Holey Circuit Boards!

[Ron Hubbard]

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Ron

 

[JW]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010 02:45:00 -0800 (PST) Ron Hubbard
<ryon@dslnorthwest.net> wrote in Message id:
<03a72a3a-9755-428f-b957-921afb619bd0@i25g2000prd.googlegroups.com>:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Looks like it's still there:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103804&CAWELAID=107598474

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=V1043-ND
Seems pricey, though...

http://www.westfloridacomponents.com/HW101A/Solderable+Perf-Board+X-LARGE+Copper+Pad+Circuit+Board.html

Lots of hits here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=perfboard&hl=en&tbs=shop%3A1&aq=f

 

[John Fields]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010 02:45:00 -0800 (PST), Ron Hubbard
<ryon@dslnorthwest.net> wrote:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Ron

---
http://www.vectorelect.com/Vectorbord.htm

---
JF

 

[Rich Webb]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010 02:45:00 -0800 (PST), Ron Hubbard
<ryon@dslnorthwest.net> wrote:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Futurlec has a basic selection at reasonable prices. They also carry
stripboard-style boards, which are otherwise sometimes hard to find.

http://www.futurlec.com/ProtoBoards.shtml

Jameco has a larger selection but they may be a bit more expensive.

http://www.jameco.com and search on "protoboard" (their %!$&% URLs are
insanely long).

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

 

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Radio Shack was never a good place for parts, too expensive and too

limited. The only thing it had going was that one could usually find
a nearby store, Radio Shack expanded as old style electronic stores
disappeared.

You should be able to get perfboard anywhere that you can get hobby
electronic parts. That will likely be mailorder at this point except in
major population centers, since most "electronic stores" now are
distributors that really want to deal with businesses not hobbyists.

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper. The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere. The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

Michael

 

[1jam]

Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper. The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere. The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

 

[Ron Hubbard]

On Dec 8, 4:47 am, JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010 02:45:00 -0800 (PST) Ron Hubbard
r...@dslnorthwest.net> wrote in Message id:
03a72a3a-9755-428f-b957-921afb619...@i25g2000prd.googlegroups.com>:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.  

Looks like it's still there:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103804&CAWELAI...

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=V104....
Seems pricey, though...

http://www.westfloridacomponents.com/HW101A/Solderable+Perf-Board+X-L...

Lots of hits here:http://www.google.com/search?q=perfboard&hl=en&tbs=shop%3A1&aq=f

It never fails! I spent 20 minutes searching for it and all that
turned up for me was copper clad boards. Oy!

Ron

 

[John Larkin]

On Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:03 -0900, 1jam <com@example.net> wrote:

Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper. The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere. The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

You can...

Saw out islands in the copper, with an x-acto or a Dremel

Stick down and carve areas of kapton tape as insulators

Stick small pieces of copperclad on the big one

Stick things down with foam mounting tape

Stand parts in mid-air by soldering the groundable pins right to the
copperclad, live-bug style. 22M resistors and bypass caps make nice
standoffs, too.

Use chip adapters, like the Bellin things

http://www.beldynsys.com/snapapart.htm


You can do picosecond-fast, low-level, or RF stuff on copperclad.

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast_lvds.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards.jpg

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards2.JPG


Unlike the nasty white plastic proto blocks, you can write comments on
these and keep them forever.

John

 

[Herman]

"Ron Hubbard" <ryon@dslnorthwest.net> wrote in message
news:03a72a3a-9755-428f-b957-921afb619bd0@i25g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.

Ron

They have them. Same as Radio Shack.
http://www.mpja.com/products.asp?dept=284

 

[George Herold]

On Dec 8, 11:01 pm, John Larkin
<jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:03 -0900, 1jam <c...@example.net> wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper.  The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere.  The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

   Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

You can...

Saw out islands in the copper, with an x-acto or a Dremel

Stick down and carve areas of kapton tape as insulators

Stick small pieces of copperclad on the big one

Stick things down with foam mounting tape

Stand parts in mid-air by soldering the groundable pins right to the
copperclad, live-bug style. 22M resistors and bypass caps make nice
standoffs, too.

Use chip adapters, like the Bellin things

 http://www.beldynsys.com/snapapart.htm

You can do picosecond-fast, low-level, or RF stuff on copperclad.

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast_lvds.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards.jpg

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards2.JPG

Nice pics, I'll have to try soldering the BNC's right to the copper
clad. I've just been putting them in place by soldering a bent over
ground tab to the copper. That's nice 'cause I can stick an input/
output anywhere on the board. Your method takes a bit more thought
before you start.

George H.

Unlike the nasty white plastic proto blocks, you can write comments on
these and keep them forever.

John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[John Larkin]

On Thu, 9 Dec 2010 07:24:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
<ggherold@gmail.com> wrote:

On Dec 8, 11:01 pm, John Larkin
jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:
On Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:03 -0900, 1jam <c...@example.net> wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper.  The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere.  The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

   Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

You can...

Saw out islands in the copper, with an x-acto or a Dremel

Stick down and carve areas of kapton tape as insulators

Stick small pieces of copperclad on the big one

Stick things down with foam mounting tape

Stand parts in mid-air by soldering the groundable pins right to the
copperclad, live-bug style. 22M resistors and bypass caps make nice
standoffs, too.

