Diameter of breadboard holes incompatible with size of components pins and jumper wires etc.

[MDC]

This may be a common problem? An 8 pin IC for example fits perfect - very snugly as the pins on it are tapered. But is there a fix for the jumper wires and other components with straight pins, that are a loose fit in the holes? I am guessing the issue is with the boards.

 

[Ramussons]

AFAIK, the IC pins are not tapered. They seem to fit in snugly because the all the pins are not in perfect alignment with the holes. If you take the trouble to align them, they will just fall out if you turn the board upside down. Keeping this in mind, you can "snugly" fit in any component with 2 or more leads if you misalign them.
Sometimes, the leads are much smaller than the PCB holes. In such cases, I bend the protruding length sideways to keep the component in place.

 

[MDC]

AFAIK, the IC pins are not tapered. They seem to fit in snugly because the all the pins are not in perfect alignment with the holes. If you take the trouble to align them, they will just fall out if you turn the board upside down. Keeping this in mind, you can "snugly" fit in any component with 2 or more leads if you misalign them.
Sometimes, the leads are much smaller than the PCB holes. In such cases, I bend the protruding length sideways to keep the component in place.

That is a good idea, thank you.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

AFAIK, the IC pins are not tapered. They seem to fit in snugly because the all the pins are not in perfect alignment with the holes. If you take the trouble to align them, they will just fall out if you turn the board upside down. Keeping this in mind, you can "snugly" fit in any component with 2 or more leads if you misalign them.
Sometimes, the leads are much smaller than the PCB holes. In such cases, I bend the protruding length sideways to keep the component in place.

He was asking about breadboards, not PCB's

 

[JimB]

He was asking about breadboards, not PCB's

Well that is a bit of an unknown.
We have a beginner who may not be aware of the difference between
a "breadboard" ie one of those things where the components are just plugged in to socket strips
or
some kind prototyping board like Veroboard, which has copper strips and lots of holes, and the components are in soldered place.

So, what kind of board is it?
MDC, over to you.

JimB

 

[MDC]

This is the only board I have.

I only know it as a 'breadboard' , although it may have another name?

I have not heard of a Veroboard, but I will Google it now.

Thank you for the continued support, I appreciate and respect all the guidence.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

This is the only board I have.
View attachment 136393

As you said initially - that's a (modern) breadboard. I never use them, as they are so unreliable.

An original breadboard would cure your problem - because it was just a wooden breadboard (for slicing bread) with nails knocked in and the components soldered to them (and is where the name comes from). Veroboard is also known as strip board, and is a tradename - 'presumably' the original creator of it?.

 

[JimB]

This is the only board I have.

Yes, a breadboard.

The individual sockets should grip wires quite well, and all my breadboards do grip well.

However there are some cheap/badly made breadboards which do not grip wires at all well.
I remember being in discussions with another member here who was having problems with a test circuit which would not behave reliably. The cause of all his grief was a cheap badly gripping breadboard.

At the risk of appearing harsh, cheap breadboards are just rubbish.

JimB

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Each of the hole positions in a plug-in breadboard should have a spring-loaded socket underneath it, so it should grip wires or pins over a reasonable size range - but that is not unlimited; very thin wires may not connect, and forcing in a thick wire or pin will strain the socket contacts and make them unreliable on any smaller size wires.

The ideal size is around 0.5 - 0.7mm. Single strand wire from ethernet trunk cable or telephone wire should work OK, or purpose made jumpers with 0.7mm square pin ends ae ideal.

Breadboards do also just wear out with use and get unreliable in time, from fatigue and wear or corrosion of the spring contacts.

Because of that unreliability, the only time I've used them in the last 30 years or so is for youtube demo videos.
For any other kind of prototyping or experimentation etc., I use stripboard or square pad board and everything is soldered.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

I have not heard of a Veroboard, but I will Google it now.

If you do gravitate to Vero or StripBoard, used for more permanent one-off's after bread board testing.
You can get it here a quarter way down the page.

Prototyping Boards

Wide Range of Prototyping Boards for Building and Testing Electronic Circuits

www.futurlec.com

 

[crutschow]

To differentiate, I call those, plug-in breadboards.

 

[MDC]

If you do gravitate to Vero or StripBoard, used for more permanent one-off's after bread board testing.
You can get it here a quarter way down the page.

Prototyping Boards

Wide Range of Prototyping Boards for Building and Testing Electronic Circuits

www.futurlec.com

The supplier in your link certainly has a good selection of board types to choose from. It provides an indication of what is actually available out there beyond 'e bay'

I could do with with identifying UK suppliers who sell similar boards.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

I could do with with identifying UK suppliers who sell similar boards.

"Rapid Electronics" is pretty good; they also have an ebay store.

stripboard | Rapid Online

www.rapidonline.com

Amazon as well, or such as CPC, RS Components, Farnell electronics etc.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The supplier in your link certainly has a good selection of board types to choose from. It provides an indication of what is actually available out there beyond 'e bay'

I could do with with identifying UK suppliers who sell similar boards.

Not hard as it was invented in the UK by a UK manufacturer

I usually get mine from RS Components. While I'm mainly having PCB's made now, it still comes in handy for quick little projects or adaptors etc.

 

[gary350]

I call that a project board. They are good to build a quick test circuit before soldering parts to a PC board. Resistor wires these days are very small you need to use needle nose pliers to keep tiny wires from bending. Tiny wires fall out easy too. Variable resistors line up with holes but some will not fit in the holes. Small mosfets fit perfect but small transistor wires need to be bent to fit. Practice makes perfect.

 

[upand_at_them]

Resistor wires these days are very small you need to use needle nose pliers to keep tiny wires from bending. Tiny wires fall out easy too.

*Chinese* resistors, that is. You can still buy name brand resistors like Vishay that have proper size leads, and are made from copper not iron like the Chinese ones.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

*Chinese* resistors, that is. You can still buy name brand resistors like Vishay that have proper size leads, and are made from copper not iron like the Chinese ones.

I can't remember the last time I ever saw a resistor with copper wires?, and we only source high quality ones from large UK distributors (usually RS or Farnell).

 

[upand_at_them]

I can't remember the last time I ever saw a resistor with copper wires?, and we only source high quality ones from large UK distributors (usually RS or Farnell).

Copper, with a tin coating. It's how proper resistors are made. The cheap Chinese ones are iron with, I guess, a tin coating. A magnet proves the difference.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Copper, with a tin coating. It's how proper resistors are made. The cheap Chinese ones are iron with, I guess, a tin coating. A magnet proves the difference.

And like I said, I can't remember the last time I saw one with copper wires - presumably it was back when resistors were huge?, as copper is probably too soft for thin wires, it would be too flexible.

Like I also said, I buy expensive resistors from top quality sources, all have steel wires and stick to a magnet, nothing to do with cheap Chinese ones.

 

[upand_at_them]

And like I said, I can't remember the last time I saw one with copper wires - presumably it was back when resistors were huge?, as copper is probably too soft for thin wires, it would be too flexible.

Like I also said, I buy expensive resistors from top quality sources, all have steel wires and stick to a magnet, nothing to do with cheap Chinese ones.

All of the ones that I have from a name brand manufacturer (like Vishay) have tinned copper leads, as stated in the datasheet. And the leads have proper thickness. Steel/iron leads *are* cheap Chinese ones, distributed by many vendors.