Good quality breadboard?

[ljudsystem]

Gaaahh! 

Can anyone recommend some good quality breadboards. I spend most of the time prototyping "wiggling" components to get connections.

[Josh?]

I had the exact same problem a short bit ago, and it got so bad that nothing I breadboarded would work. I found this video giving reviews of breadboards (https://youtu.be/XKQJhe9n_ug), and went with the guy's final top reccomendation from jameco. The link to Amazon is in his description, and it's worked amazingly for me so far.

[PRR]

I'm getting the idea that poke-boards were designed for 1970s parts, and part leads have got much thinner over the years.

[amptramp]

If you can fit an electrolytic capacitor lead into the breadboard, most other parts will rattle around in the sockets.  If other parts are tight, forget adding an electrolytic.  You may need 1 watt resistors just to maintain a connection if an electrolytic fits and film caps are anybody's guess.  The yellows may work but if they do, the greenies won't.

The variety of lead sizes is why I don't use breadboards.  I used to have to use them at one place where I worked and I have since started using prototyping boards - you solder them, so there is no question whether a circuit is misbehaving because of bad design, bad components or connection problems - if it doesn't work, there is a design or parts problem.  The advantage of using a prototyping board is that once the circuit works, just mount it in a chassis.  There is no need to copy what you breadboarded onto a circuit board or vero or flying lead or cordwood or whatever you may want to use - the prototype can just be mounted in a box and used.

[garcho]

http://www.busboard.com/

Everything they make is great, including their "busboard" proto boards, very convenient shapes and routing. I don't have many problems with leads and breadboards andymore, maybe I'm just lucky or maybe they make great stuff.

I can't imagine life without a breadboard, makes me get teary eyed just thinking about it!

I have made hard wired power supply and switching modules and have a whole hardwired input/output system, with different DC plugs, XLR, TRS, etc. I've made a whole prototype station, and that has cut down on a lot of the breadboard noise and frustration.

[FUZZZZzzzz]

https://makezine.com/2010/07/02/if-breadboards-break-thy-brain-buil/

[GGBB]

https://makezine.com/2010/07/02/if-breadboards-break-thy-brain-buil/

Super cool - but I wonder if anyone has done something like that. Most of those machine pin headers have a mechanical lifespan rating of 200 cycles - some less. That's a minimum rating - no indication of max - but I wouldn't want to start having socket failures after 200 uses if I've invested that much (time and money) into it. Replaceable I suppose, until the PCB pads give out.

[PRR]

> headers have a mechanical lifespan rating of 200 cycles

Playing demon's advocate: plug headers into headers. 200 uses of the top holes, toss and replace.

This seems to give 40,000 uses. Figuring one change per hole per minute (6 holes actively changing every 10 seconds), 40 hour week, 4 months doing nothing but re-re-re-plug a handful of holes full-time. More likely average 100 changes per hole per busy week, over 7 years.

[amptramp]

> headers have a mechanical lifespan rating of 200 cycles

Playing demon's advocate: plug headers into headers. 200 uses of the top holes, toss and replace.

This seems to give 40,000 uses. Figuring one change per hole per minute (6 holes actively changing every 10 seconds), 40 hour week, 4 months doing nothing but re-re-re-plug a handful of holes full-time. More likely average 100 changes per hole per busy week, over 7 years.

Shades of my old days in spacecraft where we had connector savers that worked exactly like that.  If you had to test an item, you would put connector savers on all the connectors that basically were connectors with a socket and pin end so you had the same gender as you started with.  You would do all the testing with these and take them off for final assembly.  Some units had connectors rated for only three mate - demate cycles.

[ljudsystem]

Thanks for the advice guys. What do you think about the 3M breadboards, are they worth the extra money?

[garcho]

i would say no, not worth the money

[thermionix]

The contacts inside the breadboard SHOULD be springy enough to grip a variety of lead diameters.  But the metal is thin, doesn't hold much tension.  The plating probably isn't so great either.  I'm sure a better quality breadboard could be made, but I don't know who does.  I'd also really like to have another column or two on either side if the IC trench, always seems to be one less than what I need.  But as it is, with the cheap (Tayda) breadboard, I've had some luck cleaning with Deoxit.  Another thing, if you're like me and leave the full leads on components when breadboarding, there's often adhesive residue from the reel tape, and that can prevent good contact.

[Ben N]

For fat leads, just keep a few jumpers with alligator clips at one end on hand. Alternatively, a few ZIF sockets might be handy as part of the prototyping rig.