Building a Breadboard!

[Darren McInnes]

Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes

 

[Rob]

"Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337d516$0$4749$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...

Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes

I reckon a breadboard on top of an old BWD Minilab would be good. The link
might give you some ideas.

http://www.mcvan.com/acrobat/BWD604V3.pdf

There's got to be a pile of old minilabs from high school labs lying around
somewhere.
rob

 

[dmm]

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:01:41 +1000, "Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote:

Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Switchable frequency generator, from 1Hz to 10Mhz.
5 x 7 dot matrix LED display
4 x 4 keypad
ULN2003 buffer
1 x 8 led array

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes

 

[Alan Rutlidge]

"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337dda0$0$24147$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337d516$0$4749$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex
front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will
probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes



I reckon a breadboard on top of an old BWD Minilab would be good. The link
might give you some ideas.

http://www.mcvan.com/acrobat/BWD604V3.pdf

There's got to be a pile of old minilabs from high school labs lying
around
somewhere.
rob

Wow, that's a flash one. It's got digital displays. My old 603B has

developed a fault or two.
Anyone got a schematic they want to share or know a website that hosts one?

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Craig Hart]

McVann instruments is what's left of BWD. By all acccounts they're most
helpful.

They're in geddes rd glen waverly vic. number's in the book.

I know them well as I installed/maintained their Novell server for a number
of years.


"Alan Rutlidge" <don't_spam_me_rutlidge@iinet.net.au> wrote in message
news:4337faed$0$24129$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337dda0$0$24147$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337d516$0$4749$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if
you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex
front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will
probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes



I reckon a breadboard on top of an old BWD Minilab would be good. The
link
might give you some ideas.

http://www.mcvan.com/acrobat/BWD604V3.pdf

There's got to be a pile of old minilabs from high school labs lying
around
somewhere.
rob

Wow, that's a flash one. It's got digital displays. My old 603B has
developed a fault or two.
Anyone got a schematic they want to share or know a website that hosts
one?

Cheers,
Alan

 

[David L. Jones]

dmm wrote:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:01:41 +1000, "Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote:

Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Switchable frequency generator, from 1Hz to 10Mhz.

Yes, you could use my 10MHz DDS generator project:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/dds.htm

5 x 7 dot matrix LED display

Also a multiplexed 7seg LED display, say 4 digits with transistor
sinks.

4 x 4 keypad
ULN2003 buffer
1 x 8 led array

- RS232 chip and DB9 connector
- USB Interface
- Various power supplies (most important), say fixed +/-15V, +/-12V,
+/-5V, 5V, 3.3V, and one variable supply (0-15V) with adjustable
current limiting (0-1A) which goes all the way down to 0V. A switchable
AC power supply would be nice to.
- Speaker and buzzer
- A few pots (say 1K and 100K)
- Maybe some general purpose analog blocks like a precision diff-amp
and some adjustable filters.

Dave

 

[Alan Rutlidge]

"Craig Hart" <no@spam.ta> wrote in message news:4337fda4@news.eftel.com...

McVann instruments is what's left of BWD. By all acccounts they're most
helpful.

They're in geddes rd glen waverly vic. number's in the book.

I know them well as I installed/maintained their Novell server for a
number of years.

Thanks Craig.

Cheers,
Alan

"Alan Rutlidge" <don't_spam_me_rutlidge@iinet.net.au> wrote in message
news:4337faed$0$24129$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337dda0$0$24147$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

"Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote in message
news:4337d516$0$4749$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if
you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex
front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will
probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes



I reckon a breadboard on top of an old BWD Minilab would be good. The
link
might give you some ideas.

http://www.mcvan.com/acrobat/BWD604V3.pdf

There's got to be a pile of old minilabs from high school labs lying
around
somewhere.
rob

Wow, that's a flash one. It's got digital displays. My old 603B has
developed a fault or two.
Anyone got a schematic they want to share or know a website that hosts
one?

Cheers,
Alan

 

[Tom]

David L. Jones wrote:

dmm wrote:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:01:41 +1000, "Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote:


Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.


Yes, you could use my 10MHz DDS generator project:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/dds.htm

Just had a look at that page, looks good but the PIC firmware is nowhere
to be found and you do not sell kits or preprogrammed PICs... makes it
hard to build one.

Tom

 

[David L. Jones]

Tom wrote:

David L. Jones wrote:
dmm wrote:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:01:41 +1000, "Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote:


Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.


Yes, you could use my 10MHz DDS generator project:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/dds.htm

Just had a look at that page, looks good but the PIC firmware is nowhere
to be found and you do not sell kits or preprogrammed PICs... makes it
hard to build one.

A quick email would have fixed that.
Here is the firmware:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/files/ddsfrq21.hex
Sorry, haven't got around to putting it back up on the site yet.

No kits or parts?, gave that up, can't please everyone. Some want a
full kit, then some complain it's too expensive, some want just the
chip, some want just the PCB, some want just the chip soldered to the
board, some just want the programmed chip, some want it modified this
way or that, some want a completely built unit, some want to buy all
their own parts but want me to build it for them, some want me to
explain how it works because they couldn't understand the article, some
complain when they soldered the chip in backwards or fried it with an
iron, some can't get it working and send it back to get it fixed "under
warranty"...

Parts are all readily available, those that want to build it can.

