Hi,
I am after some advice for getting a breadboard. I have over the last few week brought quite a few from eBay and Amazon but they are all really crap and I keep bending component legs trying to get them into the breadboard points (as they are real tight) and getting quite frustrated with it all.
Can anybody recommend a good breadboard mfr or supplier here in the UK.
Thank you
a good breadboard
Is that not an oxymoron?
Grumpy_Mike:
Is that not an oxymoron?
as opposed to a bad breadboard, no it is not an oxymoron. It's a valid question, and a big problem with this type of item. All the cheap copies, are creating a big problem. If you want to find counterfeit goods, eBay is the place to go. Amazon is not much better in some respects, anyone can sell through Amazon, or eBay for that matter. even the sellers that say they're in the United States, may actually be in China. I found that out firsthand when a company "that was supposed to be in the United States", sent me the wrong item. They requested that I send it back at my expense to China. That's not where I purchased it from, And eBay's policy says seller pays return shipping. contacted eBay and got it straightened out. And you cannot assume that the higher price items are better. They may be the same items, it may even be the same company under a different name.
sorry I do not live in the UK, so I cannot advise you on where to go. There are several major suppliers in the US that carry good breadboards. Mouser electronics is one of them. But I'm afraid shipping might be prohibitive. if you can find a major electronics supplier in your country, that would be the place to go first. But that's as much help as I can give you.
All bread board is crap, simple as.
Maybe the problem is not the breadboard but your components. Having a thight connection is an advantageous property of a breadboard. Maybe it's time to invest in better components. Chinesium components tend to have weak and thin legs. Another alternative is to use pliers.
I got my breadboards from a dutch webstore that probably also ships to the UK. These have less thight connections and is chinesium component friendly. If you're interested in the URL, just ask me in private. I'm not sure how URLs to webshops are treated on this forum.
I'm not sure how URLs to webshops are treated on this forum.
They are fine as long as they are electronic or Arduino related.
I got mine from Maplins. They do the job
--
Mark
In that case here is a link
Breadboard is always crap - it ranges from utterly useless trash to barely usable, but it's never good.
The connections you get on breadboard are not very reliable, even at best, leading to the assembled project being sensitive to being nudged/poked/etc. The larger the project and the worse the breadboard, the more of a problem this becomes - at a certain point, you end up wasting more time dealing with loose connections than working on your project.
There is significant variation between brands - but one man's "great, the breadboard is pretty good at making a decent connection" is another mans "the breadboard is too tight, I keep bending the pins". Breadboard gets worse with age.
That's why I just plain don't use breadboard - when I need to make something on prototyping board (which is very frequently) I use "solderable breadboard" - that is, printed circuit board with similar patterns of holes connected together as breadboard, so you make the same circuits, but solder the parts in place. This of course has the disadvantage that you can't readily reuse parts (but I rarely find myself wanting to do that - most parts I use are pretty cheap, or are mounted on a breakout board that I can connect with pin header); you can of course always put pin header on the pins that you plan to be playing with, so you can reconfigure what they're connected to without soldering (male 0.1" pins paired with female dupont jumpers work really well).
Of course, I may be a bit biased because... I happen to sell some excellent prototyping board in the style of solderable breadboard:
For my two cents, (that's right we don't have cents any more) I have never had problems with my solder-less bread boards, >40 years now.
I do like the look of DrAzzy's boards.
.
I really wonder where the hate for breadboards comes from. It's quick and easy and trains quite some valuable electrical engineering skills. When there is a wrong connection you remove the component and reinsert it DONE. With a protoboard you have to desolder it, get it in the right place again and solder. Sounds very time and money consuming.
I really wonder where the hate for breadboards comes from.
From using it, and teaching students using it, and seeing poor saps at exhibitions methodically rocking components back and forth hoping that their exhibit will spring into life, before trudging away and abandoning their exhibit.
It is a thorougher waste of time and lulls you into thinking it is great.
It's quick and easy
Yes when it works.
trains quite some valuable electrical engineering skills.
No, their is no skill training other than swap that and see, engineering is not a suck it and see skill.
With a protoboard you have to desolder it, get it in the right place again and solder
And that encourages a bit of thought before making the change.
Real life engineering involves two or possibly three goes at getting a circuit right spread over say six months. A good engineer is one that is able to think.
"No, their is no skill training other than swap that and see"
Well, if the breadboard is intermittent as mentioned, it trains the user how to troubleshoot.
trevortjes:
Maybe the problem is not the breadboard but your components. Having a thight connection is an advantageous property of a breadboard. Maybe it's time to invest in better components. Chinesium components tend to have weak and thin legs. Another alternative is to use pliers.I got my breadboards from a dutch webstore that probably also ships to the UK. These have less thight connections and is chinesium component friendly. If you're interested in the URL, just ask me in private. I'm not sure how URLs to webshops are treated on this forum.
It's mostly the resistors that bend when inserting as most resistors seem to have very thin leads.
Thanks for the link.
Grumpy_Mike:
All bread board is crap, simple as.
Yes.
MarkDerbyshire:
I got mine from Maplins. They do the job--
Mark
I do also and they seem to be the best of the bunch so far.
I suspect that their longevity depends upon what gets plugged into them.
IC have square legs, wrong size wire may also be a problem.
SniffTheGlove:
It's mostly the resistors that bend when inserting as most resistors seem to have very thin leads.Thanks for the link.
Not IME i have had 1/2 W resisters that would not get past the plastic holes easily.
Having relativley long leads can make them bend though.
I would add that buying resistors from the like of maplins often gives soldering problems which i suspect is due to age.
No complaints though just being able to go to local shop for a missing component is a plus these days.
What about wire wrapping. I used it for my prototype projects using wire wrapping. But now that I learned how to do my own PCB board I do not longer use it.
Maybe this link will help some of you understand what's going on.
Hope you find a good one.
Joe.
tauro0221:
What about wire wrapping. I used it for my prototype projects using wire wrapping. But now that I learned how to do my own PCB board I do not longer use it.
The wire wrapping technique works good for Integrated circuits, But you still need to solder some components such as resistors and capacitors to ensure a proper connection. And in some cases, analog circuits do not work as well is digital. The current is too high for the wire. I'm not saying that these breadboard's are any better, even the good ones Add capacitance and resistance to the circuit. It's always better to test your circuit with these breadboard's, but do not depend on them for a final analysis of the circuit. When transferring to a circuit board the capacitance, inductance, resistance and noise in the circuit changes.
Boardburner2:
Yes.I do also and they seem to be the best of the bunch so far.
My original breadboard was a Maplins one until it got damaged and then brought a couple of MB-102 with the power supplies but quickly realised both breadboards were rubbish.
I am getting my Son to pop into Maplins on his way to work today to get me an AD-12, it expensive (£15.99) but will be better quality and comes on a backing board to make my desk area tidy
promacjoe2:
Maybe this link will help some of you understand what's going on.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VerbEZtACwQ
Hope you find a good one.
Joe.
Thanks for that video link.
Yep, my breadboards are exactly identical to the ones in the video.
I don't understand why companies make rip offs that are so bad. It's not like the tie points are difficult to make or fit or purchase.
Just 2 changes (tie points and printing) and they would be a good breadboard and it would not cost any more to manufacture.
Also, the consequence is that after you have brought a crap one you are then put off buying similar MB-102 as you now have no way to see if they a good or not, and asking the vendor will be usless as he will not know or just lie and say they are great when they are not. You can not also go on price by avoiding cheap ones as some vendors put ridulious prices on them as well like £25 and it's still the same crappy one.
