perfect flexible cable

How about telephone handset type, "tinsel wire" ?

That's what I was considering using, but the wire is weak, hard to solder, etc. One must also adopt the connectors. By comparison, the Dyden wire is perfect.

The Hewlett-Packard X-Y chart recorder used a flexible printed circuit to connect the moving writing head to the fixed electronics.

The article in the Hewlett-Packard Journal on the unit went into constraints on the construction of the flexy - it had to be symmetrical, with the copper layer right in the middle, if it was going survive being flexed repeatedly.

It's all decades-old stuff - I can't even remember the X-Y-recorder number.

I've been using FFC "cable" for some time. These are 0.5mm- or 1mm-thick flat-flexible-cables available in 0.5, 1.0 or 1.25mm pitch spacing. I use a 1mm version, and Kyocera's 6200-series connector with a clever angled clamp. They're super useful, but there are times when you want an honest rugged cable, with soldered ends.

Do you have any machines with moving electronic "headpieces" nearby? (Printers/plotters/CNC etc)

They sometimes have cables loosely "encased" in flexible trunking that looks like a hollow caterpillar track.

Perhaps you could peer inside and see what is used.

On a sunny day (1 Nov 2019 14:40:51 -0700) it happened Winfield Hill wrote in :

I used this stuff just last week to test some cameras:

Have you tried Unitronic FD or Unitronic FD P Plus cables from LAPP?

They claim to be highly flexible, PVC or PUR sheathed and available in multiple configurations. 4.2mm diameter with four 0.14mm2 wires. Pretty good availability at least on this side of the Atlantic.

I use a lot of FFCs, and also prefer the 1-mm ones, mainly because (unlike the 0.5-mm ones) they don't short adjacent pins if you put them in a bit cockeyed.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I don't know where Lapp Group Olflex cables are made, but they're marketed in Europe pretty widely and seem to sell direct. Lapp Tannehill in the US.

There are some interesting cables being used for electric bikes, from off-shore.

Alpha does offer xtraguard, if you believe PVC can be flexible. ecoflex, PPE or PU, if you believe PVC is a waste hazard.

What's perfect? Too flexible can be an issue under vibration.

RL

The E91337 looks like an Underwriters' Laboratories file number I think, so may cover all of the cables they had tested in one go. Those usually seem to start with E.

Stranded sensor wire for 4-20 ma industrial sensors is awesomely flexible, supple, and tough.

Steve