Hi Piclisters,

I often use 0.1 male headers, female sockets and pins to make 
interconnects, jumpers and other wiring connections between boards or 
between boards and i/o devices. I like them because they fit on 
breadboards during prototyping, they are flexible (Make ok board 
connectors for example) and cheap.

Lately though, I have been making a lot of them for various experiments 
and it's starting to be a real pain to attach the wires to the pins. In 
the past I ignored this because I never made more than 1 or 2 at a time. 
At the moment, I need to build quite a few and my failure rate is too 
high. It's also taking me *WAY* too long to build simple 3 and 4 wire 
interconnects.

My current technique is to carefully strip my wire, crimp the connector 
to the insulation then  solder the wire. If I am not *VERY* careful, the 
pin does not fit the female socket. The pins tend to stick, twist or 
fall out. If it matters, I generally use cat5 network cable - I pull out 
as many conductors as I need, cut to length and attach my connectors. I 
use the cat5 for two reasons: I have a 1000' spool (that's the big 
reason :) ) and I find that it's a versatile hookup wire in general.

I have been looking for a tool, techniques or maybe a better brand of 
pins so I can make my life easier. I would appreciate any suggestions.

If you have the current Jameco catalog, see page 126 for the headers and 
pins I use. A typical part number is 108337 (header) and 675850 
(housing) and a variety of pins.

I would really like to get a proper tool to do the job but would like to 
avoid being locked into a specific brand of connector or a very 
expensive tool.

Appreciate your help!
Chris Levin
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