Perfboard vs stripboard. What is your preference and why?

[rutabaga bob]

Did a few vero years ago; meh.  All perf now, either pad-per-hole or plain drilled phenolic.  I don't fool with the fiberglass stuff.

[matmosphere]

Both are fine and pretty easy to work with in my opinion. I generally pick one or the other based on a couple factors.
Tagboard effects is a great place to get Vero layouts, endless projects there. Effectslayouts is pretty much just a good now for perf.
Personally I would rather use Vero most of the time, unless things get to large. Then I might switch to perf just to keep the size down. if there is a ton of off board wiring I'll go with perf if there is a layout that uses board mounted pots.
If I'm making my own layout I generally use perf because, for me, it takes less thought.

[iainpunk]

i soldered some perf yesterday, i finally build my Bazz Fuss and Harmonic Percolator based project. i forgot one capacitor on the layout i drew, but fount that i could just put it on, there was enough space on the board left, this would be harder to do on vero, because you have to work with the tracks that are mostly occupied already.

cheers

[davent]

i soldered some perf yesterday, i finally build my Bazz Fuss and Harmonic Percolator based project. i forgot one capacitor on the layout i drew, but fount that i could just put it on, there was enough space on the board left, this would be harder to do on vero, because you have to work with the tracks that are mostly occupied already.

cheers

Veroboard holes are large enough you can easily slip a few different leads into one hole.
dave

[anotherjim]

Another thing I like about perf, is if I use SIL turned pin socket strip for ICs, I can fit parts in the holes under the IC. Using 0.4W metal film resistors, the Vref divider can go in there. For links between the sides of an IC, I can fit links across in that space too.

For any parts I forgot, I'll use any convenient unused holes and link if necessary with Kynar wirewrap wire on the component side.

Even with stripboard builds, the Kynar wire can be invaluable as it can pass thru track cut holes. It's also thin enough to share holes with most component legs.

Stripboard traces are wide enough to drill larger holes if you have too.

Perfboard can have extra in-between holes for those parts with pins outside the 0.1" matrix. I try to align with as many existing holes as possible and mark the extra positions. I start the hole by wiggling in a scriber point and use a jewellers hand pin-chuck to drill. Don't whack it with a centre punch!

Wide & flat lugs on PCB mounting components can be produced by drilling in between holes and gently pulling the drill over at angles to join the holes together. I fit the shield/mounting lugs of audio transformers this way.

[Mellotron Man]

I THINK I prefer Perf Board. I'm in the process of making a couple of units using 0.1" Veroboard, and it is bloody awful. Even with multi-core solder, I'm having a helluva job getting the solder to stick. Also, in some cases, the copper peels away from the fibre board.
I used to work in a Defence Electronics company in Edinburgh, and at the time, they used double-sided PCBs with Thru'-plated holes (TPHs), and they were a joy to work with. They were tinned, which made soldering wires & components to them a piece of cake. Sure, sometimes the track lifted when there was an excess of re-work, but the TPHs held it down. On a range of low-quantity products, the company knocked out hundreds of proto-style PCBs, some of which were given to me. See the attached photos. The top photo is the component side, and the lower photo is the solder side of the same PCB.





The strips of spills at the bottom are for 96-way Hypertac or Soriaou socket where the PCB under test plugged in.

I'd love to lay my hands on Perf Boards like this, but with a higher density of strips to plug in more components!

[Sesh]

I think either is fine as long as you just work on it and get better. Though I say this only having worked on vero/stripboard.

I've managed to make over 30 pedals on vero this last year with very little prior electronics knowledge. I've just finished a Lovetone Meatball clone and an Earthquaker Grand Orbiter - both semi-large boards. Now I'm going for the gold with a Lovetone Doppelganger, Boss CE-2 /w mods, a Schumann PLL and some other more complex circuits. Pure stupidity, but I love it! I think it's easy to follow the layouts and finish the circuits, especially for smaller circuits like fuzzes, drives and their ilk.

Systematic and thorough hole-cutting and component-populating is a must.
As long as you know the troubleshooting tricks like scoring the strip gap lines with a knife, audioprobing to locate the problematic area of the circuit, reflowing solder for cold solder etc. it's fine.

[Mellotron Man]

I have another proto-PCB that I also "acquired" from the same defence company I worked for. As with the boards I showed before, the 'groups of 3' are linked on one side of the PCB, and there are long strips for power. ALL holes are 'thru-plated'. There is NO copper linking of holes on the other side of the board.

[Electron Tornado]

I'll use either vero, or etch my own. Vero is a bit easier in some ways, since there's no etching involved. I don't care for the simple pad per hole stuff. I've been using DIY Layout Creator for vero and etched boards.

When I etch, I don't do the tiny thin lines, I leave a good amount of copper on the board. It gives me some leeway when drilling, and it's less likely to have a trace lift off the board. Here's a trick for drilling holes for IC sockets in an etched board. Get a piece of perf (or vero, or similar), line up the holes over the board where you need to drill. Secure the perf board with scotch tape, and then I use a Dremel drill press. Works great.