Stripboard to Schematic to Breadboard. Good/Bad?

[BuddytheReow]

There are a TON of stripboard/veroboard layouts out there for PedalPCB and non-PedalPCB circuits. I am wondering what all you guys think about finding a stripboard layout out there, converting it to a schematic (a great skill I still need to hone), and then transferring that to a breadboard. I know my focus recently has been less soldering and more breadboarding, but I think that would be a great idea if people are interested.

So, good idea? Bad idea? Waste of time on this forum? Just curious how I can contribute here.

 

[vigilante398]

Being able to read and write schematics is somewhat like its own language and an important skill for sure. That being said I'm not sure how particularly useful this is, since most vero layouts start as a schematic, and many places post them with the schematic. So if there's a vero layout out there, chances are it won't be hard to find a schematic too.

Reading through a schematic while looking at a vero layout could be somewhat useful I suppose, looking at how things are connected in an attempt to understand how they work, but tracing a schematic from a vero layout with the end goal of breadboarding it doesn't seem to be super useful in my opinion, not sure what you would be learning from the process.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Hmm. Good point. Sometimes there are stripboard layouts out there without a schematic and traced from a pedal. Maybe I’m just grasping at straws here. I do think stripboard or pcb to schematic is very useful. Breadboarding it is solidifying whether or not I want to make my own

 

[Danbieranowski]

One skill I'd love to learn is converting schematics to breadboard or PCB. One of these days I'll have timeeeeee.

 

[Barry]

One skill I'd love to learn is converting schematics to breadboard or PCB. One of these days I'll have timeeeeee.

I got my ProtoBoard almost done, except for voltage regulators for the 3.3 and 5V, and that resetable fuse, the 3.3 is either out of stock or on a site with a ridiculus minimum

 

[Danbieranowski]

I got my ProtoBoard almost done, except for voltage regulators for the 3.3 and 5V, and that resetable fuse, the 3.3 is either out of stock or on a site with a ridiculus minimum

Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

[vigilante398]

Hmm. Good point. Sometimes there are stripboard layouts out there without a schematic and traced from a pedal. Maybe I’m just grasping at straws here. I do think stripboard or pcb to schematic is very useful. Breadboarding it is solidifying whether or not I want to make my own

Maybe I look at the wrong sites, but every stripboard layout I've seen started with a schematic traced from a pedal, I suppose they don't always post the schematic. I know everything from tagboardeffects comes from a schematic, not directly from a PCB. Going straight from tracing a PCB to drawing a vero layout without a schematic in between makes zero sense to me. If you understand it enough to make a vero layout then you clearly understand it enough to draw up a schematic.

 

[phi1]

many of the schematics for tagboard effects come from freestompboxes site, which doesn’t have the images come up in google searches. I’ve traced a few veros to schematic for the same reason.

 

[fig]

I got my ProtoBoard almost done, except for voltage regulators for the 3.3 and 5V, and that resetable fuse, the 3.3 is either out of stock or on a site with a ridiculus minimum

I'll send you a few of those fuses and the VRs.

 

[Barry]

I'll send you a few of those fuses and the VRs.

Well thank you kind sir!

 

[Feral Feline]

There are a number of the tagboardeffects blogspot projects that do NOT have a schematic publicly available — 4MS Standard Swash, for but one example:

"I don't have permission to publish the schematic but the layout matches it.
Please do not ask for it."

So even if the layout was done from a schematic, if the schematic is not available to the builder of the vero I see nothing wrong with reverse engineering the vero-layout to create the schematic. This is especially good to do for someone who's not yet familiar with schematics and/or vero, a lot there to be learned by doing so.

The next step to understanding the circuit more fully is to breadboard it with the aim of trying different modifications to the circuit, tailoring it to taste or even hopefully improve upon it fundamentally.

I've come across plenty of vero and perf layouts on various sites where the schematic link is dead or non-existant.


As a tutorial, I think the individual steps have been covered so a tutorial may not be needed; but as a method for independent exploration and learning...

VERO > SCHEMATIC > BREADBOARD GOOD!

 

[BuddytheReow]

VERO > SCHEMATIC > BREADBOARD

What about the other way around? I would love to be able to find or create a schematic and transfer that to vero. I tried designing a vero layout for something simple and nearly tore the rest of my hair out. I also tried it with pencil and paper so that probably wasn't the most effective way to do it.

 

[vigilante398]

What about the other way around? I would love to be able to find or create a schematic and transfer that to vero. I tried designing a vero layout for something simple and nearly tore the rest of my hair out. I also tried it with pencil and paper so that probably wasn't the most effective way to do it.

Get DIY Layout Creator, hands down the best tool for vero layouts. Free and open source, and created by a longtime DIY community member.

As for the method, it's rather unique and I'm certainly not the right person to give guidance on that. I have an electrical engineering degree and I'm a circuit designer by profession, and I can't do vero layouts. PCB layouts sure, but vero is a different way of thinking, you can't approach it the same way as a PCB.

 

[benny_profane]

It definitely takes practice to create a vero layout. There's a pretty good tutorial of the process here, but it does take time to start recognizing and using patterns.

 

[fig]

Get DIY Layout Creator, hands down the best tool for vero layouts. Free and open source, and created by a longtime DIY community member.

As for the method, it's rather unique and I'm certainly not the right person to give guidance on that. I have an electrical engineering degree and I'm a circuit designer by profession, and I can't do vero layouts. PCB layouts sure, but vero is a different way of thinking, you can't approach it the same way as a PCB.

This seems like a great tool (first impression). I've been looking for something to sim breadboarding. I'm going to give the converter a shot later this evening.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[phi1]

All good stuff on this thread. I think both directions are good to practice and use. A full project to involve all the skills is:

vero -> schematic -> breadboard
-> tweak/re-design -> new schematic
-> vero -> build

 

[benny_profane]

I've been looking for something to sim breadboarding.

If I remember correctly, you can select a breadboard layout in DIYLC (in addition to tagboard, stripboard, protoboard, etc.).

 

[fig]

Yes, I saw that. I already started populating one. Odd that the default lead spacings on components do not match the breadboard. There's probably a setting somewhere in there...

....and there it is! a box beside each setting that is labelled "Make Default". Nice!

 

[Coda]

I would like to know how to take a schematic and convert it to a vero/perf layout.

 

[phi1]

There’s nothing magic about it, just make all the correct traces connect. The link benny posted is probably the best info out there. Ive used DIYLC mentioned in this thread, usually just plop the ic in the middle of it has that, put input wire on the left side, and start walking through the components on the schematic. getting it to work is not too hard, just takes a while and lots of re-checking. Optimizing the most compact layout is the tricky part, which I don’t feel I’ve mastered.