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#perfboard

C.cazabon@mindly.social
2025-04-01

When building electronics project for permanent use - i.e. after testing on a solderless breadboard - you normally go to a #soldered perforated board of some type as a #prototype, or even for very-low-volume production.

There are different types of boards. I dislike "matrix" boards, which are just isolated pads on a grid, i.e. there are no connections between any of them. Some people swear by these; I swear at them.

I prefer protoboards that have multiple holes per pad (so you can connect multiple component leads without having to add an explicit wire jumper). If they've also got #busses - sets of pads that run the whole length or width of the board - so much the better!

Some are #crap: laminated paper PCBs where the pads lift off the board if you even try to desolder something you added. Row/column labels missing, or (like I found with some recently) that don't line up between the front and back of the board 😆 , or most egregiously, they don't actually show the pad pattern on the front of the board, so you have to keep flipping it to check your parts are correctly placed. One example below.

I have some from "BusBoard Prototype Systems" that I like. The SB4 is a 38 x 24 (912 hole) board that is #snappable into quarters. Two of the quarters have rows that are 4-hole, 2-hole, 4-hole. The other two are 5 2-hole pads. Both types have a single bus running along each of the 2 long sides.

But ...

1/x

#electronics #hobby #ProtoBoard #PerfBoard #MatrixBoard #Chinesium

A scan of the underside of a cheap perforated prototyping circuit board - "protoboard" or "perfboard" - showing its pattern of pads and holes, along with the brand/model name "Radio Shaek 2". :wink: This is a typical crappy generic Chinese board, made from laminated paper. The copper pads are very thin and the glue holding them to the board isn't great, so they lift off the board very easily when soldering, or especially desoldering. The holes aren't very well centered in the pads. There's no soldermask, so it's easy to get accidental solder bridges. The board is browish tan, and has an 18 x 24 grid of holes, so 432 holes total. There are 2 continuous busses running up the middle of the board. On either side are rows consisting of (from outside to in) a 2-hole pad, three single-hole pads, and a 3-hole pad.
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2025-02-15

#soldered the second #PCB that arrived yesterday. This time it's #diysynth related. It's a drop-in replacement for my #perfboard 10 step #sequencer control board. It has identical connectors and was one more test of my PCB design skills and quality of @aislerhq manufacturing. It went really nice and works perfectly in place of the old one.
I only used a bottom ground plane and a different size for the board, so I'll have to redo it again for my final project.
#synthesizer #electronics

the empty board that came from Aisler. the tracks are very visible due to missing top ground plane. it would be difficult to add anyways.the finished board after soldering all components. I left out one of the external power connectors, since I only have two control boardscomparison of the perfboard prototype and the PCB.testing the board with a small setup. connected are the two control boards, the LFO for the clock, and the power supply.
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2025-01-19

I had this old TBA800 IC lying around. So, I designed an audio amplifier circuit. It was fun to solded and works fine. It should support 5W at 16 Ohms load and 24V supply. I only tested it with 12V and 4 Ohms speaker.
The hardest part was soldering the tabs, since they act as heat sink, too.
I used #KiCad for the schematics and layout, although I had to create my own symbol and footprint for the IC. Also had to cut holes for the tabs into the #perfboard.
#electronics #AudioAmp #soldering #diy

finished board from the top, showing all used componentsbottom side, showing the soldering.top side during testing, the LED is lit.the schematics. I used my own symbol and footprint. I used a green LED instead of the red one.
GeekProjects Newsnews@geekprojects.com
2024-06-20

A Simple Laser Harp MIDI Instrument hackaday.com/2024/06/19/a-simp #MusicalHacks #wemosd1mini #laserharp #perfboard #lasercut #ESP32 #midi #ldr

Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-05-16

Finished building the DrawBridge.
It seems to work, but I need to connect an external 5V power supply, since my laptop doesn't provide enough voltage to power the drive.
Also, this #floppy drive was old, and makes squeaky noises when trying to write. The inserted floppy shows scratch markings, too.
So, I'll need a proper floppy drive.
#Amiga #floppydrive #soldering #perfboard #ArduinoNano #Arduino

the finished board for connecting the Arduino Nano to the floppy drivebottom side of the perfboard showing the solderingthe board with plugged in Arduino Nano, and a floppy drive connected by a ribbon cable and power cable
i4cy 📌i4cy
2024-04-24

Before designing a PCB, I find it always helps to first produce a solid prototype. In this case using a mixture of stripboard and wire-wrap construction methods.


