First let it be noted I'm a newbie which might be obvious from my questions.
I prototyped my project on my breadboard and I'm ready to complete the project. I'm unlikely to get a printed board as far as I can tell the cost of a printed board plus chips would wind up costing me as much as replacing my Arduino all together. Plus the newer Arduinos seem to be better than the original one I purchased.
For my LCD screen on my prototype, I used breakaway headers for connecting the pins to the breadboard. However the spacing of the breakaway headers do not fit properly to the prototype shield headers. So there in lies my question.
When finalizing projects how do most people make the final connections to the LCD screen?
I certainly considered the blank pcb solution. I'm not sure what it buys me though. I still wind up needing a solution between the blank PCB and the Arduino and I'm back to the same problem.
I was favoring the ribbon/dupont connector solution as someone highlighted above. My preference was a 16 Pin ribbon cable however has been a challenge to find but I felt it would make the cleanest end product. Most DuPont connectors need special crimp tools to make custom and 16 pin are hard to once again find. I was thinking maybe I can use 4x 4pin DuPont connectors but most wind up being 4pin to 4pin and ideally I need 4 pin to raw wire or 1 pin.
It is generally impractical to create a PCB for one or two final units.
In fact, a UNO is not particularly appropriate in the first place. A Nano - or Pro Mini if you do not even need the USB functionality - mounts directly on a breadboard and the design can be readily moved over to stripboard. With consistent spacing, divisible header sockets and pins can be used to mount the LCD so that it is removable to access components underneath.
