On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:08:03 GMT, (GMAN) put
finger to keyboard and composed:

In article , Francis McGrath wrote:
On Jan 1, 10:46 pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
On Jan 1, 10:38 pm, Francis McGrath wrote:

I have a flat ribbon cable in a synthesizer that senses pressure
aftertouch. It lets you play a note, then push harder on the key to
get an extra effect. Well, I put a screw through it. I'd like to
repair it because it's easy to get to the hole, but really hard to
remove the whole cable. The problem is that I don't know what kind of
wire it is or how it works. Since I don't know what it's called, it's
hard to do a google search. I've posted a picture of it
athttp://www.francismcgrath.com/wire.jpg. Can someone tell me what this
kind of wire is called? Secondly, I'd be very interested in learning
how to fix it.

Thanks, Francis

How many conductors are there in the cable, and do you know how to
solder?


Thanks for posting.

There are 2 wires that come out of the blue connector, so I guess that
means 2 conductors. That's part of what makes me confused, there only
appears to be one cable zig-zagging through the wire, but on closer
examination, the zig-zagging part is clear. And yes I can solder.

Francis

WHat you have looks like a rectilinear sensor.

I used to work for a company ( www.spectrasymbol.com ) that used to make
these similar types of parts. They are actually silver and carbon
conductive elements that are silkscreened onto plastic. You cannot solder
this. It called a"Linear Potentiometer" or "Flexible Printed Circuits" or
"Membrane Switch Technology" Remeber the old Atari 400 Keyboards?


The connector is a form of a BERG connector
http://www.bergelect.com

I can see how the membrane pot works ...

http://www.spectrasymbol.com/typo3/s...-it-works.html

.... but how would it sense pressure?

The OP's cable appears to have two adjacent conductors with
interlocking fingers. If the cable was a Hotpot, wouldn't both
conductors need to be directly above each other?

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.