Radio Shack Breadboard

[markm]

Hi fellas,
I've decided that I NEED a breadboard if I am to progress any further in my hobby of stompbox electronics.
I see my local RS has a "deluxe" breadboard for like $22, anyone use this RS breadboard?
And what is it that you would use to power it, just an ac adapter?
Any opinions on breadboarding are very welcome to this thread as this is gonna be new to me.
Thanks guys,
   MarkM

[3/4 North]

I bought one from RS, not sure if it was the delux but it is useless. I think the only way I could make it useful is if I soldered it full of transistor sockets.

[Jeremy]

I have one from RS.  It works.  I don't use the big terminals on it. 

I use a battery to power it.  I don't have a problem plugging transistors or ICs into it. 

You can probably use an AC adapter, but I think it'd be safer to use batteries, you know?  Just get a 9V battery clip, tin the ends, and shove them into the breadboard.

Be sure to keep the diagram (I think it's on the cardboard packaging) that shows what holes are connected to what other holes.

You're going to need to have jumper wires.  RS sells a package of them, in a reclosable plastic container, but if you don't want to buy jumper wires then you can make them out of SOLID wire.  I mean, you can make them out of stranded wire if you want, but that's a huge pain in the tuckus. 

So either buy the package of jumper wires or a spool (or colored spools) of solid wire.  Or both, as  I did.

You shouldn't need any sockets unless the board is FUBAR; a breadboard is essentially a board full of sockets into which any component can be shoved. 

[KerryF]

I have one from there.  I think its the deluxe.  I dont even know if mine works well.  I built a bazz fuss on it and it worked after a little tweaking, but i have put a bunch of other things on there and they havent worked.  I cant tell if its working or not.

[KORGULL]

I have this one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104172&cp=&origkw=breadboard&kw=breadboard&parentPage=search. I think that's the one you're referring to? It works just fine. The biggest thing I ever fit on it was a PT-80 delay circuit.
You can get a much bigger bang for your buck if you feel like ordering one somewhere else though. I bought one three times the size for roughly half the price from a mailorder place. I've heard that the Radio Shack ones don't last as long as some others. Mine's about 2-3 years old and I haven't had any problems yet.
If you want it now and don't mind paying a higher price, I say go for it.

[WGTP]

I just bought the small board.  I leave the long leads on the resistors, caps, diodes, mosfets, etc, and just plug them in.  I have made a few short jumbers with hookup wire.  I have an input jack with about 3" of wire and an output jack with a 100K pot wired to it for the output.  Use a 9V and plug in the lead to turn it on.  It sits on top the amp and I constantly tweak my distortion.  I just added a 50K trim pot and made a BMP tone control.  It was so cool I got another one.  One has a dual op distortion and the other a Vulcan variation.  

Everything is cool until the Cat jumps on it.

EVERYONE NEEDS ONE.

[3/4 North]

Then I definately have the cheap one. There's only copper on one side and not in the holes like a socket, so very bad to no continuity.  I did like the box of jumpers.

[zpyder]

All hail breadboards.  I would agree with korgull, you can (and I have) get a much bigger one for much less.  I've got one like the one in korgull's picture, I've also got a couple that are just like that only without the black housing (JUST the breadboard if you will...) and then my pride and joy is a honking quad-sized one with a fairly useful "face-plate" inwhich I've installed 1/4" jacks, switches, LED's and pots.  One small section of that board is a devoted millenium bypass... fing sweet...

As far as ICs, transistors, etc... breadboards are perfect for these.  They ARE a giant row of sockets

DEFINATELY buy a box of jumpers/spool of SOLID wire.

And keep in mind that circuits you build/test on this thing may be noisy because of those jumper wires and also it's not shielded at all.  Oh, and it kinda seems like the whole thing could act like many mini antennas

cheers

zpyder

[KORGULL]

Hey, I didn't know we had a time limit for edits in this forum.

I wanted to add this to my last post:
You can easily hook up a 9V battery snap to it. I think what I did for higher voltages was to plug a wall wart into a power jack and then run jumper wires from that jack to the breadboard.
Don't forget to connect together the sets of +/- power blocks that run around the outside of the board. If unsure how everything is internally connected, use a multimeter on continuity mode to figure it out.

