Can you cut a Magnetic read head lines and change the connector?

[borges1]

Despite having only one axis of my DRO installed on my mill i'm already pondering how to add a fourth on the quill to get the summing function using TouchDro. So the question is this:

Can you cut the armored cable of a MagnaSlim read head and splice a ribbon connector onto the lines? Then put a new DB9 connector on the armored cable and connect to the F DB9? Anyone done anything similar?

Using the MagnaSlim scale and head it looks to me like i can fit the entire thing inside my PM833 head behind the cover plate. The ribbon wire/connector is needed for flexibility inside the head. Outside the head it would be the newly spliced armored cable end and a guide rod attached to the quill (no scale or read head exposed). This would add a removable connector and a splice to the read head system, but i don't see why it should not work - but i also don't want to chop a calibrated wire or something.

this is the type of ribbon tape im thinking of

 

[Eddyde]

I can't say for certain but IMHO it should work.
I once spliced a piece of round multi conductor cable in between two halves of a ribbon cable for an X-Ray machine control, it worked fine.
I know ribbon cables used for parallel data transmission could be persnickety, as all the wires had to be the same length, but I don't think the data from a read head is transmitted the same way.

 

[markba633csi]

I don't see a problem with cutting and splicing the cable as long as the connections are correct it should work
Ed I've got a machine you can work on- Therac 25
Only used on Sunday by a little old lady for tanning

 

[rwm]

I don't see a problem with cutting and splicing the cable as long as the connections are correct it should work
Ed I've got a machine you can work on- Therac 25
Only used on Sunday by a little old lady for tanning

Isn't that the machine that killed a bunch of people due to software errors and overdosage????

 

[borges1]

Sounds like it probably will work. I just didn't want to dismantle an costly brand new scale and destroy it.

Has anyone removed the armored sheathing in these? I took out the little set screw in the read end, but it didn't do anything at all. that is the only part in the read end I see that can be removed aside from the wipers