Under Parameters:
    • Define the size of the ribbon cable by typing values for Cable width (W) and Cable thickness (T) or by clicking Select Cable and selecting a ribbon cable from the cable/wire library.
    • For Alignment, select an edge with which to align the width of the cable. A preview of the ribbon profile appears.

    • Select or clear Switch pin1 position to switch the side designated as the Pin1 side as shown in the preview. In the cable assembly, the Pin1 position is indicated by a red stripe along the cable.
    • For Stub length, specify the default length of cable to extend from the connector when the connector is inserted in a route. Leave stub length at 0 or set it to a value greater than half the width of the cable to assure that folds made near the connector can be created properly.
  5. Click .
    Connection points are directional. If you need the cable to exit in either direction, add two connection points - one for each direction. Add configurations to the part, one having CPoint1 unsuppressed and CPoint2 suppressed, and one with CPoint1 suppressed and CPoint2 unsuppressed. When you drop the connector into an assembly, a dialog box opens for you to select the configuration you need.