I would like to use surface mount IC's of the SOIC type on a solderless breadboard. The frequencies involved are audio up to maybe 1MHz.
Commercially made adapters are available, but expensive.
Does anyone have any clever, low cost solutions for this?
Is there any kind of clamping or adhesive system that would not require soldering the SM component?
Kevin Foster
I like the Bellin adapter boards. I think they have some nice breakaway assortments.
I don't think you can avoid soldering.
I hate those solderless breadboards.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Ick. Why not just do it dead-bug?
SOICs aren't as easy as DIPs for that, but if you stagger their leads (like setting saw teeth) and don't torque them too hard, they work fine.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
Hi Kevin,
from earlier days I have a few wired wrap sockets that are very good for such use. I place the SMD devices like "dead buck" on the topside of such a socket and use after testing hot glue to fix the construction mechanically.
Marte
SOIC pins are not all that hard to solder. It's the VSOP that start to get hard, but I'm told even those can be done with a decent amount of flux and you just drag a bead of solder across the pins with the iron. Surface tension does the rest usually.
-- Rick C
You shouldn't really be using those solderless breadboards for anything, even audio.
Audio circuits will work great if you build them on a piece of perfboard with plated holes on the underside, stick a 100nF capacitor between each rail and ground near to the supply pins, and connect everything up using "runs" of solder for the power and ground lines and very thin solid-core jumpers for the interconnects. Just learn to love the soldering iron, accept it, and build somewhat more permanent prototypes.
For SOICs, at Sparkfun you can buy a 4 pack of 8 pin adapters, or a single 20 pin adapter for around $3, so unless you're using dozens of them that certainly fits my definition of "low cost."
What's expensive? Lots of options at DK.
George H.
Chips in SO8 (50 mil pin distance) are no big problem. You can solder short pieces of 0.4 mm wire on the pins and bend the wires so that they fit into a precision dip socket.
-- Dipl.-Inform(FH) Peter Heitzer, peter.heitzer@rz.uni-regensburg.de
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