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General Discussion => General Electronics => Topic started by: dougal on October 07, 2014, 10:17:26 am

Title: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: dougal on October 07, 2014, 10:17:26 am
I need some small pieces of tinned perfboard for some Halloween projects. Standard 0.1" spacing, preferably already cut to a smallish size -- maybe 2x2 inches (but I'll cut myself if it's much cheaper to buy bigger pieces). Where's a good place to get that cheaply and reasonably quickly?
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: defragster on October 07, 2014, 10:29:06 am
nearly 4" area - is this place a scam?  Ship from Hong Kong?  http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sb-36/40-x-60mm-single-hole-breadboard-double-sided/1.html (http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sb-36/40-x-60mm-single-hole-breadboard-double-sided/1.html)  I just did a web search for fun - how many do you need?  How are the edge pads connected I wonder?
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: MichaelMeissner on October 07, 2014, 10:34:58 am
Well if you still have a local Radio Shack that hasn't done the disappearing brick & mortar blues, you might check there.  They had different sized proto-boards.

Sparkfun has a few small boards:
Adafruit has their perma-proto boards:

While it is a breadboard, and not a perf-board where you solder things in, you can find these mini-breadboards in a lot of places: http://www.dipmicro.com/store/SYB-170-WHITE (http://www.dipmicro.com/store/SYB-170-WHITE)

If you are going to cut the boards, you might go with these (note, I ordered some, and mine had a strong epoxy smell, so you might need to leave time for them to air out): http://www.dipmicro.com/store/PCB-UNI7-GRN (http://www.dipmicro.com/store/PCB-UNI7-GRN).

Here is another one for cutting.  I haven't used this board, but I have ordered various things from the seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-DIY-Prototype-Paper-PCB-Universal-Experiment-Matrix-Circuit-Board-5-x-7cm-/231349894869 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-DIY-Prototype-Paper-PCB-Universal-Experiment-Matrix-Circuit-Board-5-x-7cm-/231349894869).  They also sell the mini-breadboards.

All of these sellers ship fairly quickly.  Sparkfun/Adafruit tend to ship in 1-2 days.  Unfortunately, since Adafruit doesn't ship via US post office any more, it makes it more expensive when you are doing small orders, unless you can find a reseller (like pololu.com) that still has cheap mail options.  Dipmicro is in Canada, but they have a courier that mails from the US 3 times a week.  The NY Platform ebay seller generally mails out the next day.

There is the digispark prototype shield that you can get: http://digistump.com/products/2 (http://digistump.com/products/2).  I have a Micro Center store near by, and they carry some digispark goodies.  If you have a store near by, you might be able to pick it up locally.
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: kd7eir on October 07, 2014, 11:18:24 am
Quote from: defragster on October 07, 2014, 10:29:06 am
nearly 4" area - is this place a scam?  Ship from Hong Kong?  http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sb-36/40-x-60mm-single-hole-breadboard-double-sided/1.html (http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sb-36/40-x-60mm-single-hole-breadboard-double-sided/1.html)  I just did a web search for fun - how many do you need?  How are the edge pads connected I wonder?

All Electronics has been around for years and they are 100% legitimate. They primarily sell surplus so you can find some fantastic prices there.

They ship from Van Nuys, CA
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: dougal on October 07, 2014, 11:33:28 am
Thanks, @MichaelMeissner. I'm finding some eBay listings that are promising (the one you pointed to is single-sided -- I'm going to see what I can find in double-sided). This one looks promising:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-Double-Side-Plated-Thru-Proto-type-PCB-Board-4x6-CM-40x60-mm-6pcs-per-lot-/371157149855?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item566ab0a89f

I had looked those SparkFun listings, but they're pricier than I was hoping for ($3 for a single 2x2" board). I also had added some Adafruit perma-proto boards to my wishlist (3 @ $10 is a little better). I had also looked on Mouser, but was surprised that I didn't find any really cheap perfboard there.
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: MichaelMeissner on October 07, 2014, 05:00:59 pm
I forgot, I had also ordered these boards from ebay.  They are like the Adafruit perma-proto boards, except instead of being 15 rows, it is 19 rows with parallel power buses on each side (and like the Adafruit boards, these buses are exact multiples of 0.1" from the data pins, which allows putting in dip switches to connect the data pins to ground. http://www.ebay.com/itm/291112341781?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/291112341781?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649)

Also, the Adafruit mini-mint tin perma-proto is one of the few general boards that would allow me to mount a digispark and get access to the pins (you put the 5v and ground pins in the center rows, and the vin pin goes on one side, and the 5 data pins go on the other side) without having to cut or extend traces.
Title: Re: Cheap prototyping/perf board?
Post by: dougal on October 08, 2014, 06:26:40 am
Nice! I wish I had known about those yesterday. I've already ordered the other ones. But I'm getting faster delivery, too, because the other boards are shipping from here in the U.S., whereas these breadboard protoboards ship from Canada.

But I added them to my eBay watch list, so I can find them again in the future.