[sdiy] breadboard

[CCartCat at aol.com]

Um, thanks for the breadboard/non-breadboard advice.  Harry, you preachin' to 
the choir since a good friend who got me doing DIY (an EE) got me on the 
whole vector board/T-42 path.  

As for the breadboard, it is tempting for simple 
throwittogethergeeisthiscircuitgonnasuck? projects like those weird TAB book 
circuits someone alluded to several threads back.  Plus, as I soldered bus 
wire to the tabs of an IC socket, I began to feel like a blind jeweler ("is 
that really a solder bridge or are my eyes just crossing?).

In the context of the previous OT thread that originated this one, I was 
approaching this mail list as a sort of cool cultural product/example of 
international cooperation.  I wasn't complaining about soldering so much as 
trying to kid self-deprecatingly about how I read about synth building but do 
little else.  It's a comment about who I am and why I lurk around here rather 
than a problem to be solved per se.  

Concretely, I've built a few LFOs for a VC panner, a couple PAIA kits (the 
Gator and the Tube Head), plenty of fuzzboxes (couple kits, one or two of the 
Craig Anderton designs from scratch prob. using vector board etc.), a simple 
2-chip Theremin (the schemo came from an issue of Experimental Musical 
Instruments), the Etherwave kit (which is mostly built 'cept for wiring the 
pots, body construction), a -10 to +4 dB (?) converter.  But this much was 
done over a 5 or 6 year period ending about 2 or more years ago when I began 
to read here (a coincidence).  I just decided I had lot of stuff as it is and 
was maybe more of a consumer/user than a builder or hacker/modder/bender.  
(And continued to lurk here anyway, learning from the LDR threads sometime 
back and dabbling in that with the VC inputs of a Korg X911.  Also close to 
but not quite in SDIY land, I learned from the Piezo mic and Slinky Tech 
threads.)

In the time I have build music electronic stuff, the only other construction 
method I've played with is using those small prefab Rad Shack boards.  A 
place for a IC in the middle, copper traces radiating from there for other 
components.  Dunno how that sets with folks in regards to good layout, but as 
you'd imagine, fairly simple circuits centered around 1 or 2 opamps go onto 
these boards.

Anyway, for solid info on Synth construction or for the less tangible but 
positive vibe (yes, in spite of DD and other BS), SDIY is a great list.

Almost back to lurking,
Kevin



In a message dated 9/12/01 9:45:11 PM, you wrote:

<<Great... back on topic at last !!!

I respectfully submit that "solderless breadboards" are not such
a good idea.  Often the intermittant connections, unwanted capacitance
and other parasitic effects will run you in circles longer than if you had 
used
a reasonable breadboard (soldered) technique.

I use unclad perf board (vector board) with T-42 push in terminals... and
when I'm done (unless it gets too big...) it can go right from the development
bench into a box to be used on the road for the next twenty years... which
the solderless breadboard cannot do.

OTOH those terminals cost $.04 each... in thousands. But they allow as much
re-soldering as you can stand... perfect for trying out new values.
If you leave the leads a little long you can reuse components just as easily.

H^) harry



matti wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Sep 2001 CCartCat at aol.com wrote:
>
> > I am a simple lurker, a very occasional builder of a LFO, fuzz box, 
whatever.
> >  And kinda out of my depth here in Synth DIY.
> >
> > More in love with possibility than with actual soldering, I come here 
anyway
> > to read and soak in the intelligence and resourcefulness of the 
participating
> > members.
>
> Try using solderless breadboard, if you find issue with what you seem to
> be finding issue with. Much easier to work with, imho.
>
> -
> finland red
> germany black
> egypt white
>>