[17/04/2020]

Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-03-28

Planning on creating an #enclosure for my #diysynth #perfboard modules.
I'll use 5mm transparent #polystyrene for the body, and 2mm #aluminium for the front panel.
Here is a crude #prototype done in #cardboard.
I'll have to unsolder the #potentiometers and #LEDs to place them on the panel. The audio jacks will be connected to the pin headers.
#modular #synthesizer #crafting

the cardboard prototype of the enclosure. the potentiometers and audio jacks are not spread out evenly due to the soft material.
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-03-17

After fixing it, I decided to test it. It is connected in place of the step sequencer. It seems to have a small issue with triggering, sometimes causing the sample and hold to resample when releasing the key. Have to look into this.
Here is a short demo of me pressing some buttons: makertube.net/w/g88KJst76crKDD
#diysynth #synthesizer #perfboard

photo of my test setup with everything connected, except the step sequencer
Rommudohrommudoh@makertube.net
2024-03-17

Demo of my Keyboard input

makertube.net/videos/watch/7a7

Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-03-16

Finished #soldering the #perfboard yesterday. Sadly, it didn't work as intended. Now comes the fun part — analyzing and fault finding. Already fixed one of the issues by replacing a #capacitor with a bigger one. Now the trigger and gate are generated correctly, but the output buffer for them are constantly high. The sample and hold for the CV outputs worked from the beginning.
#diysynth #keyboard #OpAmps

the finished board with all opamps in the sockets and the key perfboard attached. sadly it didn't "just work" at oncethe board is lying on the table with power and key board connected and switches on. the trigger and gate LEDs are constantly on. next to it is an oscilloscope with the probe's ground reference connected to one of the pins. I'm trying to spot the error in the output buffer of trigger and gate
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-03-14

More #soldering done. All components are placed now, only have to do a few connections and jumper wires. I really notice how I'm improving.
Also, the return of the dancing #transistors, this time two #JFET.
#diysynth #perfboard #dancingtransistors

top side of the fully populated perfboard. power connector is at the left, key board connector top left, CV outputs on the right side, and the gate and trigger outputs with LEDs to the bottom rightbottom view of the perfboard showing the solderingcloseup of the dancing JFETs, not glued together this timecloseup detail of the bottom side showing some of the soldering
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-03-12

Today's #soldering progress on my single buss 1V/oct keyboard, the controller part. Only missing the electrolytic and poly capacitors, some wiring and connectors.

Schematics from #MFOS:
musicfromouterspace.com/analog

I did the key part for one octave previously, and modified the schematic for the parts I have available. The key part will be chainable, so I can add more octaves if everything works fine.

#perfboard #diysynth

top side of the unfinished controller board for the keyboard. almost all components are insertedbottom side showing the solderingthe previously finished key part spanning one octave. it can be chained to more boards like this to create a larger range. it only consists of buttons, resistors, and pin headersback side of the key part showing the soldering
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-24

Today's #soldering project done: a #mixer with three inputs using a #TL072 #opamp. I have a layout planned for a slightly bigger #perfboard with four to six inputs.
#diysynth

the finished board with connected cables.the back of the board showing the solderingcomparison of the finished board and the prototype on the solderless breadboard (which has four inputs)
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-16

Today's #soldering project: six step expansion #perfboard for the #sequencer - now I can make use of all 10 steps.
One of the switches was defective and I had to replace it after soldering.
#electronics #diysynth

finished perfboard for the six steps. it consists of six potentiometers, six switches, and six LEDs.bottom of the perfboard showing the soldering
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-11

@mixal
Here is the #schematics done in #KiCad, as well as the "PCB" layout used for the #perfboard and the 3D rendering.
I chose 1µF and 100nF for the caps, smaller being the faster one.
It was inspired heavily by the design of SoundBender found here: soundbender36.wordpress.com/20
#diysynth

the schematics of the circuitthe PCB layout done in KiCadthe 3D rendering of the board
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-10

