Splice: Cable Harness Design Made Simple

Hi all -

Nate, thanks for sharing this - I actually posted this over here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44417587) a few days ago.

Regarding pricing, etc. - right now we're limiting users to 50 harnesses per account. There are no plans to charge for usage below this amount with the current features. I'm hoping people find the tool useful and we can use the feedback to improve it.

You can can get in touch here: info@splice-cad.com

Re mate vs wire side, that's just my preference - no ambiguity in orientation!

Maybe a modernization of terms, such as replacing "master/slave" terminology with "controller/worker" or similar in various computing or mechanical systems?

They specify different things. The wire side of a bulkhead connector may be male or female. Some connectors (i.e. the Molex ones you used to see at Radio Shack) are even designed so you can make a custom arrangement of male/female contacts within one connector housing.

I suppose this is about different thing: male/female are about two parts of connector mating together. And each of these parts has mating side (to the other) and side where wires come in. This is the first time I see this distinction though (usually only mating side is considered)...

That is a separate issue. There are (at least) four different distinctions in cable connectors:

1. Jack vs plug. The "plug" side is the side that moves. The "jack" side is the side that doesn't move, or moves less. Think of a wall outlet: the "jack" is the outlet and the "plug" is the, well, plug.

2. Male housing vs female housing. The "male" housing goes into the "female" housing. Simple enough (if you don't have to explain it to your six-year-old...).

3. Male terminal vs female terminal. Again, the male goes into the female. But the little conductive pins don't have to (and, often, don't) match the gender of the housing itself. Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 is an excellent connector series that is notorious for having the terminal gender reversed from the housing gender. (And of course, both genders of crimp terminal are available.) This can cause problems if your communication is not perfect, but is still good enough that people actually think they can trust you.

4. Mating view vs wire view. "Mating view" is the view that you'd see if you were sitting on top of the mating connector, just before you got squished. "Cable view" is the view that you'd see if you were riding on the wiring behind the housing. They are mirror images of one another. It can be impossible to tell from a pinout drawing which view it is, even if there is a polarization feature (pin 1 marks are often OK, latches are usually not), so you HAVE to say. The "component view" vs "solder side view" distinction (among other names) is analogous for PCB mount connectors.

All of these issues are but a small part of what makes connectors utterly horrible to deal with. They have wasted more time, money, and effort than you will ever know.