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I’m surprised electronic breadboards have not changed for over 50 years. Nothing worse than spending an hour debugging a circuit only to find the breadboard co

by proee 2y ago

I’m surprised electronic breadboards have not changed for over 50 years. Nothing worse than spending an hour debugging a circuit only to find the breadboard connection is bad. Lots of students in digital logic class can attest to this.

DominoTree 2y ago
FWIW, they cost a bit more than the generics, but I've always had good luck with the BusBoard breadboards in particular
cjk2 2y ago
They're bloody awful and should be taken outside and shot. Even the expensive 3M ones. First they are unreliable and wear out. Secondly they melt when you inevitably screw up. Thirdly there isn't a ground plane so it's basically a nice board of little capacitors and inductors to argue with. For the last 35 years both professionally and as a hobbyist I've just soldered stuff to bits of copper clad board. On one-off items like test rigs etc, these are then screwed to the inside of the lid of a Hammond box. Also see AN47-26 "breadboarding techniques" https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/an47fa.pdf https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/appl... (check Appendix F in particular)
m463 2y ago
You got me curious, and I wondered what alternatives could be. I found this interesting stack overflow answer: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3206/best-solderless-breadboard https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3206/best-so... unfortunately the question was closed: Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers. Annoying that stack overflow specifically shuts this stuff down. Shutting down discussion makes it seem like a self-serving answer mill instead of a community.
- proee 2y ago
  This is a nice idea from that discussion, using machined header pins. https://makezine.com/article/technology/if-breadboards-break-thy-brain-buil/ https://makezine.com/article/technology/if-breadboards-break...
- joemi 2y ago
  I'm totally fine with that kind of question being closed because of that -- that's not what that site is for. It's supposed to be an answer mill... that's _exactly_ what the site is for.
- lmpdev 2y ago
  Personally I’d slightly increase the pitch size and have a field of miniaturised Wago push connectors High current, satisfying insertion, no chance of intermittent contact
AdamH12113 2y ago
They haven't changed for 50 years because electronic design has been focused on surface-mount technology for 30+ years. There's only so much you can do to improve a form factor designed for DIP packages with 0.1-inch pin spacing. Troubleshooting bad connections is probably better practice for the students than the actual lab work, to be honest.

by proee 2y ago

DominoTree 2y ago

FWIW, they cost a bit more than the generics, but I've always had good luck with the BusBoard breadboards in particular

cjk2 2y ago

They're bloody awful and should be taken outside and shot. Even the expensive 3M ones. First they are unreliable and wear out. Secondly they melt when you inevitably screw up. Thirdly there isn't a ground plane so it's basically a nice board of little capacitors and inductors to argue with. For the last 35 years both professionally and as a hobbyist I've just soldered stuff to bits of copper clad board. On one-off items like test rigs etc, these are then screwed to the inside of the lid of a Hammond box. Also see AN47-26 "breadboarding techniques" https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/an47fa.pdf https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/appl... (check Appendix F in particular)

m463 2y ago

You got me curious, and I wondered what alternatives could be. I found this interesting stack overflow answer: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3206/best-solderless-breadboard https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3206/best-so... unfortunately the question was closed: Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers. Annoying that stack overflow specifically shuts this stuff down. Shutting down discussion makes it seem like a self-serving answer mill instead of a community.

proee 2y ago
This is a nice idea from that discussion, using machined header pins. https://makezine.com/article/technology/if-breadboards-break-thy-brain-buil/ https://makezine.com/article/technology/if-breadboards-break...
joemi 2y ago
I'm totally fine with that kind of question being closed because of that -- that's not what that site is for. It's supposed to be an answer mill... that's _exactly_ what the site is for.
lmpdev 2y ago
Personally I’d slightly increase the pitch size and have a field of miniaturised Wago push connectors High current, satisfying insertion, no chance of intermittent contact

AdamH12113 2y ago

They haven't changed for 50 years because electronic design has been focused on surface-mount technology for 30+ years. There's only so much you can do to improve a form factor designed for DIP packages with 0.1-inch pin spacing. Troubleshooting bad connections is probably better practice for the students than the actual lab work, to be honest.