PedalPCB Protoboard

finebyfine

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
I was finally able to finish setting up my full size protoboard, and I really cannot sing high enough praise of this. Super grateful to have gotten it in one of the anniversary contests.

Let me start by saying that I truly hate breadboarding. I find it tedious, frustrating, messy, to say nothing of it feeling physically challenging finessing wires. My bench is not big and it gets unruly quick with a breadboard and wires strewn all over the place. I am not a "learn by messing things up" type learner (or rather, I prefer to have a ton of preparation for that part) and a breadboard might as well be a mortal enemy to that trait. I wish I could see a breadboard as a playground of wonder the way I know some people into electronics do. Instead I feel like a toddler ready to flip over a game board.

Because I hate breadboarding but have experienced how essential of a skill it is in a hobby that I enjoy more than anything on the planet, I have done and tried tons of things to reduce my inertia. Premium dupont jumpers? (Color coded, of course, so that I can remember what they're doing), every kind of breadboard adapter known to man, color coded breadboards themselves, soldering my own breadboard with machined IC sockets to try to get better lead grabbing strength, 3d printed wire cutting jigs for 2.54mm spacing, crimping my own 1 inch jumpers - you name it - I have tried it, with at best, alright results.

I'm not going to suggest that the protoboard has made me do a complete 180 but having one setup with high quality breadboards screwed into the board is probably the biggest inertia reducer I've had yet. Having the kinds of power circuits that I end up setting up on most breadboards anyway (charge pump, vref, etc) makes it easier to just jump into the circuit.

I ordered a big handful of breadboards to try to find one that was better than any I've used and I could also mount with screws to the board. I had experience with Bus Boards, which are nicer than the MB-102 from Tayda that is ubiquitous but really had it start to come together when I tried a few from Global Specialties - I have two of the GS-770 installed and they're the most secure without needing excessive force to remove I've come across. I liked all that I tried but only the GS-770's mounting holes lined up with the pcb, but I had to bore out the mounting holes a hair.

Picture shows an in progress LM1700 ring modulator circuit that I've been working on adapting to just be an octave up - had to leave for work soon after taking the photo and there are some wrong connections so don't look too carefully!

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Time zones screwed me out of a free Protoboard but I think I'll buy one with my next order.
First time seeing breadboards with screws...pricey!
What did you use to screw them to the board? And what feet did you use?
 
You sure know a lot about breadboarding for someone who hates it! 👍
Hahahaha I never thought about it like that but you're right. A big guiding philosophy for me in life is to try to only be annoyed by something once - either I try to solve what is annoying, or I try to accept that it is annoying. Maybe I should have leaned toward the latter for breadboarding instead of the former.

First time seeing breadboards with screws...pricey!
Yuuuup. I was initially very reluctant to try them because I figured you've tried one breadboard you've tried them all, but these really are so much less frustrating to use for me.
What did you use to screw them to the board?

I used some M3 button head hex machine screws I had laying around. I think they are either 8mm or 10mm long, and they mounted securely with just a nut and no lock washer.

And what feet did you use?

The feet are M4 machine screws of the same type but a stopgap at best. I'll either swap them out for like half inch rubber feet or upside down thumbscrews that have a large head.
 
Hahahaha I never thought about it like that but you're right. A big guiding philosophy for me in life is to try to only be annoyed by something once - either I try to solve what is annoying, or I try to accept that it is annoying. Maybe I should have leaned toward the latter for breadboarding instead of the former.


Yuuuup. I was initially very reluctant to try them because I figured you've tried one breadboard you've tried them all, but these really are so much less frustrating to use for me.


I used some M3 button head hex machine screws I had laying around. I think they are either 8mm or 10mm long, and they mounted securely with just a nut and no lock washer.



The feet are M4 machine screws of the same type but a stopgap at best. I'll either swap them out for like half inch rubber feet or upside down thumbscrews that have a large head.
Thanks for the info!
 
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