From breadboard to soldering

22 is pretty klunky for electronics. I mostly use 30ga insulated wire-wrap wire on protos. "Teeth were invented before wire strippers."

I make my own proto boards by Dremeling copperclad FR4. I like all the parts and wires on the same side, in plain sight.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

You'll be much happier with #26 tinned solid wire for on-board connections and tinned #24 stranded for off-board. I usually wire up through-hole protos mostly with the scraps of clipped-off leads littering the bench, but I also have a roll of #26 bare solid tinned copper wire.

Nasty phenolic stuff, untinned, single-sided--as a beginner you'll cook the pads off it when you solder. You'd be better off with these:

Those ones are FR4, two-sided, tinned, and have plated-through holes, so they're much harder to damage. They're also cheaper. ;)

If you're going to use sockets, use the good ones with the machined jacks. The folded-metal ones get flaky.

Also, get some Kester 44 63/37 tin-lead solder. I never use anything else.

This is 60/40, which is the old standard, but it works fine and it's three bucks. It's the RA flux that really counts.

An RA flux pen is super useful for when your joints get crudded up because you've overheated them or soldered them too many times, or when you're using old-stock components whose tinning has oxidized over time. This one is MG Chemicals #835, which is what I use as liquid flux.

Good luck with it!

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net

That will work, so will an ordinary perforated board, you just run the leads of the passive parts on the connection side to the active parts (IC socket in your case)

Everyone develops their own techniques. For linear circuits passive components supply all the connections, for digital I like using a board that has plated-through holes.

But for you, maybe something that closely approximates your breadboard might be appropriate.

Back in olden times, we'd drive brass escutcheon pins or wire brads into actual wood boards then solder to the top of the nail heads. We didn't have that plastic malarkey to prototype with, and tube sockets were easier to mount to wood boards. I never used an actual "bread-board" but plywood and Masonite (the latter for panels to hold meters, switches and such)

I'd probably use stranded 24 AWG tinned insulated wire for jumpers.

May help to take a picture of what actually works, just in case...

Neat. What bit are you using in the Dremel?

I don't know how much experience you have with soldering so here's some advice about it: Remember to use plenty of heat to get the job done fast. This is really important because heat causes oxidation which then prevents the solder from sticking. So get in and oput as fast as possible. The main job of flux is to clean oxides from the metals to be soldered AND to absorb oxygen during the soldering process. The longer the flux is kept hot the more oxygen the flux absorbs until it saturates. Then it is no good. Oftentimes adding more flux won't fix things because the saturated and burnt flux prevents the new flux from getting to the metal. Then the only option is to clean the burnt flux off by wiping or othger mechanical means. Once the burnt flux is removed the joint can be refluxed and soldered. The above info applies to all soldering done with fluxes. Like soldering copper pipe and silver soldering steel, for example. Eric

Those boards are much better quality. However they are just single holes. I like the boards that are made similar to the phenolic with the copper traces spaced so that 3 or 4 holes in line are already together. Not sure if you can find any like that or not. I did not check to see. Just have not done that building in a while. Seems like most of my building had just been hooking togetehr modules with the Arduino processor boards.

Concerning the bare wire. Is there a worry about something accidentally pushing it against the board and shorting out or is it stiff enuf?

If I go with the Prototype Solderless 8X12cm PCB Board, how do I connect to other parts from an IC? In my example some of the pins need connections to 3 other areas.

Andy

Carbide dental burr with a rounded rice-shaped end. They are cheap on Amazon or ebay and last about forever.

Every year or so I have one of our PCB houses gold plate a square foot of copperclad FR4, and I shear that up as needed. It looks and solders great and doesn't tarnish.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

For off-board, I like SMB connectors or 2-56 screws sticking up from below. Some of the screws bond top and bottom grounds. I alligator clip lead onto the screws for power and ground and whatever. That avoids having a bin full of old protos and tangled wires.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

You do great work.

I am very impressed. :-)

If you accidentally cut too much copper off, can it be repaired?

Andy

We assign a part number to every breadboard or experiment, and archive that on a server. Whiteboard sketches, photos, scope photos, measurements, graphs, and occasionally an actual PCB layout. No point losing this expensive info, and everybody gets to share it.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

It isn't going on a Saturn rocket... You don't use bare wire where it may cause shorts but a lot depends on the application.

