Hi so recently iv have afew projects going on, Im only 30, but the software i was tort on was very simple , PCB wizard and hand drawn circuits ect in electronics class for GCSE. I have tried afew softwares, But the whole doing a circuit , then the testing, then having to import all the parts, move all the parts. Then connecting them up again, if i do use auto route. It gets confused , then i get confused :'D. When all i really want is a pad with a hole in it and a wire connecting the two and il do all the rest.

Obviously im not creating anything complicated, you can do a hell of a lot with afew simple components. Iv made solar charge controllers,inverters, power supplies for electroplating, exfoliating graphite. There not efficient compared to modern standards, but there cheap, easy to fix , and turn around time from idea to finish project can be very quick.

but iv wanted to make a board which was relatively cheap, That i could pick up , do my project and put in a case. Theres lots of options, strip,vero,more bread board like ones. Now nothing can do everything and people fall down a hole trying to do everything. Cost goes up, it looks overly complecated. so for my needs i think it will be great. I am curious if i shared the project if it would interest anyone.

Im also interested in what you use and any new ideas on board protoyping.

Heres the general idea.it isnt pretty but its a mock up.


Kind regards
Rick

 

Im also interested in what you use and any new ideas on board protoyping.

I just design a layout specific for each design and make a board using toner transfer. It removes most of the tedium of connecting components.



If I'm too lazy to do a board, or can't wait to transfer, etch, and drill a board, I just use point to point wiring:


I designed a board, but didn't want to wait. The layout was for 4 discrete flip flops, but I adapted it to be 6 to use up all of the proto board area:


The only advantage to what you propose is that you don't need to think about optimizing component placement. The downside is that you have to strip and solder all of the jumpers and it's going to be as unattractive as the breadboard.

 

I think the only time I make PCB's for my own use is when I am forced to use surface mount components. The last few years I have been using SMD to DIP adapters one hole per donut phenolic board with point-to-point wiring because like dl324 I find point-to-point
wiring to be fined and a lot faster.

 

Vero Strip board for prototypes, see three down, https://www.futurlec.com/Protoboards.shtml
Also placing software is avaialble.
Max.

 

An advantage of doing a layout for the flip flop board was that wire crossings were minimized and I could use bare wire for most of the wiring:

Jumpers were on the top (red) layer. The prototype board was pad per hole, so I put the copper on the top side so I wouldn't have to worry about shorts caused by bare wire touching pads.

Luckily, this board didn't have any shorted pads from manufacturing defects. I later learned that 10-50% of the boards from Ali Express will have one or more shorts...

 

Futurlec is a great company, shipping takes a while but always been happy with there stuff.

I have been using similar boards for my projects, so it's why the layout is similar, but one of my pet peeves was To220 packages. That's why there's a cut in the positive and negitive track, so you can bend the Adjust or base down to the next row.

Say if it was a voltage regulator, then half the board would be input voltage while the other half is regulated.

Also thank you for you comments

 

An advantage of doing a layout for the flip flop board was that wire crossings were minimized and I could use bare wire for most of the wiring:
View attachment 224964
Jumpers were on the top (red) layer. The prototype board was pad per hole, so I put the copper on the top side so I wouldn't have to worry about shorts caused by bare wire touching pads.

Luckily, this board didn't have any shorted pads from manufacturing defects. I later learned that 10-50% of the boards from Ali Express will have one or more shorts...

I know AliExpress did boards, but they always wanted a quote so never bothered. Not promoting any companies here but iv personally tried jlc PCB & PCB way. Mainly small orders though as when they sent me 50 boards of another project. The taxman wanted 30quid.

 

Futurlec is a great company, shipping takes a while but always been happy with there stuff.
(some text removed for clarity)

I don't use them anymore, but I am glad that you are happy with them.

 

Holey Moley. That's some bad luck, I had to wait 3 months for one delivery, but it was a hobby project. So didn't mind waiting. DIP package wise, for older genuine parts , there prices were the best I could find. But that was a couple of years ago

LCSC is also a good site. Not 100% on everything they sell. But for caps, Normally go for 5000hrs @105c , as there relatively cheap. So 5000x2x2x2x2 = 80,000hrs @65c, 9 years.

Your standard jelly bean 2000hrs x2x2x2x2= 32000hr @65c 3.5 years.

There is a huge disparity in price when you go above 5000hr, going from below 10pence a unit to nearly half a pound. 10000hr @65c 18years. Sounds good But is it really worth the huge hike in price

 

I know AliExpress did boards, but they always wanted a quote so never bothered.

I was buying prototyping boards. I've seen listings for PCB manufacture, but given the lack of quality I've seen in the blank boards, I'm not inclined to take a chance on any of them. If I ever have boards made, I'll stick with companies who have a good reputation.

