Page 446 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

MAKING PERMANENT CIRCUITS ON SOLDER BREADBOARDS 415

• Custom prototyping boards. Some components with “rock star” status (most notably,
microcontrollers like the PICAXE, AVR, and PICMicro) have various custom prototyping
boards available for them. Take your pick.
• Wire wrapping. Semipermanent construction using very thin wire between components.
You can undo the wires to make changes.

There are other methods that I’ll be skipping here. Many are out of date, are specific to
one manufacturer, require hard- to- find parts, or may require special tools.

Clean It First!

Circuit boards use a thin layer of copper to form traces, the wires of the circuit. Copper can
oxidize and get dirty over time, both of which can lead to a poor solder joint. No matter which
circuit- board- making method you use, prior to any soldering be sure to thoroughly clean the
board using warm water and ordinary kitchen cleansing powder. You can scrub the board
using your fingers, a folded- up paper towel, or a nonmetallic scouring pad.
After cleaning, rinse all of the cleanser off the board. Pat it dry with a paper towel, then
let it air- dry— it takes a couple of minutes. For a superclean board, wet a cotton ball with
household isopropyl alcohol and give the metal a final wipedown. Allow all of the alcohol to
evaporate.

Making Permanent Circuits
on Solder Breadboards

Akin to the solderless breadboard is the solder breadboard, where you can make permanent
any design you create on a solderless breadboard.

Figure 33- 1 A solderless breadboard
and a companion solderboard. Test your
circuits on the solderless breadboard, and
once the design is finished, debugged,
and working, transfer the components to
the solderboard following the same
arrangement.

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