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 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software » Developers' Corner
Prototyping Board vs Experimenters Board
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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
Posts: 118
Location: france

PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:47 pm    Post subject: Prototyping Board vs Experimenters Board Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I use proto boards/stripboards with conducting lines, but I am curious how you use this kind of experimenters boards with only holes:
http://www.futurlec.com/Pictures/EXPBRD.jpg

I see the advantage of having more connection choice than with lines, but my first impression is, as there are no lines (holes pre-connected), it doesn't make much sense to solder a wire on top of the component.
I mean if you have an opamp pin connected to a resistor leg, you put the opamp, the resistor on the front, solder them in the back and you also solder a wire in the back between pin and leg ? I mean you then have plenty of wires crossing (not even sure so many will hold well). I guess I am missing something, this is why I prefer to ask here.
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blue hell
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

What you'd usually do is that you bend the resistor wire to the op amp pin, then cut it to length and solder it together.

When it is all ICs you will use lots of wire of course, but the advantage is that you are all free in your routing whereas with traces you would have to cut them and think in advance.

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Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.
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PHOBoS



Joined: Jan 14, 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:02 am    Post subject: Re: Prototyping Board vs Experimenters Board Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

perf FTW! Cool
Well it's both perfboard but I perfer the pad per hole stuff. Stripboard works pretty fast if you allready have a layout, and for simple circuits it's
not too hard to design. But it can be rather difficult if you have a lot of components and it'll take up a more space then when you'd use
pad-per-hole perf. Which is one thing I like about it, you can make circuits pretty compact. Another advantage is that you can make changes to it. It
can be a bit of a hassle to desolder sometimes, but it's possible to reroute the circuit or add components later on (a big advantage compared to etched PCB's).

As for how you wire it up there are different methods. I've seen boards where the components were lined up nice and very close together and the
bottom was indeed a mess of wires. Or sometimes people just start soldering and add components along the way, soldering them together
directly if possible or use wires if necessary. What I do is design a layout with a 0.1" grid and then build that on perf. It's a bit more work but gives
a nice result. And if circuits don't work right away it's easier to check if you have a layout design.


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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

@Blue Hell: thank you !!!

@PHOBoS: thank you too !!!
I did not think about the way shown on your picture, because I only thought direct connections with crossing diagonals. This is the reason why I was concerned by the fact that many wires would cross themselves together, but in your picture you show a solution where they don't. It looks more like a circuit (as seen on PCB) which makes really sense to me. I am really glad I asked here !

Are you using resistor legs to "wire" and connect or you have to take another material to make longer connections ?
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PHOBoS



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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

rogerlatur wrote:
Are you using resistor legs to "wire" and connect or you have to take another material to make longer connections ?

yes and yes. I mostly just bend the legs but they're not always long enough or sometimes there are no legs to use (like connections between IC's). In
that case I use some stripped wire (currently using some CAT5 cable for that), and I also keep the longer legs that I cut off which can come in handy.

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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
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Location: france

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

PHOBoS wrote:
rogerlatur wrote:
Are you using resistor legs to "wire" and connect or you have to take another material to make longer connections ?

yes and yes. I mostly just bend the legs but they're not always long enough or sometimes there are no legs to use (like connections between IC's). In
that case I use some stripped wire (currently using some CAT5 cable for that), and I also keep the longer legs that I cut off which can come in handy.

Good to know !
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analog_backlash



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I don't know how you do it PHOBoS. I'm too embarrassed to send a photo of my attempts at protoboarding, as they all have multicoloured spaghetti on the back Embarassed . Perhaps my mind isn't organised enough (or perhaps I need to plan them out first?).

Gary
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PHOBoS



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Planning in advance makes a huge difference. If I would just put the components on it, it would quickly become a mess of wires too. And it gets
easier if you've been doing it for while, although when I start designing a layout I do sometimes get a "how the hell am I gonna get that all connected Shocked "
thought.

I'm using sprintlayout 3.0 btw, which was freeware (I think you can still get it here).

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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yeah, the picture you posted here is really a nice example !
Worth the time you spent for the planning.
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blue hell
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Don't look too much at all that PHOBoS neatness, just do it like :

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Wink

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also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
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PHOBoS



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

ah yes, that's a nice example of:
Quote:
I've seen boards where the components were lined up nice and very close together and the
bottom was indeed a mess of wires


here's something similar but less messy (not by me):
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Great pictures posted here !

And I was worried by "wires crossing in diagonals"... Haha !
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yogi



Joined: Jun 26, 2008
Posts: 29
Location: Maryland

PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

PHOBos' first photo is just beautiful, wish my boards looked so good. But most times I'm happy if they JUST work Wink
Most the time, mine look like a cross between the last two postings, but mostly it has to do with what I working on. An analog hf circuit has to be neater then a digital one.
For ICs I like some of the boards with 3-holes-per-pad, far less effort connecting to the pins. They are a little harder to source at a low price.
I have also used 2mm copper foil tape to lay out PWR/GND buss runs. Busses for rows of IC, then wires interconnecting multiple rows.
Strip board construction yields larger boards but you really need to plan it out. I can't recall the name ATM, but I remember seeing a nice lay-out CAD prog for strip boards, looked like the way to go.
Yogi
EDIT: after following some links about Sprint Layout (TNKs PHOBos!) The makers of Sprint also make LochMaster strip board layout. Looks very nice.
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/produkte.html
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rogerlatur



Joined: Dec 22, 2012
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I just googled for "2mm copper foil tape": never heard about this, but very interesting ! I am going to check the details.

On MAC I used DIYLC to plan. It is cross-platform and under GNU GPL license (freeware/donation).
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