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BREADBOARDING

by Stuart Ball

Start ý Grounding ý Placing Copper Strips ý Power Wiring and Supply Bypassing ý Lead Wiring ý Test Points ý Surface-Mount Parts ý Other Tips ý Putting It All Together ý Other Techniques ý Sources and PDF

TEST POINTS

When debugging a breadboard, you are always looking for a place to ground your oscilloscope or logic analyzer probes. One advantage of the copper tape grounding scheme is that you can punch through the tape with a sharp tool and solder component leads directly to the copper.

You can add ground test points in the same way. You can use a piece of resistor lead, bend it into a "U" shape, push it through the copper, and solder it. For a more rugged test point, use the Keystone 5000 series parts. The leads on these parts can be squeezed to fit through the holes on the perfboard, and they come with plastic standoffs in different colors so you can make the ground test points black.

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