Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Stiff ribbon cable brands / part numbers?
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T3sl4co1l:
Devil's advocate position:

Floppy is better.

Consider: it doesn't take up strain, and is more flexible (more range of motion for less fatigue) than the stiff stuff.

It's easier to secure onto walls.  Which is really what you want to do.  Don't give it a chance to fatigue in the first place!

Explanation of fatigue: many metals have no fatigue limit, meaning, for some degree of strain (deformation), there will always be a point of failure, though it may take some unbelievable number like 10^14 cycles for it to finally fracture.  Therefore, less strain is better.

For a spring, force (stress in the material) is proportional to strain.  Therefore, more force resulting from a given strain means more risk of fatigue.

("Aha!", you will say, as this is the critical part: the amount of force depends on how much material is in that spring.  Whether this line of argument is actually true, depends on the geometry.  It may well not be! :) )

As for securing, anything will do: wire ties (hard to keep flat; more than good enough if you curl the cable into a round, assuming it can be routed that way and the greater line-to-line coupling isn't an issue), double-stick tape (3M VHB foam tape is exquisite), clips or other mechanical features to strain-relief or trap or clamp the cable, etc.

Tim
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