pcb boards with seperated compnent holes..

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

ive asked this already, but that answer apparently was not good enough....
im working with pcb's now, and i picked up one that has each hole seperated (very common apparently), what i dont get is how u make connections between the holes... i tried to make like solder bridges on purpose, and they work but they r ugly and seem like a hassle for something that rly should be easier...

pls hlp!

2

Actually, I think solder bridges are the easiest solution.

I often lay 'component legs' along and solder them as well. I am under the preconception that solder does not lead as well as solids.

3

^^^ What he said. Bend the legs of resistors and caps to help form the "path" that you want to take.

I spend about a week trying this method, and found out it was MUCH (for me anyways) easier to just do a toner transfer PCB etch. Unless you don't really care to go much beyond a breadboard set up, you'll have to learn a PCB Cad program eventually. And eventually you want to learn the toner transfer method.

But the toner transfer method does require a few more tools:

Clothes Iron $20
Laser printer $100(used)
Copper clad boards (~$5 each for 4x6")
Drill press ($100-200)
PCB drill bits.($20)
Muriatic Acid $10 for a gallon
Hydrogen Peroxide $3

Actually, now that I think about it maybe the bread board solution isn't all that bad! :wink:

4

I etch boards too, but occasionally I don't want to go through the whole process and just launch into a proto board, designing it on the fly. Here's an example using 30 gauge kynar wire. It's not hard to do as long as you have a decent wire stripper, and maybe soft jaw pliers to grip the wire while you strip a tiny bit off the end. I usually make a dot of solder and then reheat the joint while stick the wire into it :slight_smile:


5

Not bad green wires!!! Not bad at all...

Question: is that stranded or solid core?

6

Or you can wire the board on the component side as well, like here:

7

You can use a mixture of solid core, tinned copper and multi strand like this:-

8

There's always wire wrap! Does anyone do that anymore?

Just don't try using wire wrap on an RF circuit. :stuck_out_tongue: