I have the little audio fx board from adafruit. I'd like to make it's end of the job a little more permanent, leaving me the freedom to mix and match buttons and such on a bread board.

The pins are small. Can anyone provide a good place to start reading to learn about putting this sort of thing together? It came with the header pins in plastic that can be broken off to size. I'm also thinking my iron's tip is too large for this job.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2133

There's a picture there against a US quarter to give it some scale.

 

Board in question:


There's nothing particularly difficult about soldering pads that size. The difficulty will be if you ever need to remove something where the small pad size could be problematic, i.e. lift easily.

Just use a small tip on your iron, e.g. conical, and use good technique.

Regarding the "snap apart" headers. You'll probably have a better experience if you use a cutter. Wire cutters can sometimes be used, but cutters like this would be better:

 

So would it be easier to solder pins to this and then just press into a breadboard or just solder this to its on perf board and then set that atop the bread board? I've got two different projects that need this fx board...trying to find a middle ground.

 

use header pins and turn it into a "shield", or vice-versa.

but yes, if you solder header pins with long side down, it presses into breadboard perfectly.

if you want the Fx to be motherboard and want to push on shields, the mail pins go onto the shield board (aka daughter card) and female header pins get soldered to the Fx board with female ends up.

the Adafruit forums has all this info

 

So would it be easier to solder pins to this and then just press into a breadboard or just solder this to its on perf board and then set that atop the bread board?

It depends on how it will be used.

Male header pins soldered to the board would allow it to be plugged into a breadboard, but female stackable headers would allow it to be plugged into a breadboard and have the signals be available from the female headers.

 

It depends on how it will be used.

Male header pins soldered to the board would allow it to be plugged into a breadboard, but female stackable headers would allow it to be plugged into a breadboard and have the signals be available from the female headers.

For flexibility in situations like this, I really like the stackable header. You get to keep all your options open.

 

I mostly use male pin headers on those kind of boards but you should verify if the board will fit in a solderless breadboard. There should be room on either side.

On breaking the "snappable" headers, I use 2 pairs of needle nose pliers on either side of the place I want to break them. Leave a little room (< 1/2 the spacing between pins) and then snap. Or lay the header flat and press a utility knife where you want the cut. The pieces will fly so I put fingers on either side.

 

does that secure the fx board okay to the bread board? I know it has screw holes in each corner for mounting.

 

28 header pins poking into a solderless breadboard will be pretty solid. It will take a reasonable amount of force to pry it out. Though, SBBs are not intended for a permanent set up. Some people do it and it works ok for them. But, SBBs have a habit of not being stable over the long run. Usually requires some fussing.

 

28 header pins poking into a solderless breadboard will be pretty solid. It will take a reasonable amount of force to pry it out. Though, SBBs are not intended for a permanent set up. Some people do it and it works ok for them. But, SBBs have a habit of not being stable over the long run. Usually requires some fussing.

+1

i test on bboard and then move it to a perf board where i solder all the wires.