Electronic Breadboarding

[OverTheTop]

Here is a trick I use when breadboarding electronics. It makes the electronics easy to handle and move around, and protects it to some degree, especially from shorting out on things on the workbench.

Take a regular polypropylene bread cutting board (purchase at discount stores) and add spacers at the mounting hole locations. Spacers are fixed by countersunk screws underneath,

Wash the board in a strong solution of dishwashing detergent and let air dry. This gives it some antistatic properties. Note: air drying is important. Don't wipe dry.





This works even better if you have a number of smaller boards that interconnect. It makes testing and moving of the modules painless. You can also attach things like JTAG dongles and FTDI interfaces where necessary.

I have been known to scale this up for larger projects using small "stable tables" from Ikea.

Share and enjoy

 

[Banzai88]

That is very cool

 

[Grog6]

I'm an EE; I'm amazed that works at all. The things I build need a ground plane under them, tho. I'm sure it wont work for a CFB opamp.

 

[OverTheTop]

I'm an EE; I'm amazed that works at all. The things I build need a ground plane under them, tho. I'm sure it wont work for a CFB opamp.

Then shield if necessary . The approach I have used is good for everything we do here, except for some of the really sensitive CCD, PMT, PbS and InGaAs detectors. They normally need to be in a box of some sort. Mostly to keep the light out. By the time we get to looking at detectors we usually have a working optics enclosure anyway.

 

[cls]

I don't like machining polypropylene because it grabs the tool, dangerous. Instead, I get trims of acrylic or Teflon at TAP Plastics, or a scrap of plywood.

 

[OverTheTop]

I don't like machining polypropylene because it grabs the tool, dangerous. Instead, I get trims of acrylic or Teflon at TAP Plastics, or a scrap of plywood.

I don't find this PP particularly difficult to drill and countersink. Far easier than a lot of sheetmetal in regards to problems with grabbing. A have had more problems with drilling acrylic and having it shatter. For drilling that I back off the cutting edge on the grinder to prevent that problem.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

That's a great idea! Consider it stolen!

 

[Cape Byron]

Great idea. I use one of those chopping boards when I'm soldering. Saves the antique dining table.

 

[cls]

have had more problems with drilling acrylic and having it shatter.

Yeah, acrylic requires special bits, I forget the angle, but it's not the typical 59° of twist drills.

 

[rocket_troy]

Yeah, acrylic requires special bits, I forget the angle, but it's not the typical 59° of twist drills.

You can use standard bits, but they need to be blunt.

TP

 

[OverTheTop]

Yeah, acrylic requires special bits, I forget the angle, but it's not the typical 59° of twist drills.

For optimum yes, but a standard twist drill with reduced clearance angle (aka lip clearance angle) does a nice job on acrylic and plastics. Just a short touch on the grinder does wonders.

You can use standard bits, but they need to be blunt.

Yep. Same effect as reduced rake.