[Gilles C]

I have this one from Circuit-test,

http://www.rpelectronics.com/English/Content/Items/MB-106.asp

and except from the fact that I can have more than one project on it all the time, I don't use one this big for every single project.

But you can have this one cheaper than from RS.

http://www.rpelectronics.com/English/Content/Items/MB-102P.asp

I suspect that they use the same parts.

http://www.rpelectronics.com/English/Content/Divisions/Div_88_180.asp

Gilles

[markm]

I have this one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104172&cp=&origkw=breadboard&kw=breadboard&parentPage=search. I think that's the one you're referring to? It works just fine. The biggest thing I ever fit on it was a PT-80 delay circuit.
You can get a much bigger bang for your buck if you feel like ordering one somewhere else though. I bought one three times the size for roughly half the price from a mailorder place. I've heard that the Radio Shack ones don't last as long as some others. Mine's about 2-3 years old and I haven't had any problems yet.
If you want it now and don't mind paying a higher price, I say go for it.

Yeah, that is the one Korgull.
I don't think I wanna wait so I may just have to go get it. I have been doing alot of work with schems and layouts lately and just felt that this may be a better way to do this than, layout the circuit, etch a board, solder it up and hope it works!!
Do you guys find it is helpful for doing layouts?

[idlechatterbox]

I find it indespensible. Using the b-board gives me a working model of the pedal, so I can have it sitting around for a while before I truly decide if I love or hate the sound. I know what others are saying about interference/noise, but I never experienced it so far, or the rest of my setup is so noisy I never notice the difference

[KORGULL]

I always breadboard stompbox circuits before making them permanent (PCB/perf). You can easily modify things, and learn a lot by fooling around on the breadboard.

Even though I have a larger one, my first pick is usually that Radio Shack board. It easily accomadates most stompbox circuits, and doesn't take up much room on my small table.
I like to have a few breadboards (or a large one that fits a few circuits) so I can have a few projects going at once.

[zpyder]

I know what others are saying about interference/noise, but I never experienced it so far, or the rest of my setup is so noisy I never notice the difference

The times that I get very noticable interference are usually odd setups.  Like just last weekend I built a TS808 on PCB and decided to play with different clipping diodes.  I didn't have any sockets, so I temporarily soldered in 3" leads into the PCB where the diodes go, and ran them over to my breadboard where I installed the different diodes.  That's 6 3" unshielded wires.  I picked up my neighbor's phone conversation or something.  But yea, usually it's not bad

plus my house is FULL of EMI     I'm moving!

zpyder

[idlechatterbox]

QUOTE:
" I picked up my neighbor's phone conversation or something. "

I hope that they had some useful advice on clipping diodes and JFETs.....   

[oldrocker]

The RS one is what I use.  It's good for small projects.  Get the set of jumpers in a clear plastic box that goes with it if you can find it.  When you get it continuity test the holes to see how it's layout is and if they're connected.
I have a female adapter plug going to the red and black thumb screws and ran wires from the thimb screws to the top two horrizontal rows along the top.  Nice for power with an Ibanez 9 volt power supply or what ever your going to use to power it up.  Even a 9 volt battery clip to the thumb screws wil work.

http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=DSC00016t_1149406710-422-12285.jpg

[Noplasticrobots]

I have the two smaller breadboards from RS (the ones without the terminals on it). I say order it somewhere else. Not only will you save money but you'll get a bigger breadboard. Also, I've pushed the contacts out the bottom of mine, and I don't just go shoving things into the holes so that should give you a clue about the cheapness of Rat Shack's products.

Oh yeah, like Old Rocker said, get the jumpers!

[Gilles C]

A little suggestion. Get this kind of Lead Bending Tool. It's cheap, works well with resistors, and does wonders with wires if you want nice looking jumpers. You will also be able to use it for your stripboards. You can also use it to cut the wires to the correct length.

http://www.kelvin.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=K&Product_Code=390364

I bought mine locally, so I don't know where to order them.

Gilles

[Gilles C]

Agrr... I wasn't fast enough to edit my message. It must be a new set-up I suppose.

I wanted to change: "if you want nice looking jumpers" by "if you want to make nice looking jumpers yourself"

Gilles

[Noplasticrobots]

Mouser sells them Gilles C. I've seen them towards the back of the catalog.