Common solderless breadboards have a 0.3" isolation channel separating the left side of the board from the right side. This channel allows standard DIP device pins to be isolated. When installing the Arduino NANO on such a breadboard, The NANO pin separation is wider than the DIP pin separation. Consequently, the NANO actually bridges the isolation channel and an adjacent column (or row) of pin sockets. Apparently breadboards come with 0.3, 0.4, and 0.6 inch isolation channels. I can not find any sources for the wider isolation channels. I have seen these wider channel breadboards in use on YouTube. Can anyone point me to a supplier of these boards? Thanks.
Dimensions:
- Breadboard: 175mm x 145mm / 6.9" x 5.7"
- Metal Plate: 221mm x 183mm / 8.7" x 7.2"
- Height (with Breadboard & Metal Plate): 10mm / 0.4"
- Binding Posts Spacing: 19mm / 0.75"
I understand what you are looking for. As to whether my suggestion will work, that depends on your breadboards and your requirements
Easy.
Cut the standard ones with a saw into two halfs and stick to a baseboard at whatever isolation channel spacing suits you.
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Your idea is good; thanks. I am a new to this "hobby". I thought these wider boards were commonly available and I could easily transition from solderless breadboard to a compatible solder board.
Imagine your suggestion using longer breadboards for additional components and power. Is there an easy transition to a solder prototype? I know I could use busboard or perf board for the solder prototype but soldering connections looks daunting.
Maybe, but it is an important skill to acquire if you want to make permanent circuits
DIP IC's are very common in the Arduino world. A breadboard like you're showing lacks so much versatility. I would definitely go with UKHeliBob's suggestion, because you get the best of both worlds. You'll thank him later.
If you are refraining from soldering this may be a solution
Not as good as soldering but - in some cases - better than a breadboard...
Just google for "arduino nano screw shield" or "nano screw terminal".
I agree with and appreciate your advice but "soldering skill" is too general. The easy part is melting solder in the vicinity of two parts you want to join. I have been doing that for more than sixty years. The daunting part is connecting pins and leads together on the bottom of a perf board without doing something backwards and having weak connections. Simple things like locating the wires on the board first or installing the components first need to be learned. I see runs of solder zigzag between two components in pictures. How to determine the path of the zig an the zag. Do you learn by trial & error or read tutorials or locate a mentor or do all three?
Personally I follow the schematic of the project just as I do when using a breadboard. Each connection, be it a wire or a deliberate solder bridge between pads goes from one point to another.
Each time you make a connection mark it as complete on the schematic and very soon you will have a complete circuit
Thanks. That is a good starting point. When you use the term
"schematic" do you mean a traditional schematic or something else? Do
you use some kind of "tool" to convert a breadboard layout into a
schematic?
Also, do you use design tool to transfer ideas into diagrams for a
breadboard?
Finally do you transfer your breadboard organization on to a perf board
or reorganize components to optimize connections or is the choice obvious?
Once again, I appreciate your guidance.
A schematic is a representation of a circuit showing the start and end of each connection between components. For me it is usually just a hand drawn circuit diagram. No tool needed. There are conventions such as positive voltages at the top, GND at the bottom and signal/data flow from left to right which make them easier to read but you can break these "rules"
As to converting a breadboard layout to a schematic, that is putting the cart before the horse. In order to build the circuit on the breadboard you must, by definition, know which pins on each device connect to one another, hence you need a schematic first, or at least the knowledge that say pin 12 of a Nano is the MISO connection used by the SPI interface
When transferring a working project from breadboard to say perf board the breadboard layout is unlikely to be the best, although you can buy perf boards that mimic the breadboard shape, size, pads etc. When moving a project to perf board it makes sense to rearrange components to save space and to put external screw terminal power connections on the edge of the board, for instance even if screw terminals were not used in the breadboard version
There may also be the need for the project to fit in a space constrained by other parts of the assembly or simply to fit into an existing enclosure or box
Having said all of the above, if a project is to become a permanent installation you are probably better off using a PCB anyway and they are cheap to get made and give you the opportunity to use surface mount components to reduce the size of the PCB
Thanks! Very helpful. You should write a book if there isn't one already.
Apparently breadboards come with 0.3, 0.4, and 0.6 inch isolation channels.
I don't think I've ever seen one with wide center channels.
Where did you find the picture?
All the major projects I've seen with lots of wide packages use the technique from #4
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