Where do I get the good stuff? (Stripboard)

I am fortunate in having two electronics suppliers nearby. Each have their own type of Vero board. One sells the plain brown one which has shiny copper traces and the other store has brown material printed with white lines on one side and dull copper traces on the other. I prefer the look of the plain brown stuff but the boards with the white lines and dull copper strips works better. It takes solder extremely easily and neatly and the traces are far more solid. The plain brown board with the shiny traces sometimes has micro-fractures or tears in the copper which has caused grief on more than one occasion. And the shiny copper doesn't seem to take solder as well.

If you are in Australia the good stuff comes from Altronics IME and the less good stuff comes from Jaycar.
 
@HamishR thanks for the info. I’m in the States but you just have me the idea to check a local shop. There is one in my state that I went to on the job (needed 10k resistors for alarm panel, fast) and they had everything; I could barely absorb half of it.

I remember they had isles of NTE stuff, and a wall of resistors, which were kind of pricey but convenient nonetheless. I’ll have to take another trip sometime.
 
@HamishR thanks for the info. I’m in the States but you just have me the idea to check a local shop. There is one in my state that I went to on the job (needed 10k resistors for alarm panel, fast) and they had everything; I could barely absorb half of it.

I remember they had isles of NTE stuff, and a wall of resistors, which were kind of pricey but convenient nonetheless. I’ll have to take another trip sometime.
Was it cables and connectors in Newington?
 
I found some fancy vero at a (formerly) local shop that's got silver strips instead of the usual copper. I haven't tried it yet to see how it differs in use compared to the copper.

I'd like to try the "compact" vero that Fuzz Dog has (had?), and it's green instead of the horrid beige most vero comes in. 'Course, some would say the green is ghastly compared to beautiful brown...
It's interesting stuff in that it looks more like perf, with smaller traces connecting each row of holes, very easy to cut a trace. Do-able but more fiddly on regular vero, but it makes it easier to make the layout more compact.

Tip I oft repeat:
If you have old vero (or PCBs/Perf) that's become oxidised, get a bicycle rim eraser/rubber from your local bike shop and with a little genie-like rubbing the copper will be fresh, bright and shiny new again.
 
@Feral Feline I’ve seen the silver stuff, I’m pretty sure it’s tinned. When I etched the circuit boards for my wah pedal, I bought this stuff called “Liquid Tin” from MG Chemicals on Amazon. It got lost and found in the mail and long story short, I ended up with two for the price of one. It literally applies a layer of tin on all exposed copper. Very interesting to watch.

I quite like the look of old phenolic, but I think I uncolored FR that the new stuff is made of is kind of ugly.

That’s a great tip! I usually just flux the fuck (the only appropriate term) out of old stuff, or use scotch pads if it’s too bad.
 
Back
Top