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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : bread board alternatives
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stanleyella Guru  Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
Hi. I just finished a copper "vero" strip board for a ili9341 rpipico and it was tedious, designing, then cutting tracks, soldering headers then then links then testing with a ohms range buzzer to find gp 18 not wired, shorts, gp 19 wired to gp 20. I messed up the wiring around the sd card pins. When sorted it worked first time,calibrated ok. A pcb would be better if cheap to get. vero ok but got a vero bread board to try :)    |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
PCBs are cheap and you can (usually) make them do (more or less) what you want. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6099 |
You might find VeeCad helpful https://veecad.com/index.html  Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
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| Andy-g0poy Regular Member  Joined: 07/03/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 59 |
Veecad - nice to see that it is now free, but still needs to use wine on Linux...Thanks for the pointer, I'm sure it will be of use. I simply use kicad and use the bottom layer for the striplines, and the top for links. Obviously you keep the lines restricted to horiz, (bottom layer) vert. (top layer) That works well enough for most little projects. I tend to prefer plain matrix board and then hard wire it for larger projects. I've also used the roadrunner / verowire systems they work quite well. But like most things you do need to put a bit of effort into things./ Once you do that then the errors reduce. The board in the image is not standard vero, it's one of the many many variants thay produced, designed for TTL type circuits. Andy |
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| TimD Newbie  Joined: 23/02/2021 Location: United KingdomPosts: 27 |
I use DIY Layout Creator for my stripboard layouts - no auto-routing from a schematic, but easy to use and includes a very useful tool to see everything that connects to a certain point in the layout - that's saved me from making many mistakes in the past. Works on Windows, Linux & MacOS. DIY Layout Creator - Tim Edited 2023-10-15 09:27 by TimD |
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| oh3gdo Regular Member Joined: 18/11/2021 Location: FinlandPosts: 47 |
stanleyella I recommend that you order your PCBs from https://jlcpcb.com/ They costs 2e/5pcs + delivery about 10 e. You can design your circuits with free Easy Eda PCB design tool. It is got from https://jlcpcb.com/EDA My friends use it. It is WIN10/Win11 working. I use old Protel circuit desing tools, like Schematic from 1987 with Dos emulator https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 The emulator is free also. I use old Protel PCB from 1992. I have to use XP emulator for this program, but I have found it very reliable. I have been working with PCBs from 1963. I have done them by myself, but 2 e / 5 pcs is not too much. Regards Pekka Ritamaki, Finland |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
My usual source of PCBs is JLCPCB in China. Very cheap special offer on 5off up to 100mm x 100mm boards and they have been excellent quality so far. They also work with EasyEDA, but I'm an old-fashioned 2D CAD designer so I tend to use Sprint Layout 6 (not too bad for mechanical stuff either). Anything that produces Gerber files will do. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
I have free veecad but no components. I did use seetrax and another free pcb cad many years ago but ferric chloride was inconvenient and drilling the holes... 1mm bits are expensive and snap easy. Cheap perf strip board is difficult to solder and the tracks lift easy. You can see the quality difference using more expensive boards. Thanks for the pcb manufacturer links. |
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Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1057 |
In my VeeCAD folder there is a file called "V_Standard.per" (58kB) which contains a number of outlines (Open in another instance of VeeCAD) which can be copied &/or modified (ALT + Mouse for changing lead lengths for one) to your masterpiece. Brian ChopperP |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
There are other etchants. Sodium persulfate is much nicer to use than ferric chloride, even though you need to keep it pretty warm. For drilling you *need* a proper drill in a stand. You can't drill boards properly by hand, certainly not FR6 boards where you need solid tungsten carbide bits if you want to drill any quantity of holes. HSS blunts too easily and, in the long run, works out more expensive. You need eye protection too, as a shattered tungsten carbide bit can fly anywhere. If you want to try cheap veroboard clones then get some good quality liquid flux, the sort often used for SMD rework, clean the board with very fine sandpaper (not emery cloth and never wire wool as that leaves tiny particles of non-solderable iron) then with isopropyl alcohol. Use the flux as you go along. I got some in a "pen" that's very convenient to use. By the time you've messed about with DIY PCBs or bought "proper" veroboard, pins etc. it's probably better to get pcbs made. You'll get something that's dead easy to solder and is much more reliable. EasyEDA is good and free. Sprint Layout costs about £50 now, I think, but it's one of those things you only ever buy once. It's very easy to use but not as advanced as EasyEDA. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3150 |
Here's an EduMite PCB for ILI9341 or ILI9488 LCD and breakout for assorted "37-in-1" kit sensors and other sensors. Cost for 5 PCBs from JLCPCB including shipping to Canada: $3.87USD. PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
Thanks Mick for the advice. What people forget is there's a learning curve thingy using unfamiliar software and can one be arsed to learn it. cad software is not trivial, I use a 3d printer and if I don't use it for a few months I forgot how it works :( I'm like Geoff in that I don't make "permanent" projects, I needed rpipico and lcd for "permanent" pico with a display cos the breadboard version is supposed to be temporary. I thought about flux. I got plumbers flux but no, I'll ebay. The waveshare versions make displays easier. wonder if there's an ili hat. i2c is easy to wire, is there ili i2c or is i2c for ssd 1306? is i2c slower than spi?  Edited 2023-10-16 00:05 by stanleyella |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
I have that in prog files 86x. no 40 pin pico though. lot to learn |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
I wouldn't make a pcb for an i2c laser range finder, ssd1306 and i2c 16 port expander .. no. but bread board ok temp.  |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
I could vero the ssd1306 so it's over the pico to make a compact unit. hmmm interested to hear what others use and the pcb or vero alt to bread board. I wired a display to a pico with molex leads, no board, worked but not traditional way. I'm retrying veecad and seeing if I can copy the ili9341 vero for others to just cut and solder cos it's interesting to use. It is well supported with graphics and touch works and the sd card...problems with sd card. How to use the veecad components?  |
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| TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6099 |
You 'copy' the components you want from the standard board and 'paste' then into your board. Then you place the components. For things like resistors, hold the shift key down to drag the ends up or down to change the size. Any more information, I suggest the manual... Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
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| TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6099 |
I wanted a vertical display. Vero is quicker than waiting for the post from China.  Cheap eBay strip-board suits me. Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
Yes Jim, one time then vero ok. You like me then took it to bits after :) |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2129 |
Veecad edited with mspaint.  |
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