Page 445 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

Chapter 33

Making Circuit Boards

ou’ve built your robot, and it’s ready to rumble. You’ve tested its control electronics on a
Ysolderless breadboard, and everything’s a go. But now you want to commit the bread-
board electronics to a permanent circuit board. Your bot will be more ruggedized, and it’ll
withstand your nephew’s pawing (don’t blame him for loving robots as much as you do!).
When it comes to making circuit boards, you’ve got plenty of choices. In this chapter you’ll
learn about the most popular (and most affordable) circuit- board- making techniques. All are
suitable for the amateur and educational robot builder, though those involving dangerous
chemicals are ill- advised for children, even with adult supervision.

Overview of Your Primary

Circuit Board Options

Before getting down to the nitty- gritty here’s a quick overview of your best options:

• Solder breadboards. These mimic the solderless breadboards you read about in Chapter
32, but these are made for permanent soldering.
• Unplated perforated boards. Old- fashioned but still useful for very simple circuits, these
are boards with holes already drilled in them. You wire up components directly.
• Plated stripboards. Same idea as above, but these are plated in different grid styles to
avoid wiring directly to component leads. Easy to work with and cheap. Lots of variety.
• Quick- turn printed circuit boards. Design a printed circuit board (PCB) on your computer,
then send it out for manufacturing. Less expensive than you may think.
• Home- etched PCBs. Using a strong chemical, you can etch the pattern of your own PCB
onto a copper- plated board. Time- consuming and messy, but can be a good learning expe-
rience.
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