Solder Header to Perfboard

Thread Starter

mbird

Joined Jan 29, 2009
35
An odd problem...

I got some perfboard to try with single-sided copper pads. I can place my components on the non-padded side, stick their leads through and solder their tails. But... now I want to have a header soldered on to the padded side so I can plug my little board into my breadboard. The problem is... how can I solder the header onto the perfboard when the plastic cage is in the way? (the header plastic bar rests on the row of pads so there is no way to solder in there. I guess I could buy longer pinned headers and then push them through so the plastic is on the non-padded part of the board and then the pad is cleared for solder to the sticking through pin just like any other component on that board but that seems sloppy. How do you generally solder male straight through hole headers to perfboard for use as plugging into breadboards?


Thank you!
 

KJ6EAD

Joined Apr 30, 2011
1,581
Lay the board down copper side up on a flat piece of glass or ceramic (a piece of tile works well), then place the header with the pins bottoming out on the flat surface. This should create enough of a gap to solder in with a small tip. Be sure that the header is squared up before soldering more than one pin. To strengthen your header after soldering and cleaning, force a small amount of epoxy into the pin holes on the bare side of the board.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
KJ6...I think you misunderstood. mbird wants copper side down with pins protruding downward. For this I suggest that he already has the right answer...long pins with the plastic block on the non-copper side. Been there, done that, it works, but don't try to snip the ugly off. It weakens the connections and might even rip a pad off the underside. Just pretend you intended to leave the tails as "test points". Nobody but you and I will know ;)
 

ErnieM

Joined Apr 24, 2011
8,377
If I'm thinking of the same pins you are using, 0.1" centers with a somewhat flexible black plastic base... that base can move, especially after you heat the pins. You can slide the plastic down enough to solder to the board, then slide the plastic back.

That's usually too much work for me. I have extra long pins I just stick thru the non-padded side, solder and call it done.

Another way, you just crazy glue the socket in place and make some jumper wires from the posts to the pads. Crazy glue smells terrible and is probably toxic when heated by your soldering iron so be careful.
 
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