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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

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

The procedure that I follow when building a breadboard using this method is to first design the circuit. This seems obvious, but you can get into trouble if you start assuming placement of components you know youýll be using before youýve designed the rest of the circuit.

Next, lay out parts on the perfboard. Be sure to leave sufficient room for bundles of wires to run between the ICs and for the discrete components. Leave extra space for things like microprocessor data and address buses.

After laying out the parts, drill mounting holes. If you leave this for later, you may find that youýve placed wires or copper where you want the mounting holes to be.

Then, place the copper ground tape, soldering the intersections. Remember, be careful not to cut your fingers on the edges of the tape.

And finally, place the IC sockets and connectors (soldering the ground pins to the copper tape), wire the IC power connections (be sure to wire the bypass capacitors), and wire the remaining connections.

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