rodneon Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 I'm new to electronics and am planning on building a few small projects before I try my hand at the mighty MB64.I went to a local electronic supply store yesterday and was interested in the breadboards they had, especially "perfboards" -- the kind with just the holes and little copper rings etched around each one of them. I was reading about them on the Internet, and someone wrote that they're great for prototyping, although you end up with a mess of wires on the under side to make all the connections.Is it possible to make tracks between the holes using plain ol' solder? I mean, instead of using wires, can I just "connect the dots" with solder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moebius Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hi,I think what I've seen, has been done by putting a bare wire against the prefboard and then applying solder to build the "Tracks". Looked a bit messy, but I think it worked ok. At least it looked better, than a big mess of point-to-point wires.Bye, Moebius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdutcher Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 i use protoboards like the one you mentioned quite often. what i do is just bridge adjacent pads and use solid, insulated wire for larger gaps. i use bare wire for medium sized gaps (as long as no other components will get in the way, or for "sneaky" connections (i.e. under ICs, etc.). a good trick is to solder a component on to the board and then bend the lead over to the pad that you want it to connect to and use that as a bare wire connection.the absolute best way to use a protoboard though, is to map out your circuit ahead of time and use a conductive silver trace pen. basically, this is a pen whose ink is conductive and will carry electricity wherever you draw a line. try to do it ahead of time though, so you can bake it for 10 min to cure the traces. that said, even though i have one of those pens (12 bucks at radio shack, i think), i still resort to bridging and wire interconnects in most cases.depending on your skills, this method can take a while. i suggest practicing a bit with a smaller circuit if you're new to this. i think etching your own pcbs is probably the best way to do things for larger circuits, but i don't have a drill press. i just finished building a complete edrum module using the above method and it took a LONG time.hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screaming_Rabbit Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 try to do it ahead of time though, so you can bake it for 10 min to cure the traces.... bake it in the oven (what temerature?) or with a heatgun?Greets, Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdutcher Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 225ºF in the oven for 5-10 min.  might vary by pen brand, though.make sure the components aren't on there though! this should be done on a blank protoboard, obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 By now i´ve midified my old organ and made my midibox sid using breadboards only. I use a combination of bridges on the kobber side and short wires (wiith one stiff connector in the the middle) Don´t use too long wires and think about the order you mount them.I think it´s a good start to make the first boards on breadboards cause you get a good and deep insight of the circet. A good place to start practice is to build the symectric stuff like the din module.js Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamjking Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Hi RodNeon,I've done all my boards like others have descibed above (solder bridging/wire interconnects). I'm new to electronics too, but here is an example of how I've done it:http://members.optusnet.com.au/adamjking/images/core.htmCheers,Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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