Breadboarding region recommendations?

Thread Starter

Roderick Young

Joined Feb 22, 2015
408
Hi, I'm about to go to fab on a hobby PC board, but have a free area on it that is 0.77" x 0.585" . I would like to put some spare footprints in it, in case I want to fix something later. Any suggestions as to what I should put there? The entire board is about 9" x 9", consisting almost entirely of analog (dc-dc converter) circuitry. I was thinking I should at least put down some 1206 surface mount pads. Anything else?
 

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
Maybe a SOT-23 or two? I suppose it all depends on what is it that you're most likely to want to "fix" in the future, and what sorts of components that might require.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,845
I'd try to fit in something that would accommodate a range of parts; a derivative of these for instance:
207378 (1).jpg 207360.jpg
BTW, if anyone is looking to make their own SMT to SIP adapters, I have a number of the lead frames (pins) for barter or sale.
 

Thread Starter

Roderick Young

Joined Feb 22, 2015
408
I'd try to fit in something that would accommodate a range of parts; a derivative of these for instance:
View attachment 93519 View attachment 93518
BTW, if anyone is looking to make their own SMT to SIP adapters, I have a number of the lead frames (pins) for barter or sale.
Good idea, I'll try to put an SOIC-8 on there. But your little adapter board gave me an idea. I could just put some holes there spaced at 100 mils, and if I ever need something else, could go to a standup board like your adapter.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,234
Murphy's Law pretty much dictates that the features available for update/trouble shooting/repair/expansion will always be just a bit fewer than you need.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,845
I've put in an SOT-23 footprint.
I'm working on a SIP adapter for some P MOSFETs I picked up in a lot of SMT components and found that they were in an SOT-416 package which is about half the size of SOT-23. So I made an adapter that would accommodate both packages:
upload_2015-10-26_10-55-52.png
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,845
I'll try to put an SOIC-8 on there. But your little adapter board gave me an idea. I could just put some holes there spaced at 100 mils, and if I ever need something else, could go to a standup board like your adapter.
FWIW, I grabbed those pictures from jameco.com. They used to have more variety; so now I'm designing my own.

The pads for 0603 and 0805 are close enough that you could use the 0805 footprint for both. I'm drawing some SIP adapters that will accommodate 0603, 0805, or 1206 by merging the 3 footprints as I did for my SOT-23/SOT-416 adapter.
 

Thread Starter

Roderick Young

Joined Feb 22, 2015
408
FWIW, I grabbed those pictures from jameco.com. They used to have more variety; so now I'm designing my own.

The pads for 0603 and 0805 are close enough that you could use the 0805 footprint for both. I'm drawing some SIP adapters that will accommodate 0603, 0805, or 1206 by merging the 3 footprints as I did for my SOT-23/SOT-416 adapter.
Thanks, but I'm trying to avoid really tiny stuff. 20 years ago, I could read the numbers on 0603's without glasses, and hand solder 20-mil QFP's. Nowadays, even an 0805 presents a challenge, even with tweezers and a magnifier. All my resistors are 1206, even if there is negligible power running through them.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,845
Thanks, but I'm trying to avoid really tiny stuff. 20 years ago, I could read the numbers on 0603's without glasses, and hand solder 20-mil QFP's. Nowadays, even an 0805 presents a challenge, even with tweezers and a magnifier.
Old age and 4 decades of long days staring at computer monitors has taken a toll on my vision. I use a lighted magnifier to read the markings on most small components. Fortunately, my hands are still steady and manipulating 0603 and SOT-416 aren't a problem (yet).
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,234
Old age and 4 decades of long days staring at computer monitors has taken a toll on my vision. I use a lighted magnifier to read the markings on most small components. Fortunately, my hands are still steady and manipulating 0603 and SOT-416 aren't a problem (yet).
I have an awesome stereo microscope for doing this kind of stuff. Even with my old eyes, I can place and solder 0402's with ease.

Luckily, my hands don't shake.
 

Thread Starter

Roderick Young

Joined Feb 22, 2015
408
So many great ideas! This is what I'm finally going with:
proto-area.GIF
There wasn't room for a larger SOIC, but I was able to get an 8-pin one on the underside, and connect it to pins on a 100-mil grid. There is one SOT23 footprint, with connections to what might be future base, collector, or emitter resistors. I've got two resistors in series, and two in parallel, plus 3 more footprints connected to nothing to the left (those without reference designators on the silkscreen). Finally, there's one surface mount trim pot. I used minimum width (10-mil) traces throughout, so that they would be easy to cut if the need arose.
 
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