How do you design these days?
in [Design]
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From: RogerN on 30 Dec 2009 21:01 When I was in school components fit on solderless breadboards and we made circuits using breadboards, power supplies, meters and oscilloscopes. Many of today's components don't appear to be breadboard friendly, so how is it done today? Is circuit design software and simulation good enough to go straight to a PC board? Or do you use surface mount to breadboard adapters? Do you still use a soldering Iron to solder or paste solder and an oven? I'm wanting to tinker with some circuits but some chips I'm interested in only comes in MSOP or other packages that look intimidating to attempt to solder. Thanks! RogerN
From: Jon Kirwan on 30 Dec 2009 21:11 On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:01:39 -0600, "RogerN" <regor(a)midwest.net> wrote: >When I was in school components fit on solderless breadboards and we made >circuits using breadboards, power supplies, meters and oscilloscopes. Many >of today's components don't appear to be breadboard friendly, so how is it >done today? > >Is circuit design software and simulation good enough to go straight to a PC >board? Or do you use surface mount to breadboard adapters? Do you still >use a soldering Iron to solder or paste solder and an oven? > >I'm wanting to tinker with some circuits but some chips I'm interested in >only comes in MSOP or other packages that look intimidating to attempt to >solder. > >Thanks! You can stock up on a LOT of tiny SMT to through-hole boards and just solder the SMT onto those and drop them into your solderless breadboard or else wire-wrap sockets. Perhaps someone on the web sells these in batches or else has a kind of nifty board with a bunch of SMT outlines to through-holes on them and you can use that? Some companies sell these expensive adapter boards, too. But they usually aren't very cheap. Dead-bug point-to-point is another method. But some of these things have really fine spacing -- usually you can find a package with wide enough spacing to get by with. Jon
From: Joerg on 30 Dec 2009 21:20 RogerN wrote: > When I was in school components fit on solderless breadboards and we made > circuits using breadboards, power supplies, meters and oscilloscopes. Many > of today's components don't appear to be breadboard friendly, so how is it > done today? > I even used bare thumbtacks on plywood for solder posts back then. > Is circuit design software and simulation good enough to go straight to a PC > board? Or do you use surface mount to breadboard adapters? Do you still > use a soldering Iron to solder or paste solder and an oven? > In the professional world (product design) we go straight from simulation to schematic -> layout -> board fab -> assembly. No breadboards. > I'm wanting to tinker with some circuits but some chips I'm interested in > only comes in MSOP or other packages that look intimidating to attempt to > solder. > Well, for hobbyists or one-off designs there is help but not very cheap: http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/images/PRODUCTS/PA0027_0.JPG This is the variety they have but I don't know this shop, just meant as an example: http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/index.php?cPath=2200 -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: a7yvm109gf5d1 on 30 Dec 2009 21:29 On Dec 30, 9:01 pm, "RogerN" <re...(a)midwest.net> wrote: > When I was in school components fit on solderless breadboards and we made > circuits using breadboards, power supplies, meters and oscilloscopes. Many > of today's components don't appear to be breadboard friendly, so how is it > done today? > Depends... You can buy surfboards at Digikey, at least that'll get you soic style breadboards you solder to. > Is circuit design software and simulation good enough to go straight to a PC > board? Or do you use surface mount to breadboard adapters? Do you still Only if you're supremely confident or it's a simple circuit. > use a soldering Iron to solder or paste solder and an oven? A fine tip iron with fine solder should be good enough. > I'm wanting to tinker with some circuits but some chips I'm interested in > only comes in MSOP or other packages that look intimidating to attempt to > solder. > Buy some other chip in the same package that's cheaper to practice.
From: Bill Sloman on 30 Dec 2009 21:37
On Dec 31, 3:01 am, "RogerN" <re...(a)midwest.net> wrote: > When I was in school components fit on solderless breadboards and we made > circuits using breadboards, power supplies, meters and oscilloscopes. Many > of today's components don't appear to be breadboard friendly, so how is it > done today? > > Is circuit design software and simulation good enough to go straight to a PC > board? Or do you use surface mount to breadboard adapters? Do you still > use a soldering Iron to solder or paste solder and an oven? > > I'm wanting to tinker with some circuits but some chips I'm interested in > only comes in MSOP or other packages that look intimidating to attempt to > solder. For fast circuits, where cross-talk and transmission line effect can be important, there isn't much point in building a prototype on a breadboard - the printed circuit layout is a crucial part of the design. This doesn't mean that the printed-circuit base prototype is going to work first time, even with the best circuit design software and simulation. Something always seems to go wrong, though with careful and expert engineers it is rare that you can't get the circuit working with a little bit of cut and link. For lower-frequency work, turn the MSOP packages up-side done and glue them - dead-bug style - to your prototyping board, and solder wire- wrap wire or enamelled transformer wire (both around 30 SWG - 0.3mm OD) onto the leads. The last time I did this, I ended up using a prototyping board with a "collander ground plane" on one side, and cut up the rings of copper around the lead-holes on the other to get enough small pads close together to keep the wiring compact. It worked quite well. -- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen |