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Ground Plane Construction — Parallax Forums

Ground Plane Construction

WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
in General Discussion
A friend of mine who is a HAM operator and builder is trying to teach me something about this. AMAZING!

Anybody here used this for non-radio electronic or robotic projects?

See attached pdf and the great stuff at www.qrpme.com
pdf
pdf
K7QO Manhattan.pdf
1M

Comments

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,916
    Wow, seriously hands-on for that one. Looking at the piccys in reverse order tells all. Didn't need to read a single word.

    Quite neat achieving that with only single sided boards - without etching even! I've never considered getting that quality without through-hole plating before. Cool.
  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,916
    The pin/pad count would become an issue in many digital designs.
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    Attached is a photo of MePads and MeSquares and this link to a project constructed using these products - https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/the-wbr-a-simple-high-performance-regen-receiver-for-40m-by-n1byt/

    People who are good at this method create working art!

    photo2.jpg

    137092121.2T3RYlnO.IMG_0019.jpg
    MePads7.jpg
    3589 x 1526 - 526K
    MeSquares.jpg
    2731 x 986 - 195K
    Photo1.jpg
    1000 x 667 - 169K
    photo2.jpg
    1000 x 667 - 160K
    137092121.2T3RYlnO.IMG_0019.jpg
    1000 x 667 - 238K
  • KMyersKMyers Posts: 433
    Can be very beautiful construction. Mine did not look this good. Great for analog but cumbersome for digital!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2016-06-12 19:35
    I was fascinated by this idea I while ago. First thought is that it's great for high frequency analog but not really workable for digital.

    But then I thought....

    What if those little 'islands', stuck to the ground plane, were actually single sided break out boards for your little SMD digital and other chips?

    You just stick your break out board, carrying whatever chip, down to the ground plane. Jump the ground pads to the plane. Hook up the circuit with kynar wire or some such.

    I guess, you would need decoupling caps to be on the break out boards, which they should be anyway.

    Nice sturdy construction, more permanent and reliable than a bread board. But no PCB to be made, still amenable to modification in the prototype stage.
  • KMyersKMyers Posts: 433
    Didnt consider using breakout boards for the island, very interesting idea!
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    I was fascinated by this idea I while ago. First thought is that it's great for high frequency analog but not really workable for digital.

    But then I thought....

    What if those little 'islands', stuck to the ground plane, were actually single sided break out boards for your little SMD digital and other chips?

    You just stick your break out board, carrying whatever chip, down to the ground plane. Jump the ground pads to the plane. Hook up the circuit with kynar wire or some such.

    I guess, you would need decoupling caps to be on the break out boards, which they should be anyway.

    Nice sturdy construction, more permanent and reliable than a bread board. But no PCB to be made, still amenable to modification in the prototype stage.

    Pretty much my thoughts as well, and works for both analog and digital circuits. Now busy laying out some break out boards.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2016-06-13 02:58
    Cool, I think there is a Kickstarter in that idea. :)

    A kit of lots of various ground plane ready break out boards.

    I'm wondering what to do about all the little SMT C's and R's and diodes and such that you always need.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    ............

    I'm wondering what to do about all the little SMT C's and R's and diodes and such that you always need.

    Perhaps some multiple 0603 or 0805 size board strips with notches every 0.01 inch so you can break off as many as needed.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    That would probably do it. Don't forget the transistors.

    I'm thinking that such a kit of break out boards, covering a range of common SMD footprints, need not actually carry any chips.

    As far as I can tell so far soldering SMD chips is often pretty easy, all you need is the unpopulated boards.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    That would probably do it. Don't forget the transistors.

    I'm thinking that such a kit of break out boards, covering a range of common SMD footprints, need not actually carry any chips.

    As far as I can tell so far soldering SMD chips is often pretty easy, all you need is the unpopulated boards.

    Agreed. Only thing to add would be pads for bypass capacitors on each SMD footprint.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Sounds just the ticket.

    I expect your ground plane/break out board kits to be on sale in Fry's soon.

    One thing puzzles me about this idea. Often you need multiple connections to a chips pin. Soldering multiple wires to a little pad on a break out board is not going to be nice.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    Sounds just the ticket.

    I expect your ground plane/break out board kits to be on sale in Fry's soon.

    One thing puzzles me about this idea. Often you need multiple connections to a chips pin. Soldering multiple wires to a little pad on a break out board is not going to be nice.

    Either a bus style connection from A to B to C, etc. or a strip of connected pads similar to the 603/805 board strips.
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2016-06-13 20:55
    Informative video on construction techniques - including the ground plane method - lots of links attached to the video too.

    Like these - http://hackaday.com/2012/07/20/cutting-islands-into-copper-clad-pcbs-with-a-drill/
    QRPme products especially for prototyping circuits: http://www.qrpme.com/pages/HBREW.php

  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    Sounds just the ticket.

    I expect your ground plane/break out board kits to be on sale in Fry's soon.

    I'd have to get them manufactured in and shipped from China to make that idea economical, and then if it was successful just imagine how long it would be before there were dozens if not hundreds of competitors.

    Oh look, already in production. "QRPme products especially for prototyping circuits: http://www.qrpme.com/pages/HBREW.php"
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    Heater. wrote: »
    Cool, I think there is a Kickstarter in that idea. :)

    A kit of lots of various ground plane ready break out boards.

    I'm wondering what to do about all the little SMT C's and R's and diodes and such that you always need.

    Breakouts, and SMDs could also have edge-plating and solder bridges, for GND paths.
    Tack connect multiple-GND connects with solder, and you can skip the glue step too.

    The iron already has to be good enough to heat & solder the copper plane.

  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    edited 2016-06-14 00:11
    It seems to me that this is one place where tombstoning SMDs would be desirable! :) Solder the smd "on end" to the the pad or ground plane and solder a lead to the other end.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    Seairth wrote: »
    It seems to me that this is one place where tombstoning SMDs would be desirable! :) Solder the smd "on end" to the the pad or ground plane and solder a lead to the other end.

    yes, but only if you could find any with secure enough end plating.

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