[JonA]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

This Thread and This Thread have some good sources; we use parts from Jameco and the "rs-232" crimper from Radio Shack. Good results, but the pre-made ones tend to be easier...

Good call Don. These threads have some great leads.

To elaborate on why I switched to home-made cables for my team:

We switched to making our own PWMs for three reasons: Custom Lengths, Cost Savings, Custom Circuits.

The cost savings and quality you get is pretty good (compare to $5/cable from http://vexrobotics.com/):

• It is about $60 for 16 by 36 inch cables which comes out to about $3.75/cable from http://www.hansenhobbies.com/ (Requires a $15 crimp tool)
• If you are making 12 inch cables you can get them for $2/cable at http://www.junun.org/
• For 16 by 36 inch cables it is about $3.25 from http://mouser.com/ (Requires a crimp tool as well. Mouser and DigiKey are very reliable sources)

When crimping your pins be sure to be careful the crimp is good. You will most likely mess up the first few. Also make sure the connectors click in the housing.