What is your breadboard/prototyping station like?

[phaeton]

Do you just have a bare piece of breadboard that you jam parts and wires into, or do you have something more elaborate?  About a dozen years ago, I built this setup onto the top of a Plano box: 




The Big Red Switch turns the power on/off (as fed from a 3.5mm jack on the side), and there are + and - power tap posts in the upper-left (the black DVOM lead is clipped to the - post).  There are 1/4" jacks on the sides as well for input/output, and they are wired to posts on the far side of the breadboard.  Other things have been wired to the posts, but they've long since failed or were stolen for other projects.  The SPDT switch in the lower left is all that remains.   

It's been great but the breadboards themselves have a lot of dead points, broken wires stuck in holes, and even one spot where I cooked a DIP chip and it melted the plastic of the board.  I think it's time to construct a new station, but I'm curious to see what you guys have done before I go blindly building something in a vacuum again.

Some things that I already want to improve on:

1) Size, though I can't decide if it's too big or too small.  How many breadboards do you guys use? 1? 2? 4? 72?

2) Angle:  I can't decide if I want it to lay flat like this or if I want to tip it up towards me.  Anyone have any experience with angled work boards?

3) Weight:  This can slide around a bunch once you've got a couple of quality guitar cables plugged into it.  The next one might be bolted down to a heavy plank of wood, or at least filled with rocks, penny rolls, aquarium beads or something.  Maybe even have rubber feet.

4) Front-mounted pots:  The clips/wires/clothespin solution you see in the pic above works, but next time I'm going to mount a series of pots into the front of the Plano box (or whatever it is) and wire them to posts.  I think I need at least a pair each of A100Ks, A1Ms, and maybe the typical pots used in Fender and Marshall tonestacks.  I build some breakout boxes like this:



but they're no fun to use.  Do you folks have any built-in pots, switches or other components?  How do they work?

5) Safety Capacitors in-line with the jacks:  Every once in awhile I forget to put in a DC-blocking cap and ruin something.  That's how I cooked that previously-mentioned IC, roasted a couple of salvaged speakers and even ruined the bridge pickup in one of my guitars.      How big is 'big enough' to provide DC-blocking but not have any tonal/frequency effect?

I might be overthinking this, and sorry for the ramblings.  But I'm interested in hearing what you folks use, how your setup is set up, and what you've found that works and doesn't work.

Thanks!



(edit: displaying images instead of links, for ease of use)

[thermionix]

I just bought my first breadboard and it came in the mail today.  Much smaller than I thought it would be.  I don't know if it's a good quality one or not.  I got this one, the brand is BPS:

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/breadboard-solderless-400-point-pattern

I have no idea how to use it and it didn't come with instructions!  I don't know how the points are connected internally, I guess in rows or columns.  I'll figure it out with the meter and maybe some googling.  I also failed to purchase jumpers, but I'm sure I have plenty of wire bits that can fulfill that purpose.  It came with a metal plate of approximately the same dimentions, I guess to stick on the bottom for shielding (?) but I don't know how it would connect.  Lots to learn.

[smallbearelec]

Hi--

I just bought my first breadboard and it came in the mail today.  I don't know if it's a good quality one or not.

The quality of this kind of tool varies A Lot. Yours may turn out to be one of the durable ones; time will tell. I wish I could afford to carry 3M. However, they are unrealistically expensive for most hobbyists. I am fortunate to be able to buy directly from a Taiwanese maker, Wisher

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/breadboard-strip-with-power-bus-small/
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/breadboard-strip-with-power-bus/

Many users here will confirm that they are a good product, and many distributors stock them.

I have no idea how to use it and it didn't come with instructions!

Here are the instructions:
http://diy.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/Breadboarding/BreadboardIntro.htm

I also failed to purchase jumpers, but I'm sure I have plenty of wire bits that can fulfill that purpose.