The last module of my #diysynth that I had on breadboard is now soldered to a #perfboard. It's a #LFO with triangle and square wave output, with shape #potentiometer that changes the triangle wave towards sawtooth or ramp, and the duty cycle of the square wave between 5% and 95%.
It has two speed settings with 0.12 to 5.3 Hz, or 1/80th to 0.5 Hz frequency. I might build a second one with different capacitors for higher frequencies.
#soldering #synthesizer #oscillator #electronics

the finished LFO module. it has two potentiometers for rate and shape, a switch for high or low setting, and two outputs, for triangle and square. in the middle is the TL072 OpAmp and a trimmer for adjustments. the LED is driven by the triangle waveback side of the board showing the soldering. the LED is shining throughoscilloscope showing the output of the triangle wave with shape pot turned to both extremes. on the left a ramp wave, on the right a sawtooth wave. the edges are almost perfectoscilloscope showing the square wave with the shape pot turned to both extremes. it goes from 95% duty cycle on the lefy to 5% on the right
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-02

Finished #soldering my #VCO #perfboard. It is calibrated to 1V/Octave and outputs sawtooth, square/pulse, and triangle waveforms.
The heart is a #CD40106, using only one of the inverted Schmitt triggers. I tried adding more, but couldn't fit them properly. Maybe if I left out the triangle wave output, which would remove the upper #TL074.
My power supply board is getting full, I should add a few more sockets.
Demo video: makertube.net/w/bxShHoDY5cCP7k
#diysynth #waveform

the finished VCO from the top, fully populated and labeled. the pin header to the left is the CV input, the pin headers to the right are the three outputs for the different waveforms. at the bottom there are three potentiometers, for coarse tuning, fine tuning, and the pulse width of the square wave.the bottom of the board.l, showing the soldering. I'm quite happy with the result, even if I had to redo a part to the right due to an error in the schematics. thankfully there was enough space to fix it.the dual rail power supply board with all modules used in the demo video plugged in. the dual supply socckets are all used, just two single supply sockets are free.
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-02-02

oh no! how could this happen... I made a mistake when transferring my hand-drawn #schematics into #KiCad. Needless to say, the circuit doesn't work as intended.
Thankfully, it only affects a sparsly populated area on the #perfboard and I can fix it by cutting two wires and doing a bit of re-routing. doesn't even require a jumper wire.
#soldering #electronics

hand-drawn schematic. the 1,5k resistor and the trimmer pot are placed between the base of the PNP transistor and ground.the schematic after transferring it into KiCad. now the 1,5k resistor and trimmer pot are placed between the collector and -12V.the pcb layout with the required changes. red connections need to be removed, and green connections added.
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-01-31

I call them the #dancing #transistor pair... #superglued together and middle leg of one crosses into the hole of a side leg of the other one.
#electronics #perfboard #soldering

two superglued transistors in the middle of a couple of components. they look like dancing, especially since the right one's middle leg is stretched into the hole of the side leg of the other oneanother shot of the dancing transistors. it could depict a wedding, too, with a green capacitor as priest and three NTCs as guests
Rommudohrommudoh@social.tchncs.de
2024-01-27

Finished #soldering the next #perfboard, the #sequencer core with the #CD4017 counter chip and a #TL074 #OpAmp. I have connected the control board and the rest, see a demo here: makertube.net/w/mEobXiLn5so6Rp
After soldering all components, I had the idea of adding a #LED for the gate output. Fortunately it fit very nicely.
Only VCO and LFO are still on solderless breadboards, and I wasted some time searching for a fault turning out being bad connections on the breadboard...
#electronics #diysynth

the finished board from the front. on the left is the TL074 OpAmp, and on the right the CD4017 decade counter. at the bottom is the reset selector and on the top the step outputs. on the upper right are the connectors for power and return path of the control boards. on the left are the clock input, gate and CV outputthe back of the board, showing all the wires neededthe board connected to the rest of my synth. only the LFO and the VCO are on breadboards

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