How long does it take you to solder projects by hand on a proto-board?

[nctnico]

Make sure to have a big blob of tin on the tip though when stripping enamel wire, otherwise it won't work very well. You really need to stick the wire inside the blod and the enamel will melt away nicely. Especially with thicker enamel wire, the copper will 'suck' the heat away quickly so you need to make sure to have the best heat transfer between the iron and the wire.

[EPAIII]

So start with circuits that use $0.20 ICs.

Assuming you're using a generic proto-board (i.e. where you have to run wire to each through-hole), and you're soldering in an 8-pin DIP, a potentiometer, and a cap with associated wiring, about how long would it take you to do it?

I ask because it took me slightly over an hour. Granted, I had to write up a schematic, gather everything, hand strip the wire, and then put it all together. But it seems to me that it's taking me rather a long time to do soldering. I'm not the fastest in the world at anything, and I'll probably improve in speed as I get more practice in, but I'm curious about how fast other people are.

Start by timing each operation, so the sum of the times adds up to the total elapsed time. Then find a way of minimising the longest time.

There's no use in us speculating, since our timesinks might be different to yours.

The longest time spent was the self loathing over bumping the potentiometer with the soldering iron's side. 

Actually, it was probably the schematic write-up and/or circuit assembly step. I triple checked everything and re-read the datasheet. Nothing like soldering a circuit, powering it up, and watching the smoke leave the $20 IC you just bought.

But that's a great idea and I'll do it in the future.

[Gyro]

Make sure to have a big blob of tin on the tip though when stripping enamel wire, otherwise it won't work very well. You really need to stick the wire inside the blod and the enamel will melt away nicely. Especially with thicker enamel wire, the copper will 'suck' the heat away quickly so you need to make sure to have the best heat transfer between the iron and the wire.

Be aware that burning off the enamel (actually Polyurethane) insulation evolves a certain amount of nasty toxic fumes, including Cyanide and so requires decent ventilation. This was a bit of an issue with the old Verowire wiring system (still sold all these years later!)...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/bread-board-backers/msg5318800/#msg5318800

[ballsystemlord]

I'd say it would take me 15 to 20 minutes. I can highly recommend using enamel wire. This can be stripped by tinning it using a soldering iron and it is much thinner compared to insulated wire. Enamel wire is available in colors as well but most I'm using is old stuff sources from old transformers I unwound when I was still a kid (IOW: I have a huge stock of enamel wire  ).

At one of my employers it was custom to build prototypes using thin enamel wire because it worked so quick. We used to call enamel wire 'monkey hair'. Enamel wire is surprisingly robust as well. Even with a bunch of boards stacked in a drawer, the prototypes would still be intact after a long time.

Important caveat about enameled wire: not all enameled wire works that way! There are different types of enamel, and some are “solderable” (meaning that no mechanical or chemical stripping is required, and can be stripped by heating with solder), others are not. And the fumes are nasty, so you need ventilation. Additionally, the temperatures needed to burn through solderable enamel are significantly higher than recommended soldering temperatures, so don’t expect it to burn off at your usual ~320-350°C.

Special low-temperature solderable enameled wire exists, but is hard to find.

If it makes a difference to anyone, here's the Japanese enameled wire spec which is used today:
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/ubs/japanese-magnet-wire-spec.1829/

You can find Chinese sellers that reference that spec when specifying what the enameled wire they sell is rated at.
For example:
https://www.fd-enameledwire.com/news/the-difference-between-qa-and-qz-enameled-wire-meaning-of-qaqz-in-enameled-wire.html

Manufacturers today seem to prefer the higher temp wire because then they can use smaller gauge wire for the same application -- or so it seems based on the weight and size of the older and newer motors to which I have been exposed.

But back to your question. You can use that info to find pretty much any wire that you'd like. For example, here's 130C wire with a diameter of 1.2mm and 10m in length or 0.8mm/100m bulk (~$4 / ~$26 USD before S&H and tax):
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832586344633.html
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805285295618.html

Granted, I shouldn't be driving my question further off topic, but I thought you'd appreciate the effort.

BSL