Board Builders: A Dying Breed?
erco
Posts: 20,259
There's no shortage of slick new new development, adapter & breakout boards for every possible application, for Props & Arduinos & Speakjet & more. Check out this $6 BREAKOUT board for a plain old 1/8" stereo plug: http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Jack-Breakout-Board-/260871925308?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbd2dae3c Seems a bit ridiculous to me.
It's almost like no one hand builds their own PC boards anymore. I'm talking point to point hand wiring & solder. I actually enjoy building boards that way. Of course, I like CW (morse code) too. My bench has ICs, sockets, and lots of these blank boards from the "Shack": http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103798# I see that board as a blank canvas... And with rare exception, I see production boards as good for someone else's application, but not mine.
Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways because "we always did it that way", but for whatever reason, the breakout board builders will never make a dime off me. So it's OK by me if they don't come to my funeral (hastened from inhaling 40+ years of fumes from melted LEADED solder, 'cuz we always did it that way) !
And BTW: gentlemen prefer to mount handbuilt boards on handbuilt plywood robots. But that a whole another thread.
It's almost like no one hand builds their own PC boards anymore. I'm talking point to point hand wiring & solder. I actually enjoy building boards that way. Of course, I like CW (morse code) too. My bench has ICs, sockets, and lots of these blank boards from the "Shack": http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103798# I see that board as a blank canvas... And with rare exception, I see production boards as good for someone else's application, but not mine.
Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways because "we always did it that way", but for whatever reason, the breakout board builders will never make a dime off me. So it's OK by me if they don't come to my funeral (hastened from inhaling 40+ years of fumes from melted LEADED solder, 'cuz we always did it that way) !
And BTW: gentlemen prefer to mount handbuilt boards on handbuilt plywood robots. But that a whole another thread.
Comments
Yeah, but you're just living in suburbia if you aren't blowing your own glass radio tubes by hand. And smelting the ores from which the cathodes are made.
I am trying to learn how to use DipTrace. Some of my projects are getting kind of complicated and I'd rather not spend several days soldering to make one board.
Duane
Wish I had a picture to share, I've binned it now.
erco,
I also enjoy making my own boards. Bringing a new circuit to life is fun, educational, and usually frustrating (I never seem to leave enough room between components for the point-to-point wiring).
I have learned far more by making the boards rather than purchasing them... because no matter how careful I am, I always manage to misconnect, misorient, etc. something. It's like computer programming; you learn more by making mistakes than by doing things right the first time.
That said, I have used a few breakout boards:
(1) Sometimes the component I need is available only as SMT. Due to my eyesight and my (lack of) soldering skills, I've learned that 0.1" pin spacing is about as close as I can handle.
(2) For one-off projects, I can occasionally get the breakout board, already assembled and tested, for less than what it would cost to buy the components--never mind the time and effort to do the soldering. I do this only if the breakout board is secondary to the focus of the project. RS-232 adapters come to mind here.
Keep the faith. There are those of us that still breathe fire (well, solder fumes). Now where did I put my desoldering braid?
Walter
Its not that its a dyeing breed, its just different these days. Breakout boards would not be popular if the IC manufactures made more packages available. In fact I find it easier to procure a $10 breakout board than to solder pins on a 8-MSOP.
It makes it easy to build custom circuits that interface with the Propeller Backpack, Spinneret, or MoBoStamp-pe.
-Phil
Be HAPPY about it! Eventually the kitters will venture out on their own, and construct something custom on a breadboard, or maybe even create their own PCB.
-- Gordon
Just to remind folks, smoke from consumer soldering contains little lead (maybe the odd molecule here and there from lead oxide). It's simply too heavy of a metal to go wafting about in the air. Unleaded solder still contains rosin, and rosin smoke still isn't great for you.
In fact, unleaded solder is known to produce more particulates than leaded. Its value is really in reducing lead in the landfill. It's really no more safe to work with than grandpa's 1/8" thick solder he used to use with his 75 watt Weller.
-- Gordon
You are not alone. Point to point and plywood is an admirable calling!!
It's a 2 prop peripheral for the QuickStart to run PropForth with multiple props. It's basic, ugly and currently stalled for time.
Just hook up a muffin fan on a wall-wart to suck the smoke away.
Robert
They usually work well, but they're so ugly that it's an embarrassment to compare them to some of the beautiful circuit boards that some people here show.
I like working with raw parts because it's so easy to add extra caps if they're needed, change resistor values or even solder in a multiturn pot, add buffer ICs, LEDs, rewire connections until the circuit works.
Then as soon as it works, the challenge is gone, so it goes into the junkbox to make room for the next project!
http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/bob-pease-breadboard.htm
-Phil
Peter