Page 438 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

Chapter 32

Using Solderless

Breadboards

olderless breadboards let you experiment with circuits without having to solder together
Scomponents. You literally plug in the parts and string some wires to complete the con-
nections. You save time, and you get to play with your creation that much sooner.
And, just as important, you can easily change the value of components to see if another
one works better. Just unplug the old, and switch in the new.
While solderless breadboards are intended for experimentation and testing, there’s no law
that says you must eventually solder your circuit together to make it permanent. Many robot
builders construct the solderless version only and use it that way for weeks, months, even years.
But, of course, you always have the option of someday transforming your brightest sans
solder ideas into gleaming soldered- together circuits. In this chapter you’ll learn how to best
leverage solderless breadboards in your robotics projects. The next chapter is devoted to mak-
ing circuit boards using soldering and other more permanent electronics construction tech-
niques.

Anatomy of a Solderless Breadboard

A solderless breadboard (see Figure 32- 1) is made of plastic and is composed of many col-
umns and rows. The columns are wired inside the board so that anything attached to that
column shares a single electrical connection (see Figure 32- 2). To use the board, you start by
plugging in ICs, resistors, and other components. You then establish how they’re intercon-
nected by stringing wires from one column to another.

SIZES AND LAYOUTS
All solderless breadboards consist of holes with shared internal contacts. These contacts are
spaced one- tenth of an inch apart— just right for integrated circuits, most transistors, and
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