We’re still alive! November and December have been very busy months. In that short time I both decided to find a new job, found a new job, and started the new job. I’m back into doing what I love best: Fixing things, and writing things. I guess you could just say I’m wired that way.
Speaking of wiring, I have a project coming up that I’ve been wanting to build: The PSSST-20 from Pete Juliano. You can read about it over at Hackaday, where I wrote an article about it. It’s no surprise that writing for Hackaday has impacted my time to write here at MiscDotGeek, but that’s not the only thing: The YouTube channel is where I’ve been having a lot of fun.
If you haven’t subscribed to the MiscDotGeek YouTube channel, by all means please do! I’ve all but given up on keeping parity between this site and the YouTube channel, so you’ll want to follow me there too for all the content. Alright, on to the main content!
A new PCB for Prototyping
Everybody loves the Manhattan method of making circuits, but it’s a lot of work. What if there was a board that had all the work already done for you, and it was even pre-tinned?
Enter the W7RLF Proto Board! It has pre-tinned pads interspersed with smaller diamond shaped pads that are all tied to a ground plane as seen below:
This is Rev 1, which needed a little more spacing between the diamond pads and the square pads. Rev 2 is already out, and you can even buy them at PCBWay, who sponsored this project. Its $5 for 10 boards, which are 92x92mm. Pad spacing is .2 inches, and at the sides has .1″spaced thru-holes for pin headers that can be used to join two boards. In the picture above you can see how easy it is to mount components! Here’s the link to buy them on PCBWay:
https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/W7RLF_Proto_Board_Rev_2_2cd4857c.html
A full tour of the board can be found on my YouTube Channel:
If you build something with these boards, let me know! I’d love to see what projects you do.
12 comments
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Ryan
These would be great except DHL shipping for $15 -$20 give me a break with USP{S flat rate
Author
Even with $20 shipping, they’re only $2.50 per board. A good price 🙂
Ryan
If you dig down deeper into the order page on PCBWay for those in the USA there is a USPS priority shipping option that shaves the shipping cost
Derk
Author
Yep I was just looking at that last night. I hope you enjoy the boards, let me know what you build with them 🙂
These are absolutely fantastic. Purely from an artistic point of view they are beautiful objects. I actually want to cover a whole wall with them. I will be ordering some and using probably for radio projects.
I think you may have mentioned DIP sockets in the 1st video? It could be useful if there were two uninterrupted strips of 0.1″ holes & pads down the middle of the board, so that 8 pin ICs (or any other size) could be fitted as required. I say this because of recent experience trying to use LM386 or NE602 ICs on a Manhattan board.
I found my wat here via Bill’s post on Soldersmoke.
73 Stephen 2E0FXZ
Author
Hi Stephen, thanks for the comment! Be sure to follow on YouTube. I’ll be posting a video today on how to use an LM386 just as it is 😉 73!
Thinking about my previous comment. If the centre line of the board were laid out for ICs – then the 0.3 gap between the row could be a continuous power bus?
Author
The reason I didn’t put a long continuous strip for power or any other bus is because two conductors separated by a substrate is called a capacitor 😉 I wanted to keep any stray capacitance to a minimum 🙂
How fast is the turn around? Weeks?
Author
It depends on the shipping method you choose. I got mine in less than a week 🙂
Mine just came in from China, thanks for the great design work Ryan W7RLF!
73 KI5SMN
Author
Fantastic! How exciting! Make sure you let me know what you build with it, I’d love to post examples here. 73!