Looking for a better breadboard

[jtruc34]

Hi,

Three months ago, a bought the breadboard WBU-204 from Wisher Enterprise. After having used it for a while, I find that the wires a really hard to put in compared to another breadboard I have from an unkown manufacturer. They are 22AWG, so they should be pretty standard.

Why is that? And what better alternative could I find?

If it is a brand that I can find on distrelec.ch, it would be even nicer.

Thanks.

[tooki]

3M. I’ve bought those from distrelec before.

If you’re planning a trip to USA soon, you can order them directly from the factory at about 1/4 the cost: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/3m-breadboards-for-cheap/

For what it’s worth, though, it tends to be low quality breadboards that are easy to insert into. High quality ones like 3M and wisher tend to be stiffer. I sometimes use tweezers or small pliers to insert leads into the 3M boards.

[tggzzz]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

[dcbrown73]

3M. I’ve bought those from distrelec before.

If you’re planning a trip to USA soon, you can order them directly from the factory at about 1/4 the cost: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/3m-breadboards-for-cheap/

For what it’s worth, though, it tends to be low quality breadboards that are easy to insert into. High quality ones like 3M and wisher tend to be stiffer. I sometimes use tweezers or small pliers to insert leads into the 3M boards.

I keep needle nose pliers at the bench for this. 

[dcbrown73]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

While in many cases, this is without question true.   Breadboards do have their place.  Especially for people just getting into the hobby building small low freq circuits.

I try not to warn people away from breadboards.  Just warn them of the potential hazards they could face when using it depending on the circuit.   You can build a lot of things on a breadboard without issue.  Especially when testing concepts that your learning.

[tggzzz]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

While in many cases, this is without question true.   Breadboards do have their place.  Especially for people just getting into the hobby building small low freq circuits.

I try not to warn people away from breadboards.  Just warn them of the potential hazards they could face when using it depending on the circuit.   You can build a lot of things on a breadboard without issue.  Especially when testing concepts that your learning.

Until the varying resistance in an intermittent causes puzzlement. Or an audio frequency circuit oscillates at RF due to the the inductance of wire, stray capacitance and mutual inductance.

Nowadays I refuse to try to debug someone's circuit if it is on a solderless breadboard.

[dcbrown73]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

While in many cases, this is without question true.   Breadboards do have their place.  Especially for people just getting into the hobby building small low freq circuits.

I try not to warn people away from breadboards.  Just warn them of the potential hazards they could face when using it depending on the circuit.   You can build a lot of things on a breadboard without issue.  Especially when testing concepts that your learning.

Until the varying resistance in an intermittent causes puzzlement. Or an audio frequency circuit oscillates at RF due to the the inductance of wire, stray capacitance and mutual inductance.

Nowadays I refuse to try to debug someone's circuit if it is on a solderless breadboard.

...and I certainly don't blame you. 

[tooki]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

Please stop with the perpetual anti-breadboard crusade. You don’t need to hijack every single thread about breadboards with this crap.

By taking an absolutist stance, rather than a realistic, measured approach, you also impugn your credibility, since plenty of people make all kinds of circuits on breadboards successfully. No, you’re not gonna do a high power microwave transmitter on one. But they work really well for most of the stuff beginners start with, as well as for plenty of digital logic circuits, etc. Learning the real-world limitations of a tool is also very important, as dcbrown said. (And frankly, I think you’re exaggerating more than just a little when you say you’ll spend more time debugging the breadboard than the circuit. I haven’t found that to be the case at all. Additionally, the problems you claim can also happen with other construction methods. You aren’t seriously going to claim that a perfboard or point-to-point audio amp can’t oscillate, are you?)

Breadboards have their place, and it’s just wrong to pretend they don’t. Breadboards significantly lower the barrier to entry for beginners, by making it quick and easy to experiment, and to reuse parts. It’s ridiculous to suggest that beginners should start soldering together everything right from the start. There’s a reason why kids start with LEGO, not with bricks and mortar.

[scatterandfocus]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

Noob question here on using copper clad board for manhattan construction.  Why is it good to have a such a big groundplane, as opposed to much smaller ground traces on a pcb or solderless breadboard?

[tggzzz]

Whichever breadboard you use, you will find you spend more time debugging the breadboard than your circuit.

Much better to bite the bullet and use rat's nest or manhattan techniques over a solid groundplane.

Noob question here on using copper clad board for manhattan construction.  Why is it good to have a such a big groundplane, as opposed to much smaller ground traces on a pcb or solderless breadboard?

There are many many advantages, particularly low inductance and resistance.

FFI, Google for benefits of a ground plane.