The 'Dirty Cables' business could be a huge win for the DIY market, it is a real weak point that folks are constrained to existing cables. With a custom cable you can build interconnects effectively that enable multi-board projects (like the old Cupcake 3D printer from Makerbot) without weird wiring harnesses. That is a cool thing to be coming down the pipe.
I don't quite understand this comment. It's true that cabling can be labor-intensive and require expensive equipment to do properly, but making custom cables isn't really difficult. Certainly not to the point that I'd say they are "constrained to existing cables."
I've had a weird fascination with cable-making ever since I started using large circular connectors so I looked at the Cupcake build sequence guide for cabling. It is odd that they specified RJ45 connectors in some cases, but I put that down to their low cost. Is this what you're referring to?
Typically DIY inter-board cabling is either insulation displacement (IDC), some sort of DB-9/15/25 or a variant of RJ-11/12/45. Heathkit used to have folks build cables with Molex KK crimp on connectors (which was very time consuming) but you could combine things like power lines (AWG22) and signal lines (AWG28) into the cable bundle. Today there is a tremendous number of connectors for which making your own cable is problematic at best, for example the .5mm spaced IDC cables, or the FFC connectors like the camera connector on the RasPi. I looked into getting an LVDS connector for LCDs (typical laptop screen) to something more DIY friendly, tooling was $2500, and cables would be $25 each, minimum 10) Did I want to invest nearly $3K to get one cable? No, but if enough people were interested it gets to be lower cost. Setting up that infrastructure as a service (making cables in small to medium quantity) would be, in my opinion, quite aweseome.
I missed that because all of my cabling needs are easily met by manual assembly: most custom cables I make are for CPC (Circular Plastic Connector) "Cannon" type connectors and the Series III contacts are still doable by hand (although machines do a much better job of crimping). 2mm pitch connectors are the limit of my ability.
My biggest problem is doing a good job in volume. Thankfully I've found a wire processor with very low setup fees.
I used to work in defense electronics and I'd see the huge boards where we hand-assembled mil-spec wiring harnesses. I don't want to say they were easy but it was surprisingly low tech as far as measurement, lacing, etc.
I find that Pololu pre-crimped loose cables are convenient, and they slip right into standard 100 mil pin header housings. For anything up to a few amps, this is a fine kind of connector for DIY projects. For higher power, I use screw terminals and stripped wire, which is not the most convenient, but for things that I don't disconnect often, it works and is cheap and simple.
What's the difference to iteadstudio, seedstudio or elecrow? I ordered boards from these three and found them excellent! Pricing is similar.
But the more of these services, the better I guess.
