soldering question
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Posts: 46,084
I have been building my circuits using breadboards, and have built
some with wire wrap. Now I want to put it on a more official type
board. I have one of the basic stamp carriers and I think I can fit
the circuit on it. The question I have is how do I make the
connection between pads on the board?
The best that I can come up with is to solder the tails from my
components on the bottom side, and then piggyback solder wires to
simulate what would be traces on a custom circuit board. Is this how
people use perfboard? I will probably end up with a custom circuit
board in the final configuration, but wanted to know how the carrier
boards were intended to be used. Any feedback will be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric Warner
eric@w...
some with wire wrap. Now I want to put it on a more official type
board. I have one of the basic stamp carriers and I think I can fit
the circuit on it. The question I have is how do I make the
connection between pads on the board?
The best that I can come up with is to solder the tails from my
components on the bottom side, and then piggyback solder wires to
simulate what would be traces on a custom circuit board. Is this how
people use perfboard? I will probably end up with a custom circuit
board in the final configuration, but wanted to know how the carrier
boards were intended to be used. Any feedback will be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric Warner
eric@w...
Comments
if they reach. If they don't, use other component leads that you've clipped
off. You can buy bus wire as well -- uninsulated solid conductor that looks
like a spool of solder. Use lengths of insulated wire with the ends stripped
when you need to cross two signals.
Clark Hughes
ewarner77 wrote:
>
The question I have is how do I make the
> connection between pads on the board?
> Thanks,
>
> Eric Warner
> eric@w...
Combine that with the breadboard-style PC boards and it is very easy to
wire up whatever you like. You can get the breadboard-style PC boards at
Radio Shack and they are pretty cheap.
The only problem I have with them is that they are not tinned and
typically filthy with oxidation. Clean them first and use plenty of flux
and they work much better.
Here's a link to a picture of a protype we did for a client that uses
one of these boards and the wire like I'm talking about. In fact, you
can see the RS part # on the picture (276-170). The board has a BS2, an
A/D chip (don't use that A/D -- it is a dog), and a custom variation of
the PAK-I on it. The connector goes to a serial port. There is also an
LCD port. The whole unit had a switching regulator (operated from 48VDC)
and did flow totalization which is a whole lot easier with floating
point math:
http://wd5gnr.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/TWiki/view.pl/Main/DataAcquisitionB
oard
Use user id = GuestUser and password=guest to get in.
You can see a prototype of our RS-I serial board here:
http://wd5gnr.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/TWiki/view.pl/Main/SerialBoard
That's another little handy Radio Shack board that holds a 20 pin IC (or
less) and makes it easy to wire things up. Especially if you cut traces
to make little islands to wire things together. Again, usually filthy.
A little late on the project of the month. Given this is 1 April, I
started to post the project as the "Turing Stamp" -- a Turing machine in
a Stamp form factor, but I just didn't have the time. Sigh. Give me a
few days and I'll have a real project up!
Al Williams
AWC
* Floating point A/D
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak9.htm
>
Original Message
> From: J. Clark Hughes [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=XwG5iYFHbX8J-jsDMsgerWOI06mtT7xE8HFLH5W-PohS2rHjSzJkF7ieKibtrHdTEhZ-LimiO_B6Ar37c8OCzw]jchughes@a...[/url
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 3:38 PM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] soldering question
>
>
> I'm surprised you haven't gotten an answer on this yet. Use
> the component leads if they reach. If they don't, use other
> component leads that you've clipped off. You can buy bus
> wire as well -- uninsulated solid conductor that looks like a
> spool of solder. Use lengths of insulated wire with the ends
> stripped when you need to cross two signals.
>
> Clark Hughes
>
> ewarner77 wrote:
> >
> The question I have is how do I make the
> > connection between pads on the board?
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Eric Warner
> > eric@w...
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
> Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
I use two methods:
1- one is exactly is what Al William suggested, using the Radio
Shack boards (the larger one is RS 276-168B and the small one is 176-
150). To connect between the pads, you can pre-cut some jumpers,
tin them place them on the "graphic side" and then solder them on
the back. Often what I do is put all my jumpers on the bottom side
(copper side. This will yield a much cleaner look as all the
jumpers will be unseen.
