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[on:]

I just had either the most brilliant or the stupidest idea (please be kind in your reply  )

I am not at all skilled with the soldering iron and I noted that you can make your wire/post/header fit snugly into a perfboard.

Could I glue them with a drop of superglue to make a permanent contact (and save the solder)?

Is the superglue  conductive?  if not it may insulate the contacts, if it is it may create shorts if it spills on adjacent holes. Maybe that's why it is not (widely) used.

Thanks

[Reply #1 on:]

Yea it's non-conductive at least after it's 'dried' and would not be a viable electrical connection. Also I used CA based glues a lot in R/C aircraft years ago and while the glue is amazing in many properties I found such glued connections can just sudden fail given enough time. as in many months or a couple of years.

[Reply #2 on:]

Yea it's non-conductive at least after it's 'dried' and would not be a viable electrical connection. Also I used CA based glues a lot in R/C aircraft years ago and while the glue is amazing in many properties I found such glued connections can just sudden fail given enough time. as in many months or a couple of years.

Thanks, I figured there must have been a reason for not using it but I did not know what it was.

[Reply #3 on:]

The point is that it is corrosive so it forms an oxide on the conductors and stops them from conducting. Just learn to solder it is not hard, many children can solder. I learnt myself with no access to instruction or the Internet at the age of nine.

[Reply #4 on:]

I've built quite a few permanent projects with plug-in "breadboards".   But some soldering is always required.

For larger compononents (capacitors, diodes, voltage regulators, etc), I've used this type of terminal block.   You make connections by putting two or more wires or leads into the hole, and screwing it down.   They are easy to cut-down if you need fewer terminals/connections.   I've built power supplies this way a couple of times...  I don't remember for sure, but there was probably some soldering involved with these projects.

You can get conductive adhesive, but it should only be used when soldering is impractical or impossible.

[Reply #5 on:]

I used superglue few years ago to "solder" a wire to an (low voltage) interrupter...The interrupter had a long leg so I have surrounded it by 2 or 3 turns of wire to make sure it has good contact...

Not recommended, but it worked anyway

[Reply #6 on:]

The point is that it is corrosive so it forms an oxide on the conductors and stops them from conducting. Just learn to solder it is not hard, many children can solder. I learnt myself with no access to instruction or the Internet at the age of nine.

And that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. 

Lefty

[Reply #7 on:]

Far before that, the plankton were very numerous though.

[Reply #8 on:]

Yes, I am aware that soldering is the ultimate solution, but I was wondering about alternatives.
I know how to solder, but I am not very proficient.... I guess I'll just practice 

[Reply #9 on:]

I was wondering about alternatives.

There's the wire wrap method.

I don't know how it compares to soldering in terms of speed of assembly, reliability or effort to make changes, but it is an alternative.

[Reply #10 on:]

Wire wrap was believed to be a more reliable than solder I think - the forces used make a gas-tight weld between the wire
and the hard sharp-cornered square pins.  Solder joints can be "dry" if moved during cooling and this isn't always detectable
by simple inspection.  Also wire-wrap boards don't have traces that can crack, the wires all have some give if the thing flexes.

Wire wrap is _horrible_ to do, staring at hundreds of sharp pointed pins just isn't pleasant at all.  Soldering is far more
intuitive and relaxing I think!  

[ Remember plenty of flux, always clean the bit, hot-enough iron (there is no substitute for a temperature-controlled iron IMO
  If you are taking more than 2 or 3 seconds per joint something's probably wrong ]

[Reply #11 on:]

Wire wrap was believed to be a more reliable than solder I think - the forces used make a gas-tight weld between the wire
and the hard sharp-cornered square pins.  Solder joints can be "dry" if moved during cooling and this isn't always detectable
by simple inspection.  Also wire-wrap boards don't have traces that can crack, the wires all have some give if the thing flexes.

Wire wrap is _horrible_ to do, staring and hundreds of sharp pointed pins just isn't pleasant at all.  Soldering is far more
intuitive and relaxing I think!  

[ Remember plenty of flux, always clean the bit, hot-enough iron (there is no substitute for a temperature-controlled iron IMO
  If you are taking more than 2 or 3 seconds per joint something's probably wrong ]

I did a lot of wire wrapping in the 70s used on minicomputer systems as a field service engineer. It was very reliable, but took almost as much practice and skills as learning to solder/desolder well. Things got better when they came out will small portable battery powered wire wrap 'guns'. Unwrapping was an especially hard skill to master. I especially hated stripping the insulation off the ends of that special 30 gauge WW wire prior to wrapping the wire, that thin insulation material was very tough to strip and if you didn't use special dedicated wire strippers for that specific wire you were bound to nick the wire and have the wire break during wrapping or during the final 'pull the wire test'.

 Funny thing is I'm left handed (hence my handle, old left-hander) so tended to make my wraps the opposite direction as most right handers would, and if a right hander had to come behind me later and try an unwrap one of my wraps they would have a hell of a time until they got out a magnifying glass and finally figured out what they were dealing with.  

Lefty

[Reply #12 on:]

Wirewrapping is quick & easy. A good solder joint starts with a good mechanical joint - wirewrap makes that mechanical joint to start, and is quick & easy to change/fix if needed.

[Reply #13 on:]

Wirewrapping is quick & easy. A good solder joint starts with a good mechanical joint - wirewrap makes that mechanical joint to start, and is quick & easy to change/fix if needed.

Not so quick and easy if you solder it after wirewrapping.    I'd have doubts whether you'd ever get it apart again.......

[Reply #14 on:]

Wire wrapping is wonderful for projects where you may have to change the wiring at some later date.  Back in the 70s, when  worked on safety systems we used a product manufactured by RIS for emergency shutdown systems and frequently had to alter the logic sequences as plant demands changed.  Although it might look a bit like a rats nest, providing you kept decent documentation it was great to work with.  BUT, you need the proper tools, you certainly cannot produce good wire wrap using a pair of long-nosed pliers.  And, of course, the pins must have sharp square corners, not round or "soft-cornered" ones like most of today's interboard jumpers.