help moving from breadboard to proto board ...

You might look at the "stripboard" construction technique. It's kind of a midway step between breadboards and purpose-build PCBs.

There is a free layout app for stripboard over at

Stripboards are available at (among other places)

One advantage of going this route is that you can choose to place and connect directly in VeeCAD -- with the advantage that's its easier to change your mind on the screen than with soldered connections -- or you can use one of several free schematic capture programs that can save to the Protel netlist format, including TinyCAD and Kicad.

Bite the bullet and go CAD/PCB. The CAD tools are free and boards aren't that expensive any more. ExpressPCB and the free version of Eagle are popular. You can always design a "prototyping section" of uncommitted holes onto your custom board.

There used to be various prototyping boards with standard pads for soldering standard components. Twin Industries ("

John Nagle

Yes, you are. Trust me on this. Go to expresspcb.com, download their software, and design your PCB. Next time, use their software to design your circuit first; doing the PCB design will be that much easier. You ship the design and your VISA number to them, and three beautiful boards appear on your doorstep a couple of days later.

That said, I'm going to try gschem, gpcb, and batchpcb.com (run by sparkfun.com) for my next project. The expresspcb.com software is the only thing that requires me to run Windows, and it would be nice to never have to run it again.

This week, you could make a board without CAD. Just draw the traces on the copper by hand with a waterproof marker, then etch and drill.

Next week, when you start using CAD, you'll convert to SMD, so the amount of drilling will be almost eliminated.

I have good success with the toner transfer method. Fast, cheap, easy and no chemicals other than water. I use a laminator.

In that case, CAD/PCB is THE way to go. A proto board or stripboard will never look quite finished. It'll always have that rough, "slapped-together" look.

I have made several things with that. I still use raw Vector boards with flea clips, and stranded 24 guage high temp wire. Thats about the closest you can come to a breadboard. in fact I usually just go straight there and avoid the breadboard. For integrated circuits with pins, use the solder in and then wirewrap. These are not cheap.

greg

Perf board construction............

Now *THAT's* what I'm talking about!

Am I the only one who believes that there is something about this which has its own charm???

Thanks, Greg. (any chance of viewing the BOTTOM of that board??)

Oh, and thanks to all for the pointers and good advice etc. I know in the long run that I'll be etching pcb's, but until then, I have some perf board wafers, and I want to make use of them. I just want them to look nice, much like Greg's effort ...

Cheers, Rob.

On Tue, 16 Mar 2010, Robert Roland wrote: ...

Note to group, I've just downloaded kicad, and a very thorough looking tutorial ... sigh ... also, Canada's remants of RadioShack is VERY expenive ... protoboards range from $6 - $9 cdn for simple perfboard.

Now, I guess I've got to source copper clads and ferric chromate ... or some such irritant 8-).

Thanks for the pointers, all.

Cheers, Rob.