Binder is expanding its M5 portfolio with field-wireable and shieldable male and female cable connectors. Users can now assemble the compact circular connectors onto their own cable directly on site – in exactly the length the application requires. With 360° shielding, IP67 degree of protection and low weight, they are designed for locations where space is extremely tight: in end-of-arm tooling, grippers and tools, sensor boxes and camera systems.
“The field-wireable M5 connector gives our customers the flexibility they need on site,” says Guido Werner, Product Manager at binder. “They can pull the unassembled cable through tubes or openings in their application, cut it to the length actually required and then assemble the connector themselves. The effort was worth it. The product has turned out to be a real masterpiece.”
The development was driven by an application that is becoming increasingly common in industry: the smallest possible circular connector that customers can assemble themselves. During development, it became clear that the M5 size was particularly well suited. Once the technical concepts had been assessed as feasible, binder decided to realise the product and add it to the M5 portfolio as a further standard.
A field-wireable connector in M5 size places special demands on the design. It has to be dimensioned so that it can be assembled safely and without errors in the field. At the same time, the shielding and contacts had to be accommodated without exceeding the outer diameter of an M8 connector. The result is a male cable connector approximately 41 millimetres long and a female cable connector approximately 38 millimetres long. During assembly, the cable shield is placed around a shielding ring, the single wires are soldered on and the pressing screw is hand-tightened.
The format also called for precision in production. Production aids, contact bodies and contacts had to be precisely matched to one another. The aim was to ensure that the contacts can be fitted without errors in production and reliably assembled by the customer.
“Binder is currently the only manufacturer offering an available, high-quality industrial solution for a field-wireable connector in this size. Like all our M5 connectors, it complies with the detail specification DIN EN 61076-2-105 and is intermateable with the entire M5 portfolio,” said Werner.
Target markets include special-purpose machine building, robotics including cobots, test and measurement technology, and machine vision. Typical applications range from grippers and end-of-arm tooling to production and packaging machines, optical sensors, industrial quality assurance and 2D/3D and AI camera systems.
