[2023-03-26 edit: Updated URLs and added some info, but left the 2017 pricing info intact, as the price increases are addressed in a followup reply.]So there's a fairly wide consensus on here that 3M breadboards are among the very best, perhaps
the best, on the market, discussed in e.g.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/quality-breadboards-on-ebay/https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/what-is-so-great-about-3m-breadboards/https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/quality-breadboards/Anyway, 2 years ago I bought a single 3M breadboard from a local distributor. The actual item that arrived says "AP PRODUCTS MENTOR, OH" on it. (As do some items on the third page linked above.)
A bit of googling seems to indicate that while that company
still exists [2023-03-26 edit: it appears A P Products closed in early 2019.] (and
lays laid claim to being the inventor of the modern breadboard), it doesn't look like they're still making breadboards, nor have any locations in Ohio. A bit of further googling, however, ends up with an Ohio company called
Assembly Specialist, whose products include breadboards.
This page contains this nugget:
Bread Boards
Popular for protoype building and home hobbies. We offer 7 different size boards, all specifications can be found on our website. These are high quality boards originally produced by AP Products in the 70's and 80's and now owned and proudly produced in the U.S.A.by Assembly Specialist.
And indeed those breadboards look suspiciously identical to the 3M/AP ones -- all the way down to product names ("Super Strip" and "Circuit Strip") and part numbers (e.g. my breadboard, which is a 3M Circuit Strip, part number 923
253, vs Assembly Specialist CS
253), and errors in the data sheets (that item is erroneously described by both 3M and Assembly Specialist as having 620 tie points in 2x48 rows + buses, but it's actually 610 points on 2x47 rows + buses).
So I'd be willing to bet that Assembly Specialist is still the actual OEM making these things for 3M.
And they sell direct.
And they're incredibly cheap.
For example, the 3M 923253 is about $27 on Digi-Key, while the CS253 is
under $9 direct from Assembly Specialist.
For the gold-plated version, the 3M 923749 is a
$121 special-order item from Digi-Key, while the equivalent CS749 direct from Assembly Specialist is
$40.
![Shocked :o](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xshocked.gif.pagespeed.ic.CrwtrNUjLO.png)
I'm thinking I may order some from them to see. Figured you all would appreciate knowing about this, too.
FYI, they charge $11 shipping in USA, but their Paypal seems to not be set up for international, as it wanted to charge me no shipping at all to Switzerland, which can't possibly be right.
For reference, here are the product pages:
All 3M breadboard productsAssembly Specialists
breadboards on baseplatesAssembly Specialists
bare breadboards2023-03-26 addition: The Assembly Specialist website used to say the following right on the home page:With over 20 years of packaging and assembly experience, Assembly Specialist's reputation is built on providing quick, professional and reliable service. We have been a supplier of services & products to companies like 3M for over 18 years.
Assembly Specialist is now the owner and supplier of the original AP Products breadboard product line. These are the same high quality products you have been used to for almost 30 years, nothing has changed. We are proud to sell the highest quality products in the market.
We are also the owner/supplier of the original AP Products/Aptronics male .100 center header product line. Most standard headers ship the same day, other welded and custom headers ship in less than a week. Once again, these are the highest quality products on the market.
The mention of 3M was struck sometime in 2009, but other than updating "almost 30 years" to "over 40 years", the rest remains basically unchanged.