Solderless Breadboard Discovery

Thread Starter

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
As some of you know, I like to build small circuits on solderless breadboards. During a recent assembly, I noticed that my connections didn't seem very tight; the wires seemed insecure in the breadboard connectors. Because I have been using this particular breadboard a long time, I thought that the internal connectors were just sprung, and decided it was probably time to buy new breadboards.

Then, almost by accident, I noticed that the double sided tape on the bottom of the board didn't look right. As it turns out, the tape was pushed away from the bottom of the board slightly, which allowed the internal connectors to sag away from the holes on top of the board. I pushed the tape back into position, and voila (yes, that's the way it's spelled, not wallah :)) the connectors were again working perfectly.

Long term, the tape will probably sag again, but I can replace it if necessary. And now I know why some solderless breadboards come with metal backer plates. Maybe I'll cut some flashing I have to the right size and stick that to the bottom of the tape.

Maybe all of you already knew this, but, like a lot of other things, it was news to me.
 
Top