 

I was buying prototyping boards. I've seen listings for PCB manufacture, but given the lack of quality I've seen in the blank boards, I'm not inclined to take a chance on any of them. If I ever have boards made, I'll stick with companies who have a good reputation.

Well one advantage I could see is if you have taken enough Chinese garbage apart. They still use alot of fr1 and Cem1. Bet it could get the price of a board way down

 

There's a project at Hackaday to reproduce or update some of the classic Radio Shack prototyping boards, including one that replicated the layout of a common solderless breadboard. There are adantages of a PCB prototype board - it's much easier to replace components than when wires are twisted and soldered, plus you can use salvaged components with shorter leads.
If I was going to order a batch of boards from someplace cheap in China, I'd include enough mounting hole locations that the board could be cut in half or thirds; pads for 0.1" or 0.156" pitch connectors for power/controls/signal connections.

 

There's a project at Hackaday to reproduce or update some of the classic Radio Shack prototyping boards, including one that replicated the layout of a common solderless breadboard. There are adantages of a PCB prototype board - it's much easier to replace components than when wires are twisted and soldered, plus you can use salvaged components with shorter leads.
If I was going to order a batch of boards from someplace cheap in China, I'd include enough mounting hole locations that the board could be cut in half or thirds; pads for 0.1" or 0.156" pitch connectors for power/controls/signal connections.

Just checked it out here's the link for everyone else https://hackaday.io/project/165498/gallery#bbaf4eaab22149d021b503f3fa452230


I would probably make some changes to it's design. so I'd remove a row of all the pads and have a v score break down the middle.

I was going to put a logo on mine, but was worried it would take up too much real estate, also if worry about the radio shack logo being too close to the pads.

The led I like but it does add some additional cost to the board. The larger terminal block, isn't a bad thing but as in the bottom right of my board there's a place for 4 terminals, so a 4,3 or 2,2 way terminal blocks, also the left center is for a 2 pin terminal block.

Also the whole rail is connected meaning components will have to be moved into the main prototyping area. Mine also has places for banana jack's to be soldered.

but the design and others are pretty inspiring. May give me some more ideas.

 

May give me some more ideas.

I'd remove the RadioShack letters and run two traces down the center so they could be power and ground. Make connections to the IC power pins with short pieces of bare wire. Space the power buses closely enough that some 0805 surface mount caps could be soldered across them for decoupling.

Add a couple pads for power headers.

 

Im on the edge, I have many breadboards that I leave with old projects on them and wouldn’t mind permanently saving them on a PCB version. But if I’m at that stage it’s usually after having changer parts around and no reason for it to be in this format.

The link showed the version the guy made for sale. Too much dead space around the edges and would like a half board option but not v scored as it would break the rails.

 

Im on the edge, I have many breadboards that I leave with old projects on them and wouldn’t mind permanently saving them on a PCB version. But if I’m at that stage it’s usually after having changer parts around and no reason for it to be in this format.

The link showed the version the guy made for sale. Too much dead space around the edges and would like a half board option but not v scored as it would break the rails.

View attachment 226078

I get what you mean, well iv been tinkering with my design, obviously if your going to use it as a normal protoboard you would solder the 3 cut tracks together.



But I added a extra cut track as I could put a protection diode there , also if I ever want to stack the boards, it's good to have the diode, the other top one is for a transistor, MOSFET or current regulator.

Now I have been somewhat biased on my design as I intend to use spade banana jack's, so that's the square pads. But if you wanted to use regular 5mm jack's that's why the 5mm mounting holes are next to the square pads.

 

Oh I know what it’s lacking

1. I would like the ground traces linked below
2. I would like power traces on top and bottom with a jumper that can be removed for dual voltage. A cut trace might be good, I have a project I’m working on that needs 3 voltages
3. it needs labeling area(s) for Sharpie

 

iv been tinkering with my desig

You should consider the benefit of having both power rails go down the center channel. That gives you maximum convenience and flexibility for connecting power and ground to IC's and decoupling cap (SMT) placement.

Me - I'll stick with a custom layout for each circuit. I have one of those solderless breadboard layout boards that came with a lot of things I bought on eBay. I'll probably never use it.

 

Will get too it , the dual middle rails have given me a idea to make the design slot better, watch this space.

 

The SOP8, SOT23 and 1206. There is no hole drilling and top side track access is convenient.

Thru hole is still useful and hole drilling is still needed but not exclusive
Going from solderless plug board to solder board does ensure good contact and cleaner prototype.
The use of small grommets gives better top to bottom connection and a place to solder where no copper is available.

An assortment of the most universal thru hole solder pads and their break out with printed top side leads significantly toward
getting the board closer to a completed design. It takes time to learn a database with all the parts with associated pads.

Having an extensive variety of breakouts keeping breadboarding to a minimum. Reducing time spent revising the board can be done on paper with a print out, white out, pencil and eraser this will improve productivity. Some of the most productive days I noticed I made a lot of eraser dust.