prototyping boards

[Matthew]

Hello,

What are my options when prototyping? I've heard of breadboards, but I'm looking for boards that I would be able to solder the components onto.

Thanks.

[Jon Williams]

They're usually called perfboards -- get the kind with plated-through holes if you can; they're usally better quality.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

[Chris Savage]

Radio Shack has dozens of "Solder-Ring" boards that are perfect for prototyping when you want to Solder components in place.· I recommend "Sockets" for any ICs.



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Chris Savage

Knight Designs
324 West Main Street
P.O. Box 97
Montour Falls, NY 14865
(607) 535-6777

Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
Designs Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/designs
·

[Matthew]

Okay, I just took a look at the boards Parallax offers and came across the Basic-II Carrier Board. Now, it seems like the holes on this board are independent of each other hole, unlike a breadboard which has each row of holes connected to each other.· Now, how would I connect a pin from an IC to one of I/O pins on the stamp? I guess you would have to solder the wire AND the pin to one hole, but that seems pretty difficult.· Like here's a perfboard I came across with two holes per pad:

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...S-2&type=store

This makes more sense to me because you could solder the pin to one hole, and then solder the wire to the hole beside it.

[Jon Williams]

The Carrier Board was designed to provide a convenient board in which to program the BASIC Stamp and to add permanent hardware (via soldering). It's no more difficult to use than any other perfboard -- and is nice because the programming connection to the BASIC Stamp is already setup.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

[Boris]

2 comments:
1) There are different perfboards, some have just copper rings around the holes in the board, some have rows of those rings connected together in groups of 3-4, just like on your breadboard.

2) Try to stay away from RadioShack. That place is EXTREMELY overpriced, especially for cheap small components. If this is not a project that has to be done by tomorrow morning try to order things online. I had my share of frustration with RS, building a project for school, being limited on time and having to run down to RS to buy components at ridiculous prices.

Ok, im done rambling on now.

[Matthew]

So say you use the Parallax Carrier Board, and you're trying to connect a pin from an ADC to one of the I/O pins on the stamp, you would have to solder the ADC pin and a connecting wire to the same hole? Would the wire go above the hole or below?

[Jon Williams]

That's a matter of style; I tend to put components on the top side of the board, wires on the back.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

[Matthew]

And you just use standard DIP packages for the carrier board?

[Jon Williams]

Put any of your ICs into sockets. They're cheap, and will prevent you from damaging senstive parts.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

[Jose I Quinones]

Hi Matthew,

May I recommend the Basic Stamp Project Board from Avayan Electronics? It is a very economical tool (only $29.95) that includes all which you need to put your Basic Stamp module (has space for a BS I and a BS II) in a socket while gaining access to all I/O pins. It also includes programming ports, reset buttons, voltage regulator, etc.

The link is http://www.avayan.com/Products/BSPB/bspb.html

JIQ

[Lee Harker]

One trick I use when prototyping small circuits is to put ICs in sockets as already mentioned and also put on sockets for a handful of discreet components. You can fit 8 resistors or capacitors in a 16 pin IC socket. That way if you aren't completely sure about the component values, you can easily tweak your circuit.

Lee