Correct. If you need more, use #22 or #24 solid.
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/24-solid-tinned-copper-per-ft/

It came with a metal plate of approximately the same dimentions, I guess to stick on the bottom for shielding (?) but I don't know how it would connect.

Correct, and it does not connect to anything.

Suggestion:

Buy another strip of similar size and a couple of these brackets:

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/five-pot-bracket/

and make yourself an IdeaBoard:

http://diy.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/IdeaBoxAndBoard/IdeaBox.htm

I do sell a kit for it if you want

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/kit-build-an-idea-board/

or you  can cobble it from available materials. It has turned out to be a good seller; a couple of the residents here helped with suggestions
when I was nailing down the design.

Regards
SD

[thermionix]

Thanks Steve!  Now I feel guilty that I didn't buy the BB from you!  Well, not really, I have 3 orders coming in the mail from Small Bear as we speak.  I was getting some amp parts from those other guys and I saw that breadboard, and it didn't add to the shipping estimate, so what the hey...

I bookmarked those instructions and will be reading up.

[LightSoundGeometry]

one of these days I will transfer my small bear wishlist to cart and complete purchase 

[stallik]

I'm new to breadboarding as well and after finding that I kept dislodging pots, jacks etc, attached a bit of bent metal to the edge of a base sheet and drilled it for some pots, switches, jacks, bypass etc. They each have flying leads to a small board and, in turn, jumpers are used to connect them to whatever I'm working on.
Instant spaghetti works ok in that I don't dislodge anything now but it but complicates the wiring and that's the last thing I need. A rethink is in order..

[deadastronaut]

^ looks cool,

i use the 9mm pots, with the pcb lugs cut off...very handy, and neat.

i think it was cloudscapes put me onto that...no turning back now. 

[EBK]

My prototyping station has a soldering iron instead of a breadboard.  Lots of downsides to this, of course, unless everything happens to work the first time.  . I do own many breadboards, I just don't like using them much.

[midwayfair]

It's a breadboard from Smallbear (and one from Amazon), some alligator clips, a cheap power jack with leads soldered to it, and a couple jacks ...

I am either simple or unmotivated to do better, pick your poison.

[phaeton]

I like your setup stallik.  I'd have to cut one side of a length of rubber tubing and put it over the top edge to prevent myself from severing my wrists off or something.

Do you ever have any motorboating troubles with those long leads everywhere?  My setup linked above often does, and my suspicion has been lead length, though my new trick has been putting a 0.1uF cap from the circuit input to ground.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and I unfortunately don't know enough to know why.

[stallik]

No motorboating but I do get interference from my fluorescent lamp so have to turn it off when testing. This is normal behaviour for this lamp with all pedals.
The top lip of the metal plate is well rounded.

[acidblue]

I use a Neptune Board.

[karbomusic]

I've been using this Digilent all in one since I began....



It pretty much does it all... 4-channel scope, 2 channel AWG, V+, V-, VCC, REF1, REF2 + a full set of digital IO all controlled via software on my laptop. It is simply outstanding. For pots and I/O, I just solder legs onto pots and plug them directly into the BB. The other gear you see there (scope/psu) I just purchased because I wanted backups of everything but the Digilent BB is my mainstay.

[PRR]

My old BB was 3M, on a L-plate like stallik's to hold pots, screwed to the top of a power supply (actually a converted car battery charger). The added height was good, and the weight made it very stable, and power was right there.

I've never felt that more than one 6-inch protoboard was needed. When you get to that many parts of dubious connectivity, it never works.

> The Big Red Switch turns the power on/off

Yes, I wish I'd had that a few times.

However what if you convert from oil to gas?

[Rob Strand]

Mine's a lot like staliks too (including connectors, pots, and switches) except it's a lot more beaten up. 
It was an old enclosure I made when I was a kid.   It had a top which I used for cases where I needed good shielding but I hardly used it and it took-up space so I turfed it.   I usually ground (0V and/or mains ground) the aluminum base of my breadboard and the enclosure.

