I'm to the point of soldering the header pins into my ESP32 board. In order to make sure that they are lined up to put them in a breadboard, I inserted them into the breadboard. It was very difficult to get them in. It is even more difficult to get them out.
I'm concerned that when they are soldered in, it will be even more difficult plugging and unplugging the ESP32 without damage. Is it just my breadboard, or is this common?
What advice do you have about inserting and removing the ESP32 without damage?
The breadboard i have has a separating, eh what to call it, gully which should be on either side of the 2 rows of pins. the holes at a 90 degree angle of this gully are connected (5 holes in my case) and the holes parallel to the gully aren't. This meant i had to make an adapter for the breadboard, using some female and male header pins and a small piece of printplate. I anyway don't recommend putting a nano's headerpins into the breadboard either, it is usually just a bit to tight and removing the board can easily damage it.
You might want to get a dedicated breadboard (i.e. plug in board) for your ESP32.
Have you got a link to one of these boards? I thought of getting one of these, but they have only 17 rows (on each side) and the ESP32 has 18. These are the closest over 18 per side.
Val42:
I'm to the point of soldering the header pins into my ESP32 board. In order to make sure that they are lined up to put them in a breadboard, I inserted them into the breadboard. It was very difficult to get them in. It is even more difficult to get them out.
I'm concerned that when they are soldered in, it will be even more difficult plugging and unplugging the ESP32 without damage. Is it just my breadboard, or is this common?
The 2 ESP32's I have used have been tight in a breadboard. I just figure it is normal. The popsicle stick is a good idea for removal.
I think it will be the same or less difficulty getting the ESP32 out of the breadboard because the board gives you something to grab on to.
Make sure the headers are not at an angle at all before soldering them. The breadboard helps ensure this, but it still allows some movement. If the pins are not straight then it becomes much more difficult to remove.
The breadboard's contacts will loosen up a bit over time.
Be especially careful of the USB jack when you're pushing or pulling on the ESP32. Those are easy to break off.
I soldered the header pins onto my ESP32 on Tuesday. Before I soldered them in though, I ground the side of the pins that will be inserted into the breadboard. I took a rotary tool (like a Dremel, but a different brand) and rounded off each and every one of the square pins. They still fit in the breadboard firmly, but the pins are considerably easier to insert and remove.
It is unfortunate that there aren't header pins manufactured like this in the first place, at least not that I could find.
Are you talking about beveling the edges of the end of the pin, or the entire length of the pin?
I always buy the super cheapo headers from Chinese eBay/Aliexpress sellers and almost all of mine do have a bit of a bevel on the end of the pins. The only ones I have with no bevel are some of the long "wire wrap" headers but those are a thinner gauge so it's not such a problem. I do notice some variation between the various types of headers in my stash. Some are beveled almost to a point, while others are a very minimal bevel.
I've noticed some breadboards are worse about making it hard to insert components than others. On some, the larger leads like to butt into the edge of the spring clips instead of sliding into them. I'm not sure whether it's because the clips aren't aligned with the holes in the bread board or that the tops of the clips aren't flared enough.
pert:
I always buy the super cheapo headers from Chinese eBay/Aliexpress sellers and almost all of mine do have a bit of a bevel on the end of the pins.
I looked at some pins this morning (tin-plate, not gold). They seemed to have a single bevel along the plane as it were, of the row. This would be good to fit in an IC socket where the gap in the socket fingers is also along the plane of the row, but that gap in the breadboard fingers is perpendicular to these so would be difficult to insert - and tend to scrape the socket fingers badly in the process.
I seem to recall the gold plated pins as having a pyramidal end chamfer which would be optimum, and the "machined pins" as having a hemispherical tip.
My MKR1010 and MKR ETH Shield are only beveled perpendicular to the plane. The MKRWAN1300, MKRGSM1400, and MKRZERO are not beveled at all. These all have the "wire wrap" style long headers.
The standard headers that came with my Teensy boards are all pyramidal.
My eBay machined pins are just slightly hemispherical.
In my experience breadboards tend to loosen up considerably after 1-2 times use. Not to the point of losing contact, just making insertion of thick pins like headers a lot easier.