If it needs to be bullet-proof it gets potted in epoxy or silicone, if it needs to be rugged and semi-damp proof it gets coated with a varnish (but not the switches, sockets, connectors, etc.) If it is going underwater I use wax or mineral oil to protect the circuitry, or hermetic seals with a backfill of dry nitrogen if it has a camera or something that would be harmed by condensate.

I use sealed plastic enclosures that are gasketed for use outdoors in weather and make all the holes on the bottom if possible or use waterproof switches etc..

Common sense... We get hurricanes here so I design for hurricanes.

They do make gasketed plastic enclosures with clear plastic covers. They may be a good choice for what you are doing.

I read the responses and they are valid but consider the source. Many of th ese people are pros who put out a thousand boards at the drop of a hat.

There is this outfit called Jameco that had(s) circuit boards that are laye d out with foil just like a breadboard. I found them before but couldn't ri ght now and I ain't got all day. I did find this, it may help;

Sorry about the URL all frigged up if you can't handle it. Copy and past OR just do a Google search for "breadboard to pc jameco". (no quotes) From th ere you can get into the category. I found it hard to find from their homep age so I let Google handle it and they did.

The idea here is the PC is layed out just like a breadboard, so if it worke d there it will work there. In fact most of the interelectrode capacitances should be about the same as well in case it matters. The contact inductanc e will vary though, you will have a much better connect on the PC board. An d forget the lead free solder, that is for when you are building millions o f something. For this don't make the trouble for yourself. If you were maki ng a million of them you wouldn't be here asking us so I think it is safe t o assume there will only be a few, or one. Not a problem but if it is a mil lion it is a different story.

I just happened to find at Jameco's site what I found before and was going to use for a project. They have different sizes and all kinds of shit, you just have to look.

I have no affiliation with them I am just telling you that I found them loo king for what I think you are looking for. That one is like 300 holes, it i s not huge. They got them bigger and if they don't have one big enough for your brainstorm then you use more than one.

For four bucks I think it is a pretty good choice for one offs.

I am using solder that has flux built in. Is that ok?

I think I got it from Radio Shack years ago.

Andy

Depends on how long they are. Use the bare wire for short connections and insulated stuff for longer ones.

I nearly always use dead-bug construction on plain copperclad, because you get 8 nice beefy standoffs for every op amp. Perf board is slower and flakier.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net

these people are pros who put out a thousand boards at the drop of a hat.

yed out with foil just like a breadboard. I found them before but couldn't right now and I ain't got all day. I did find this, it may help;

OR just do a Google search for "breadboard to pc jameco". (no quotes) From there you can get into the category. I found it hard to find from their hom epage so I let Google handle it and they did.

ked there it will work there. In fact most of the interelectrode capacitanc es should be about the same as well in case it matters. The contact inducta nce will vary though, you will have a much better connect on the PC board. And forget the lead free solder, that is for when you are building millions of something. For this don't make the trouble for yourself. If you were ma king a million of them you wouldn't be here asking us so I think it is safe to assume there will only be a few, or one. Not a problem but if it is a m illion it is a different story.

g to use for a project. They have different sizes and all kinds of shit, yo u just have to look.

ooking for what I think you are looking for. That one is like 300 holes, it is not huge. They got them bigger and if they don't have one big enough fo r your brainstorm then you use more than one.

Thanks. On thinking, that board does limit the number of things you can ins ert since so many holes are connected.

I will stick with the other type use this wire.

TINNED COPPER WIRE 26GA SOFT 1 OZ 90 FT. SOLID COPPER ,BEADING & WRAPPING W IRE

I like the idea of not having to strip wire. I have lost much wire using a cheap wire stripper.

And with solid wire I will not have to "twist" it each time before solderin g.

All it takes is a single strand that I missed to cause problems.

I think I am getting addicted to electronics.

Andy

Andy

That's exactly the stuff you should use.

Even better. Probably the good old high lead content formulation.

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Good.

I hold my breath when soldering.

I thought about turning on a fan but was afraid it would slow down soldering.

Andy