Book on Analog Prototyping techniques

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The latest 'train wreck'

(sorry for the image shack 'fluff'.)

This circuit is a bit organic, with sections growing over time.

The pcb will be a lot nicer!

George H.

Oh yeah. After I had delivered a few prototypes a client found out that they didn't have a generator to exercise it. "Can you design and maybe even build a little gen for us?" ... "Sure" ... "So when could we have it?" ... "How about later this afternoon?" ... "WHAT?"

Shears are a bit brutal plus leave sharp copper edges which slice through skin without you even feeling it. Suddenly there is blood all over. I use a Ridgid scroll saw for that. With a sturdy blade in there so I can cut with gusto. Wear eye protection when you do that.

Ugh. Now that is indeed a bit on the ugly side :-)

But hey, if it works ...

You must have worked with gloves. Normally there'd be dark fingerprints all over the place.

Now, that's MY kind of breadboard!

John S

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Hmm I didn't mean hand shears, but a shear. Meant for cutting sheet metal. We've got one with a 12" blade, but I've used bigger ones that were foot operated. Well something like this,

Hey a little blood is OK... I always just rub it into the circuit. There's this theory that things won't work right till you've bleed on them. :^)

Grin, Thanks!

Yeah data will even go into the newsletter. George H.

Yep, that one should do the trick. The fibers in the FR4 might dull the blade a bit over time so you might get some complaints from the other guys. Might win you an addition to your job description, blade sharpening :-)

That's exactly the way I used to prototype circuits in the 1970s and early 1980s. Most of the old Phase Linear and PWN aurdio companies proto circuits were also done this way in the 1970s. I find the some RF circuits are pretty good done this way but of course a bit more critical placement wise.

AND, it's artistic !

Perf board is of course better if it's going to have to ship somewhere if a PCB takes too long.

boB

No argument that vector board is fast. Since it is for DIPs, one could argue dead bug is nearly as good.

Of course, a board grinder is fast too. ;-)

dead bug is nearly as good.

Is anybody printing PCBs using the CD tray on an inkjet?

--Winston

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Yeah so I'm only 3 or 4 decades behind the times.

I air wired this phase sequence filter... ten sections with 2 RC's in each. It had a certain beauty.

George H.

Am 16.01.2012 21:52, schrieb Joerg:

They are a out of production now. Last Time Buy was about five Years ago...

and

has some similar strips,

but -that- lot of different footprints that WW has had, isn't found anymore :-(

If you find some other companys that sell such stuff, please let me knew!

Jorgen

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(xyz und 123 muß wech)

These are great:

You get a lot of them on one sheet, break-aparts, so are cheap in the long run.

John

Too much inductance for hot RF projects. DanPad 1 and 3 could be skinnied up with a band saw or scroll saw. Unfortunately the chunks are so short that it's difficult to hold these on the saw. And definitely not with the fingers :-)

Now those are cool! RE1020 and RE1210 would be my favorites. Bit expensive, but what can ya do? Best of all, Newark has them:

So thanks, Jorgen, that would mean all is well if my Wainwright stash runs out.

Oh yeah, if the missus calls one has to obey :-)

For hotrod RF stuff Wainwright was better. Their strips were so skinny that you could have grounding leads that are barely longer than the FR-4 thickness. That is also possible with other systems but then you need a saw to cut off any excess "frame". Which is why this here consulting office has a Ridgid scroll saw :-)

For the fast stuff, you have to do it yourself.

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/Sampler1.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/CPW_breadboard.jpg

John

Sometimes I do that, with the Dremel. In case anyone reads this: Wear eye protection and preferably also face protection. Seriously, I've had one of those little disks break and fly off in pieces.

Still trying to get our Labradors to accept the Dremel and the little drum sanders for their nails. You can only briefly touch a few times and then do that every few days so the nails don't become hot. A guide dog family showed us. So far only the big guy accepts it, grudgingly. But he also loves (and licks ...) the super-noisy Dyson vacuum for reasons that completely elude me.

anymore.

The only time I close my office door is when I Dremel copperclad. The noise annoys people.

John

How do you manage the nice straight lines?

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

--Winston

Me being the EMI go-to guy for many clients, they are used to chop shop noises when I show up :-)

Whirrrrr ... screeeeee ... tchingalingaling ... clang

Go easy on the coffee :-)

What I sometimes do is place a cut-off piece of a broomstick on the board and slowly roll my palm over it while grinding. There are also straight-edge guides for a Dremel but I never had one:

That was cut with an x-acto knife against a straightedge, which is a nuisance.

However it's cut, finish with a vigorous rub with a Scotchbrite pad to clean off the burrs and shine the copper for soldering.

I'm going to Discount Builders today for various stuff, and I'll see if any of the Dremel accessories (router things, flexible shaft, cutters) look interesting for cutting copperclad. I still haven't found a really good way to do it.

I'd love to have some sort of pantographic vertical routing thing to freehand clean, depth-controlled cuts in copperclad.

John