[pdavis68]

For pedals and other low voltage stuff, I just use some of the small standard white ones. Nothing fancy.

For high voltage (vacuum tubes) I built a custom one with a PCB with sockets and loads of barrier terminal blocks. I can build an entire guitar amp using just a screwdriver. No soldering required. I have a light bulb current limiter and a variac sitting on it.

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5868f7af17a56/Blues%20Amp%20Breadboarded%203.jpg?

[duck_arse]

pdavis - that thing looks like a train set, sans trains.

[LightSoundGeometry]

well ive come a long way since the Estwing

[phaeton]

Holy Boards, LightSoundGeometry!    Here I was debating if "3 boards is too much".  I can't decide if I want to go over-under like everyone's got, or if I should just go doublewide.

I dig your tube prototyping setup, pdavis86. Very inventive!  What's going on in the Twinings tin though?  Would the Queen approve?

All you guys like Rob Strand and stallik with pots mounted in, what values do you have?  Do you change them out often or are they pretty much set?  I'm envisioning something silly like a smaller plate with 2/3/4 pots mounted on it (say, a Marshall tonestack set) that you could stick through the holes of the front plate, and secure it with a single nut.  And of course have a module for a Fender tonestack, Baxendall, and a string of one-knob-jobbers like the BMP tone control.  A girl can dream!

Stallik- where did you get those little boards at?  The ones that your pots and switches are jumped to on the sides?

PRR - I have more enthusiasm than I do talent and time, but I keep saying to myself that I need to build a benchtop power supply.  I've got a 30V 3A transformer and most of the parts (missing some like the correct VRegulator and a suitable enclosure).  I go back and forth with the idea of kitbashing something like you did (A PC power supply, in my case).  But while I have the Big Red Switch, my ability to keep it powered has been dubious over the years, as I've gone through various crappy wall warts and countless dollar store batteries.  If I could pick one over the other, I think you win this round.  I actually wanted a dual knife switch initially (just for aesthetic) but a $1.29 lightswitch won out on my internal bean counting.  I'm not too concerned about an oil to gas conversion, as perhaps in the future we'll be looking at more sustainable power generation.  Wind power, solar power.  I've probably got 150K calories I could burn off pedaling a bike that drives a generator...

karbomusic - that Digilent board looks SUPER nice, but I'm too much of a cheapskate for something like that.  Maybe when I am better skilled (someday?) and could make use of all those features.

How can you use that Neptune board, acidblue?  IT DOESN'T EVEN LOOK REAL.

EBK:  Oddly, I build lots of circuits, but not a whole lot of them become permanent ones.  I think I'm just in this for the tinkerage.  I like to experiment around with stuff, tweak this and that, and when I'm happy with what I've got I draw out the schematic for my book o' schematics, write up my notes and that's it.  I guess I'm content in that someday I *could* build something to use if I wanted to.  The small collection of physical stuff I own is great to have though.  I do have a Si Rangemaster clone (you can see it in the background of my pic above) that I use to beat up my Laney (a la Toni) and I've got a "something something headphone practice amp with speaker emulator and CD input something something" project that never gets finished but I think I get the most fun out of 'meddling'.  Does it mean I'm lazy?  Dumb?  Who knows.

I just took a look at Small Bear and the Idea Board is really neat.  I'm sloppy so I bet I'd need at least 2 breadboard sections.  Otherwise it's pretty cool.

[Rob Strand]

All you guys like Rob Strand and stallik with pots mounted in, what values do you have?

It depends on what I'm doing and how long the project takes - and if I get peeved off with stuff hanging off the breadboard  .   I had Fender BMT tone pots and some switchable caps on there for ages.  Sometimes the long wires to the pots create their own problems, so I keep them short but then they don't reach the other side of the breadboard.  If I plan ahead I build on each side of the breadboard and turn it around for another project.  No rules really but as you can see it's not a perfect work.  I must say having the connectors mounted onto a solid panel makes life a lot easier.