Need advice on issues with a 40pin 0.5mm pitch FPC cable and its adapter

[Turlough]

Just some context, I am rather new to working with electronics and would hope I'd be able to get some advice from more experienced people.
I am currently working on a project which involves taking a DVD/CD optical pickup and connecting up with it via its FPC cable which is usually connected to the DVD drive's main circuit board.
My issue is that the FPC cable is not connecting at all to the adapter I am currently using and I am unsure if soldering on an SMT FPC connector is a possibility in case it damages the adapter I am working with.

Overview of optical pickup:

FPC Cable that I am trying to connect to:

FPC Cable attached on to the adapter:

The adaptor:

 

[(*steve*)]

Do you have a socket for that cable that you can solder to the adapter board?

 

[Turlough]

Do you have a socket for that cable that you can solder to the adapter board?

The sockets I am using that correspond to each of the 40 pins are located along the adapter, the task of soldering all 40 is done and I have checked that the connections between the surface pads for each socket work using an Ohmmeter.
I have also probed pins that I know correspond to actuators to verify if the FPC works, which it does but when I try to firmly tape the fpc to the pads present on the adaptor the fpc fails to connect.
I hope I answered your question correctly.

 

[kellys_eye]

You're using copper tape to hold it down - is it shorting across an tracks? Equally, you're pushing the connector strip down where the other solder pads (of different pitch) are situated - no shorts there I presume?

Lastly, if you've over-stressed the flat ribbon you may have broken the tracks where the tape comes off the 'support' strip that is, effectively, the plug end of the ribbon.

 

[Turlough]

You're using copper tape to hold it down - is it shorting across an tracks? Equally, you're pushing the connector strip down where the other solder pads (of different pitch) are situated - no shorts there I presume?

Lastly, if you've over-stressed the flat ribbon you may have broken the tracks where the tape comes off the 'support' strip that is, effectively, the plug end of the ribbon.

I have discovered what is required to maintain a connection, it is more downwards pressure to push the pin and the pad close together that it requires. When coming back to my set up today I came across this. Now my only issue is that the tape only applies pressure mainly on the sides of the cable so only the very first and last pins are working at the moment.
Thank you for your suggestions and aid!

 

[kellys_eye]

You really should SOLDER the connections - that's what the board is meant for.