2- For more official looking circuits, once sure of the circuit I
design them on the ExpressPCB software (free from
www.expresspcb.com) and then order them from the website. Easy to
use and really quite nice. I use their special deal for the 4 x 3
miniPCB for $60 for three copies of the same circuit. Make absolute
sure you go over the circuit 5 or 10 times before you order. You
will be surprised of how easy you can mess it up!
Al
--- In basicstamps@y..., "ewarner77" <ERIC.WARNER@U...> wrote:
> I have been building my circuits using breadboards, and have built
> some with wire wrap. Now I want to put it on a more official type
> board. I have one of the basic stamp carriers and I think I can
fit
> the circuit on it. The question I have is how do I make the
> connection between pads on the board?
> The best that I can come up with is to solder the tails from my
> components on the bottom side, and then piggyback solder wires to
> simulate what would be traces on a custom circuit board. Is this
how
> people use perfboard? I will probably end up with a custom
circuit
> board in the final configuration, but wanted to know how the
carrier
> boards were intended to be used. Any feedback will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Eric Warner
> eric@w...
I am not an expert at this, but I have had plenty of problems with it, so I will
pass along my experience.
One approach is to run the wires on the non-conductive side of the perf board,
push the leads through the holes
and solder them on the copper side. This works very nicely.
Trouble is, if you have quite a bit of wiring to do, and the top of the board is
cluttered with components and
sockets, it gets a little unwieldy.
I try to run the wires on the conductive side of the board. I found that
soldering them directly to the pads was a
hit or miss business. Insulations melts, solder bridges the pads, and if you
have more than one connection to a
single pad, the tinned leads won't all fit into the hole.
I found that for densely interconnected wiring, it helps to stick a wire wrap
pin into the hole, solder it home,
and then solder the wire or wires to the pin. Radio shack sells the wire wrap
pins. The pin gives you a vertical
dimension -- more working room, basically.
Clean the perf board first, and often, with an aggressive rubber eraser.
After soldering a wire, as you go along, frequently clean the board with 100
percent isobutyl alcohol and a
toothbrush. Don't wait until the board is finished the do this -- solder
bridges can be obscured by layers of
wiring.
After cleaning, check for high resistance shorts between pads with a VOM. Also
clean between pads with a
screwdriver.
Very often there is no visible solder bridge, but a pretty good circuit between
pads nevertheless.
On balance, I would say that wiring a perf board is just plain hard to do.
Components are dead easy -- wires are
really pesky. Allow time, in other words.
Al Williams suggests using flux. I have not tried this, but next time I
certainly will. Perhaps someone can name
a good brand or type.
Best, Michael
brownstamp wrote:
> Eric,
>
> I use two methods:
> 1- one is exactly is what Al William suggested, using the Radio
> Shack boards (the larger one is RS 276-168B and the small one is 176-
> 150). To connect between the pads, you can pre-cut some jumpers,
> tin them place them on the "graphic side" and then solder them on
> the back. Often what I do is put all my jumpers on the bottom side
> (copper side. This will yield a much cleaner look as all the
> jumpers will be unseen.
>
> 2- For more official looking circuits, once sure of the circuit I
> design them on the ExpressPCB software (free from
> www.expresspcb.com) and then order them from the website. Easy to
> use and really quite nice. I use their special deal for the 4 x 3
> miniPCB for $60 for three copies of the same circuit. Make absolute
> sure you go over the circuit 5 or 10 times before you order. You
> will be surprised of how easy you can mess it up!
>
> Al
>
> --- In basicstamps@y..., "ewarner77" <ERIC.WARNER@U...> wrote:
> > I have been building my circuits using breadboards, and have built
> > some with wire wrap. Now I want to put it on a more official type
> > board. I have one of the basic stamp carriers and I think I can
> fit
> > the circuit on it. The question I have is how do I make the
> > connection between pads on the board?
> > The best that I can come up with is to solder the tails from my
> > components on the bottom side, and then piggyback solder wires to
> > simulate what would be traces on a custom circuit board. Is this
> how
> > people use perfboard? I will probably end up with a custom
> circuit
> > board in the final configuration, but wanted to know how the
> carrier
> > boards were intended to be used. Any feedback will be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Eric Warner
> > eric@w...
