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I was sifting through some stuff I got from a friend whose uncle was a professor of electrical engineering and found a few of these 2.54 mm pitch prototyping cables (commonly known as 'Dupont' cables) which are female-to-female but have a removable male pin.

I've looked for variations of the cable name with the word 'removable' but have had no luck. I can find plenty of male-to-male cables but I believe all those male pins are part of the crimped connector and not removable, but I may be wrong.

I can probably get regular female-to-female cables and get the pins separately as well.

How can I find and purchase either the female-to-female cables with the detachable pins, or the detachable pins alone?

cable with pin in cable with pin out

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I believe this is a female single-pin connector along with a single 25 mil square pin, probably taken out of a pin header like this one:

enter image description here

(image source, just a random part on digikey)

They don't come out easily, but with pliers and a bit of force you can pull the individual pins out.

As an aside, I'm not sure why people call these Dupont connectors. As far as I can determine, Dupont never actually made them. The largest manufacturer of them today is probably either Amphenol, TE Connectivity, or maybe Molex.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks Hearth. After your post I took a closer look at the pins and I think you're right. The ends of the pins are tapered and machine-cut. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Nov 26, 2022 at 22:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ "They don't come out easily," They do when you heat them with a heat gun or the side of a soldering iron. \$\endgroup\$
    – Davide Andrea
    Nov 26, 2022 at 23:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DavideAndrea Good idea! I hadn't thought of doing that. But then, I don't often find myself in need of the bare pins. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hearth
    Nov 26, 2022 at 23:04
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I suspect that the pin has broken off the rest of the contact inside the housing - I haven't seen that sort of contact with an intentionally-removable pin.

The contacts for those plastic housings should be readily available from anyone selling the housings. There will be both male and female insertable contacts - you crimp the contact on the wire before inserting it in the connector housing.

Connector housings, both single and multi-pin, and matching contacts, should be available from electronic distributors like Digikey or Mouser (in US and Canada - other companies elsewhere).

There are many variations between makers - don't use company A's contacts in company B's housings.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks Peter for confirming these aren't common, this solidifies the suspicions I had. These aren't broken off pins though: I have a few of these wires and all of them have the same detachable pin and the crimped connectors are all female (no broken male crimp connectors). I think Hearth is probably right, the pins are tapered at the ends as if they came from a header. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Nov 26, 2022 at 22:48

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