Breadboarding Practices

[The Grand Wazoo]

Greetings, all. While I’m only 10 pedals in with my diy journey, I’ve been wanting to start breadboarding so I can play out my “what if’s”. What I want to know is, do you save your breadboards with prototype circuits? Or do you just pull all the components and move on to the next thing?

What is the breadboarding platform you are using? PedalPCB Protoboard? Coppersound DIY? Other? If using one of these integrated platforms and you save your designs/mods, do you buy an entire new instance of that platform or do you remove the breadboards and replace them?

 

[owlexifry]

do you save your breadboards with prototype circuits?

only until I've finished the actual final build of the pedal that the breadboard build/circuit inspired in the first place.

Or do you just pull all the components and move on to the next thing?

yep, pretty much. i will rebag the 'used' components to reuse again and again specifically for breadboard builds.

What is the breadboarding platform you are using?

this one.

PedalPCB Protoboard?

The mini version was my first breadboard rig and it's great for small circuits.

Coppersound DIY? Other? If using one of these integrated platforms and you save your designs/mods, do you buy an entire new instance of that platform or do you remove the breadboards and replace them?

if i want more breadboards I buy busboard brand breadboards from mouser.
dont even bother with cheap ones, they are heckin awful compared.

a lot of these breadboard "platforms" are all pretty much offering the same thing with different layouts.
i guess pick whatever looks good and comfortable for your workflow, or DIY your own

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

this one.

A+ for the cookie pan! Thank you for the insights!

 

[jeleta]

only until I've finished the actual final build of the pedal that the breadboard build/circuit inspired in the first place.


yep, pretty much. i will rebag the 'used' components to reuse again and again specifically for breadboard builds.


this one.


This was my first breadbaord rig and it's great for small circuits.


if i want more breadboards I buy busboard brand breadboards from mouser.
dont even bother with cheap ones, they are heckin awful compared.

imo, a lot of these breadboard "platforms" have a lot of superfluous shit i'd never use for analog guitar pedal circuits. hobbyist retailers gotta have their selling points i guess.
you could DIY your own or just pick whatever looks good and comfortable for your workflow. heardle game

When you’re reusing the components from a finished breadboard, do you have any particular method for documenting the final circuit and the changes you made along the way? I’m wondering if you keep a schematic/notes somewhere so you can recreate a mod later without having to rebuild the whole thing from memory.

 

[jwin615]

A+ for the cookie pan! Thank you for the insights!

Tie it to ground. Helps a ton in noisy (emi/rfi)environments.
you can easily find sheet pans from a toaster oven at thrift stores. They're a perfect size. Not too big, not too deep.

 

[owlexifry]

When you’re reusing the components from a finished breadboard, do you have any particular method for documenting the final circuit and the changes you made along the way? I’m wondering if you keep a schematic/notes somewhere

i'll either make a post about it somewhere here, that i can then refer back to later,
or
ill just write some notes in a little booklet/pad.

photographs of breadboard builds have also proven to be quite valuable to me during moments of 'wtf is going on here' / 'what did i do?'

recreate a mod later without having to rebuild the whole thing from memory.

usually this is possible, but often ill find when it comes to doing an actual build, ill have new ideas i wanna try, which ultimately means breadboarding the circuit again, to verify these ideas (because peace of mind and removing all doubt is quite valuable to me)

 

[zeropluszero]

I was inspired by Owlexifry, but decided to do breadboarding in the most expensive way I could.
I have the Pedalpcb auditorium, which I have a little attachment to to clip straight onto pedalpcb projects.

clippy thing

And I use the pedalpcb protoboard, with busboard branded breadboards(mouser) and some basic wiring from Tayda
Tayda part numbers A-3480, A-3478, A-3482, A-6024

I usually start by buying the PCB first, because I am a fool. I then accumulate all the parts, build it on the breadboard (often two or three times, until I work out which connection I missed) with any planned mods, and then pull all the parts and solder them directly to the PCB. If i put it away I put all parts back into their pink baggies.

When I have something constructed on the breadboard I often setup a basic ditto looper pedal running a riff into a tonex one for headphones so I can fiddle with both hands.

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

which I have a little attachment to to clip straight onto pedalpcb projects.

I like the clip device. I have a test box that I made (https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/home-grown-test-box.29824/) but the clip would make things much easier and neater when testing PedalPCB boards. Where did you get it or did you make it?

 

[zeropluszero]

I think I added a photo of the listing on AliExpress? If you search for the name you should find it from probably 30 sellers.

 

[owlexifry]

build it on the breadboard (often two or three times, until I work out which connection I missed) with any planned mods, and then pull all the parts and solder them directly to the PCB.

hell yeah. this is the way. i should probably do it this way too, but i’m deranged and insist on using virgin components for final builds

 

[jwin615]

insist on using virgin components for final builds

an offering to appease the gods of tone.

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

I think I added a photo of the listing on AliExpress? If you search for the name you should find it from probably 30 sellers.

Found it. Thank you!

 

[jwin615]

Found it. Thank you!

Get some DuPont cables for connecting. You can trim down the plastic and use one for power IO on most boards as well.
If you use 2, one 4 pole one 6 pole, connected with DuPont female to female or a 4 wire 2.54mm JST, you can pre test your 3pdt switch as well.
Not totally necessary (I've only ever had one bad switch and it was my fault) but it's nice to have. It also makes it easier to cable because you just need to run your in and out and don't have to think about the rest. Tests your LED too which is nice because I've definitely inverted led polarity more than once.(on ppcb boards that have the LED between the power input, you obviously can't populate the LED and use a clamp to connect power)
The pogo pins are fairly fragile. Careful as they can get stuck in the through holes some times so pay attention when disengaging them. This isn't as big of a deal on ppcb boards, but can be an issue on others that have slightly larger through hole diameter.