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body
of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
the no clean is nice, although I usually alchohol them off anyway.
Al Williams
AWC
* 8 channels of PWM
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak5.htm
>
Original Message
> From: Michael Gianturco [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=WaKodeL4GIxqUssFyZrUo8CX0TnBF19nJ3PYKCyNhkBGcTpQtITU6MNcHs1jTNGH6EpR4TTeELeNzLDt1OA6]michcg@m...[/url
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 9:08 PM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: soldering question
>
>
> Hello Eric,
>
> I am not an expert at this, but I have had plenty of problems
> with it, so I will pass along my experience.
>
> One approach is to run the wires on the non-conductive side
> of the perf board, push the leads through the holes and
> solder them on the copper side. This works very nicely.
>
> Trouble is, if you have quite a bit of wiring to do, and the
> top of the board is cluttered with components and sockets, it
> gets a little unwieldy.
>
> I try to run the wires on the conductive side of the board. I
> found that soldering them directly to the pads was a hit or
> miss business. Insulations melts, solder bridges the pads,
> and if you have more than one connection to a single pad, the
> tinned leads won't all fit into the hole.
>
> I found that for densely interconnected wiring, it helps to
> stick a wire wrap pin into the hole, solder it home, and then
> solder the wire or wires to the pin. Radio shack sells the
> wire wrap pins. The pin gives you a vertical dimension --
> more working room, basically.
>
> Clean the perf board first, and often, with an aggressive
> rubber eraser.
>
> After soldering a wire, as you go along, frequently clean the
> board with 100 percent isobutyl alcohol and a toothbrush.
> Don't wait until the board is finished the do this -- solder
> bridges can be obscured by layers of wiring.
>
> After cleaning, check for high resistance shorts between pads
> with a VOM. Also clean between pads with a screwdriver.
>
> Very often there is no visible solder bridge, but a pretty
> good circuit between pads nevertheless.
>
> On balance, I would say that wiring a perf board is just
> plain hard to do. Components are dead easy -- wires are
> really pesky. Allow time, in other words.
>
> Al Williams suggests using flux. I have not tried this, but
> next time I certainly will. Perhaps someone can name a good
> brand or type.
>
> Best, Michael
>
>
>
> brownstamp wrote:
>
> > Eric,
> >
> > I use two methods:
> > 1- one is exactly is what Al William suggested, using the
> Radio Shack
> > boards (the larger one is RS 276-168B and the small one is
> 176- 150).
> > To connect between the pads, you can pre-cut some jumpers, tin them
> > place them on the "graphic side" and then solder them on the back.
> > Often what I do is put all my jumpers on the bottom side
> (copper side.
> > This will yield a much cleaner look as all the jumpers will
> be unseen.
> >
> > 2- For more official looking circuits, once sure of the circuit I
> > design them on the ExpressPCB software (free from
> > www.expresspcb.com) and then order them from the website.
> Easy to use
> > and really quite nice. I use their special deal for the 4
> x 3 miniPCB
> > for $60 for three copies of the same circuit. Make
> absolute sure you
> > go over the circuit 5 or 10 times before you order. You will be
> > surprised of how easy you can mess it up!
> >
> > Al
> >
> > --- In basicstamps@y..., "ewarner77" <ERIC.WARNER@U...> wrote:
> > > I have been building my circuits using breadboards, and
> have built
> > > some with wire wrap. Now I want to put it on a more
> official type
> > > board. I have one of the basic stamp carriers and I think I can
> > fit
> > > the circuit on it. The question I have is how do I make the
> > > connection between pads on the board? The best that I can come up
> > > with is to solder the tails from my components on the
> bottom side,
> > > and then piggyback solder wires to simulate what would be
> traces on
> > > a custom circuit board. Is this
> > how
> > > people use perfboard? I will probably end up with a custom
> > circuit
> > > board in the final configuration, but wanted to know how the
> > carrier
> > > boards were intended to be used. Any feedback will be greatly
> > > appreciated.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Eric Warner
> > > eric@w...
> >
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in
> the Subject
> > and Body of the message will be ignored.
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
> Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/