Date: 02:25 AM GMT, 04/22/2006

From: Jenny Buck"

I received two answers to my request, thank you to responders!

j

*******************

Have you heard of small gauge coax? It's basically an assembly of small-gauge wires that are individually shielded, like miniature coaxial cable, and bundled together like a ribbon cable. It can be rolled up, spread flat, or both, and has pretty much the same bending radius as any other standard cable or wire, very good flexibility. It's used in place of FPC or FFC in hinges and swivels in laptops, PDAs and cell phones. I think it's generally cheaper than shielded FPC, much more durable, and also better shielding since each wire itself is shielded. You can also have the "twin coax" with two wires inside each shield, for differential pair applications like LVDS.

You can see some here:

http://www.tmpnorthwest.com/tmpsales.html

(look at the CABLINE series, etc. at the top, and also the CAB-SS/V near

the bottom)

It's made by I-PEX:

http://www.i-pex.co.jp/c1-e.htm

though I think there are some other manufacturers out there as well.

- from Mike Clark

*******************

I have faced the same problem before. I used 3 layer flex cable. Top and bottom layer is solid with vias down the sides, with the cable in the middle.

like... http://www.pioneercircuits.com/flex-rigid.htm or http://www.allflexinc.com/per.shtml

- from Alan Carlson by way of Dave Barnard