Cut tape or tape and reel?

[R_C]

Can anyone explain or point me to a good description of cut tape and tape and reel packaging? I'm using quite a few molex connectors in my project and these crimp connectors. If I buy them in bulk packaging they are 10 cents each in quantities of 100, which is a bit steep. I can't recall where, but I once bought them where the crimp side ends were connected to a metal tape and they were easy to break off with a few bends. Is that tape and reel packaging? Digikey shows a 10,000 minimum quantity for tape and reel so I bought some with cut tape packaging to try. But these were attached together opposite the crimp side and I found it extremely difficult to cut them with snips and get them to fit in the connector housing. I'm just trying to cut costs and two or three cents apiece would help but I don't understand the packaging types and can't find a good description. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Warpspeed]

Your best bet might be to go straight to Molex and see what they can provide in bulk, and the relative costs.

They probably will not sell to you direct, but they might be able to tell you who they do supply them to, and buy them there.

 

[Mr RB]

The cut tape will be the same product as the tape and reel, but they cut it. The supplier just cuts lengths off a reel for customers that don;t want to pay for a whole reel.

ie the place the metal tape attaches to each device will be the same.

 

[R_C]

Thanks for the replies. That saved me from considering a whole reel of 10,000 that I can't cut from the tape. I just wish I could find the connectors I once had that were attached to the tape at the crimp end. Those were easy to separate from the tape. Contacting Molex is a good idea.