Breadboard Info

[MBernier]

I want to start building/prototyping on a breadboard, however, I'm having difficulty finding any resources that specifically deal with breadboard techniques/photographs/projects etc. etc.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I'm fairly new at building, I've completed a working SHO and Red Llama so far.

I'm mostly wanting to get into breadboarding so I can remove/swap out different components to circuits in order to better understand what things are actually doing.  It's all still pretty greek to me.  For instance, I want to know why one would choose a certain value resistor over another.  I also want to understand which area's of the circuit are doing what.   
My end goal is obviously to be able to design and modify circuits.

[cpnyc23]

I suggest you start by taking very very small circuits - just use the schematic and start stringing things together.  The mistakes you make can be some of the most important steps.  There is no real one way to breadboard. 

You can also check out Jack Orman's website http://www.muzique.com- the lab notebook section has little circuits that might be right up your alley.

Start small is my best advice.

-chris

[mac]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=46061.0

I is not shown but I have a DC connector with wires that connect to the power rails, a 6.5mm input jack, some pots for volume control, and an output jack, all wired. I use blue for gnd.

mac

[rnfr]

check out these docs.

and thank dano bigtime!

http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/docs/manual.htm
http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/projects.htm

[cpnyc23]

Have you checked out the breadboard project on this site?  Its next to the beginner's project page...

-chris

[Nick C.]

 

I'm mostly wanting to get into breadboarding so I can remove/swap out different components to circuits in order to better understand what things are actually doing.  It's all still pretty greek to me.  For instance, I want to know why one would choose a certain value resistor over another.  I also want to understand which area's of the circuit are doing what.  
My end goal is obviously to be able to design and modify circuits.

This link is great for learning greek:

http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/category/parts/


Link to the breadboard project, a good place to start:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?board=33.0

[earthtonesaudio]

General breadboard tips: 
1. Get the biggest breadboard you can afford, so you have lots of room to work.  Small, cramped breadboards are a recipe for short circuits and weird circuit problems.
2. If you get the kind with the double-stick foam on the bottom, DON'T peel off the tape!  Eventually the little pins get pushed down and the only way to restore them is to push them back up from the bottom.  If you peel the sticky tape and stick the breadboard on some surface, it's pretty much a "use once and discard" thing.
3. Use solid core, insulated wire (not too big) to make circuit connections.  You can buy little kits of interconnecting wire for breadboards, usually nicely color coded and with right-sized end pins.  Probably not a bad idea.
4. Don't try to push large component leads into the little breadboard holes.  Instead, solder on smaller wires that do fit.

These are lessons I've learned (sometimes the hard way!) in my breadboarding adventures.

[samrsmiley]

An electrical engineer really helped me on this, probably very obvious but unknown to me tip:

Use the rails on the sides for ground and power.  Red-power, blue (or black) ground.  That helped me a ton!! 

[mac]

I have a couple of breadboards that came with a aluminum sheet to stick to the bottom. I´ve found it useless.

I place breadboards over my amp, do not have noise issues. I feed it with a low noise 9v PS.

As soon as I return home I going to post some photos of simple circuits like FF, TB, Dist+, etc.
I guess many users will post theirs.
When you have all the resitors, caps, pots, jacks, dc, etc, etc, you can breadboard a FF or TB in a few minutes.

mac

[dano12]

check out these docs.

and thank dano bigtime!

http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/docs/manual.htm
http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/projects.htm

Yes! Please feel free to use these. Feedback is welcome.

[rnfr]

General breadboard tips: 
1. Get the biggest breadboard you can afford, so you have lots of room to work.  Small, cramped breadboards are a recipe for short circuits and weird circuit problems.
2. If you get the kind with the double-stick foam on the bottom, DON'T peel off the tape!  Eventually the little pins get pushed down and the only way to restore them is to push them back up from the bottom.  If you peel the sticky tape and stick the breadboard on some surface, it's pretty much a "use once and discard" thing.
3. Use solid core, insulated wire (not too big) to make circuit connections.  You can buy little kits of interconnecting wire for breadboards, usually nicely color coded and with right-sized end pins.  Probably not a bad idea.
4. Don't try to push large component leads into the little breadboard holes.  Instead, solder on smaller wires that do fit.

These are lessons I've learned (sometimes the hard way!) in my breadboarding adventures.

great tips.  this could def explain why i've been having some problems with my board that i got used.  it's mounted to a big piece of fibreboard of some kind.  sometimes it just doesn't work, and it doesn't make you want to BB everyday when you have to constantly troubleshoot your board.