Alternatives to Etching Boards

Home-etched, printed circuit boards are not the only way to build a circuit.

Above is a popular "breadboard socket." It is $10. The insulation is nylon, and below the holes are metal springs that connect the wires you push in. Each spring can connect up to five wires/parts.

This is the fastest way to try out a circuit and modify it until it works. It is reusable. But wires pop out when you handle it. There isn't a good way to add on surface-mount parts.

Above are $.01 resistors and $.05 capacitors for use in

breadboard sockets (above) and soldered-wired boards (below).

Above is a circuit soldered on perforated board. The top looks neat but the bottom, with all the wires, is messy. The labor is out of sight, and if you want another one you repeat all the labor.

Above is a home-etched printed circuit board. Comapre it to the commercially etched board below.

Above, see the tiny, green LEDs lit up. Designing the board above is, of course, much more work than building a perf board with soldered wiring, but with the etched board you can make any number of them easiliy, and they look neat and are durable.

Two things are immediately seen that are different between home-etched and commercial: the solder joints are bumpy and there are lots of labels.

An etched board uses the ultra-cheap, surface-mount parts that can be ordered, though the instructor has a good range of parts on hand for sale.

This board is "single sided." It is possible to do double sided, but it is a challenge.

Above is a commercially etched board. The solder fillets are smooth and beautiful. The board had a solder paste applied by silk screening, the parts were glued on with automatic placement equipment, then it was probably soldered with infrared heat from below and above.