Use chip adapters, like the Bellin things

 http://www.beldynsys.com/snapapart.htm

You can do picosecond-fast, low-level, or RF stuff on copperclad.

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast_lvds.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards.jpg

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards2.JPG

Nice pics, I'll have to try soldering the BNC's right to the copper
clad. I've just been putting them in place by soldering a bent over
ground tab to the copper. That's nice 'cause I can stick an input/
output anywhere on the board. Your method takes a bit more thought
before you start.

Don't solder the cheap polyethylene-insulator ones!

George H.

Unlike the nasty white plastic proto blocks, you can write comments on
these and keep them forever.

John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I really like SMBs. They are small, fast, easy to solder down, instant
connect/disconnect.

You can also find buckets of connectorized (SMA, SMB, MCX) hardlines
on ebay. They solder right to the copperclad and make a pretty good
transition to a 50 ohm microstrip.

John

 

[krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz]

On Thu, 9 Dec 2010 07:24:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold <ggherold@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Dec 8, 11:01 pm, John Larkin
jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:
On Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:03 -0900, 1jam <c...@example.net> wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper.  The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere.  The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

   Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

You can...

Saw out islands in the copper, with an x-acto or a Dremel

Stick down and carve areas of kapton tape as insulators

Stick small pieces of copperclad on the big one

Stick things down with foam mounting tape

Stand parts in mid-air by soldering the groundable pins right to the
copperclad, live-bug style. 22M resistors and bypass caps make nice
standoffs, too.

Use chip adapters, like the Bellin things

 http://www.beldynsys.com/snapapart.htm

You can do picosecond-fast, low-level, or RF stuff on copperclad.

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast_lvds.JPG

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards.jpg

 ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards2.JPG

Nice pics, I'll have to try soldering the BNC's right to the copper
clad. I've just been putting them in place by soldering a bent over
ground tab to the copper. That's nice 'cause I can stick an input/
output anywhere on the board. Your method takes a bit more thought
before you start.

Soldering BNCs to copper clad works very well. If you have the ones with the
square base (and four 2-56? mounting holes), simple solder one edge of the
base to the copper clad at a right angle to the board. If you're using the
round type intended for a 'D' hole, simply solder the flat to the board with
the business end of the BNC hanging off the side of the board. It takes some
heat but I've never melted the insulator.

 

[Mint]

On Dec 8, 4:45 am, Ron Hubbard <r...@dslnorthwest.net> wrote:

It seems that every day, just a little bit more of Radio Shack's hobby
supplies disappear. Now they don't seem to carry perf board any more
according to the web site. Does anyone know of a supplier of ordinary
phenolic perf board? The shack used to carry them in 4x5 inches and I
think their big board was 6x8 inches--- so somethin of a similar size
would be nice.  

Ron

I was in one of their stores last week.

Roughly one-half the store was for cell phones, I-pods, and video game
accessories.

Glad to see they still had the D.I.Y. "blank circuit boards".

Andy

 

[George Herold]

On Dec 9, 7:09 pm, "k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz>
wrote:

On Thu, 9 Dec 2010 07:24:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold <ggher...@gmail.com
wrote:





On Dec 8, 11:01 pm, John Larkin
jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:
On Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:03 -0900, 1jam <c...@example.net> wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2010, Ron Hubbard wrote:

That said, you could simply use copper circuit board and buil up over
the copper. The copper provides really good ground, not only is it a
large surface but it's everywhere. The parts rise over that surface, and
you just connect the parts with their leads, or at most some bits of wire.
A lot easier to fix an error, or change things.

Michael

Interesting idea. What do you mean by 'build up'? glue insulated pads down?
or just float things in the air by soldering their leads together??

You can...

Saw out islands in the copper, with an x-acto or a Dremel

Stick down and carve areas of kapton tape as insulators

Stick small pieces of copperclad on the big one

Stick things down with foam mounting tape

Stand parts in mid-air by soldering the groundable pins right to the
copperclad, live-bug style. 22M resistors and bypass caps make nice
standoffs, too.

Use chip adapters, like the Bellin things

http://www.beldynsys.com/snapapart.htm

You can do picosecond-fast, low-level, or RF stuff on copperclad.

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BB_fast_lvds.JPG

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards.jpg

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BreadBoards2.JPG

Nice pics,  I'll have to try soldering the BNC's right to the copper
clad.  I've just been putting them in place by soldering a bent over
ground tab to the copper.  That's nice 'cause I can stick an input/
output anywhere on the board.  Your method takes a bit more thought
before you start.

Soldering BNCs to copper clad works very well.  If you have the ones with the
square base (and four 2-56? mounting holes), simple solder one edge of the
base to the copper clad at a right angle to the board.  If you're using the
round type intended for a 'D' hole, simply solder the flat to the board with
the business end of the BNC hanging off the side of the board.  It takes some
heat but I've never melted the insulator.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ohh, I like the square base idea! Then I don't even need to keep the
connector at the edge of the board. I sometimes get rid of the ground
tab and put a new piece of copper clad at right angles to the board
with a 3/8" hole for the BNC... 'glueing' up pieces of copper clad
with solder is great fun.

George H.