Loose cable, broken plastic tab or bad cable connector?
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I've searched a bit on this forum but couldn't find an answer. while building my printer, the lead to an endstop got caught under the bed as it was moving down and broke the plastic tab on the connector on the board and bent the pins a bit.
The pins aren't bent badly at all, but now there is no grip on the cable when i plug it in. Is that plastic tab responsible for the grip or is it internal to the cable's plug?
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Most of the grip is internal to the plug. The connectors down inside are "folded into a triangle" that presses on the pins. You MIGHT be able to put something paperclip or smaller in from the back of the plug and reset them.
Otherwise, cut that plug off and re-crimp new individual connectors, replace in shell. There should have been a connector kit with your board.
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The tab is mostly to ensure correct orientation and avoid accidental disconnects. You can buy new headers for the pcb; just pull the plastic off the board and remove the pins from the new header and slide the plastic onto the pins already on the board. A little gentle heat may aid the process.
I'd try removing the wires and reshaping the terminals if you don't have new ones to crimp on. There is a catch accessible through a "window" just depress that and gently pull the wire out. Reshape, lift the little catch if needed and insert back in.
Tried finding a video to illustrate, but only found this thing, its genius - but no .stl found. Might have a stab at designing something similar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEGAovEmVBw
edit: a picture is worth a thousand words. can make out the catch/tab thing on the right there:
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As has been mentioned, the tab is only there for polarization. I have a broken tab on one of my headers and it's never been an issue.
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Awesome, thank you!!