Dave

 

[moby]

Tom wrote:

David L. Jones wrote:
dmm wrote:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:01:41 +1000, "Darren McInnes" <dmcinnes.newsWIK@WIKarcher.com.au> wrote:


Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.


Yes, you could use my 10MHz DDS generator project:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/dds.htm

Just had a look at that page, looks good but the PIC firmware is nowhere
to be found and you do not sell kits or preprogrammed PICs... makes it
hard to build one.

Tom

Or if you feel you need a DDS oscillator, you could always use this one
:
http://www.myplace.nu/avr/minidds/
Which comes with source code (easily hackable to a sweep generator)
and works like a bought one.
When I went through this exercise, I went for simplicity: + and - 15
volt
supplies, + 5 volt supply all with selectable current limit (I used
30ma,200ma and 1 amp)
access pairs of banana sockets with shorting switches to insert current
meters or external
PSUs, a few BNC sockets with flying pins to avoid having scope probes
mucking up the work area, LEDs to let me know when any of the rails
were current limiting & that's about it.
Lately the 5 volt supply has sprouted a 3.3 volt option switch.
M
M

 

[swanny]

Darren McInnes wrote:

Hello All,

After 20+ years i've finaly gotten sick of breadboarding on an old Rod
Irving solderless breadboard.

Now i'm building a self-contained unit with power supply, etc..

I was interested in knowing what things you guy's would put in one if you
build one.

Construction will be fairly basic, a wooded box 40x50 with a perspex front
panel (for the LCD Display)

And yes i'm doing web searches and looking up all the old sources (Don
Lancaster's TTL Cookbook)

I might use an old AT power supply for the main voltages but will probably
never need more than 1-2A

Best Regards All,

Darren McInnes

A couple of big FPGA's and then you can program them to do whatever you
want to ...

 

[Darren McInnes]

"David L. Jones" <altzone@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127773169.780609.218420@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Yes, you could use my 10MHz DDS generator project:
http://alternatezone.com/electronics/dds.htm

I plan to but that will probably be standalone as part of a RF testbed unit
i want to build

....hmm the chip itself is only $26.50 AUD and i've already got the 50MHz
osc's...

Why not since i'm putting in a meaty AVR uP probably the Mega32 @ 16MHz and
a 20x4 LCD and a couple of rotary encoders
it's basicly software only (and one bleeping small chip, but it cant be any
worse than those dallas semi tsop's!) after that.

great i'll just buy a .5mm tip for my Hakko!

ahh! also use the AVR to give me volt/amp readouts on the p/s

- RS232 chip and DB9 connector
- USB Interface

The rs-232 will go in allong with full breakout box facilitys and a max232
so i can testbed micro's, but main comm's will be a USB serial module hooked
to the AVR.

also bnc, rca, rj-45, and screw terminals

also use turned pin ic sockets for the connection pins

- Various power supplies (most important), say fixed +/-15V, +/-12V,
+/-5V, 5V, 3.3V, and one variable supply (0-15V) with adjustable
current limiting (0-1A) which goes all the way down to 0V. A switchable

The current limiting on the power supplys is something i should have thought
of (there goes the pc psu idea!) i'll try to set the voltages and curents
from the AVR via programmable resistors.
I need to be able to produce a skew in the outputs +/- a volt or so to test
stability (a fair bit of the stuff i do goes into hostile enviroments)

AC power supply would be nice to.
very, but i'll probably stick to my variac

- Speaker and buzzer
absolutely yes! if i never have to hunt around for one of these again it

will make the whole thing worth it!

- A few pots (say 1K and 100K)
- Maybe some general purpose analog blocks like a precision diff-amp
and some adjustable filters.
If i go with the filters i'm tempted to put in a Cypress PSoC, but i dont

want to learn another uP

Dave

Thank you very much Dave

The article you did for SC inspired me to play with the ad9835 it's an
amazing chip!

 

[Darren McInnes]

"moby" <moby@kcbbs.gen.nz> wrote in message
news:1127787557.615686.197280@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Or if you feel you need a DDS oscillator, you could always use this one
:
http://www.myplace.nu/avr/minidds/
Which comes with source code (easily hackable to a sweep generator)
and works like a bought one.
When I went through this exercise, I went for simplicity: + and - 15
volt
supplies, + 5 volt supply all with selectable current limit (I used
30ma,200ma and 1 amp)
access pairs of banana sockets with shorting switches to insert current
meters or external
PSUs, a few BNC sockets with flying pins to avoid having scope probes
mucking up the work area, LEDs to let me know when any of the rails
were current limiting & that's about it.
Lately the 5 volt supply has sprouted a 3.3 volt option switch

that's a must!, but i'll probably add 3V as well

 

[Darren McInnes]

"dmm" <dmmilne_REMOVE_@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:aelfj1dpt4ad93c3hm3h4qda55rlr0kmpk@4ax.com...

Switchable frequency generator, from 1Hz to 10Mhz.
i'll probably use a plug in osc for this then divide using some ttl and the

micro i'm building in

5 x 7 dot matrix LED display
4 x 4 keypad
the keys i'll probably do as pushbuttons with debouncers (one problem is i

do a but ov 3V work so i will have to switch logic levels

ULN2003 buffer
i will use a TPIC2802 8 channel driver as i use these often (i bought a big

box of them for a job that didn't come through)

1 x 8 led array
i will do these as a multi colour indicator -Volts red, 0V off, 3-5V yellow

and above 5V green (also add an extra led to each with a 100ms one shot to
show pulses)
>