Hi Tony,
I had a look through your post,
and i think this is the page that you refer to:
http://www.carlmcmillan.com/images/Optoisolated_Adapter.GIF
i wasn't able to be sure of the other page, 'Sam's Strobe'
i couldn't find it for certain.
Anyway,
just in case you aren't sure about opto-coupling,
here it is used to operate the triac without touching it.
There is a small gap between the little light and the
light sensitive triac, so the signal is isolated from the
triac. This is called an 'opto-triac'
Because the contacts on the camera are isolated from the
flash unit, this is why a separate battery is required.
This separate battery only has to supply the triggering
signal and can be quite a small battery as its normally only
an LED that has to light to operate the opto-triac.
Mr Zimmerman recommends that the triac is driven hard to
minimise response times, so i suppose you should make sure
that the led in the opto-triac does not appear dim, the
series resistor controls the current through the LED, but
don't make it more than the manufacturers rating. The life of
an LED can be very much reduced if they are made to pass even
a little more than their rating.
Personally i would not have thought that it would make any
difference to the triac so long as it worked. But i would be
guided by Mr Zimmerman as he seems to think it does.
You can check the ratings and figures on line by looking up
the opto-triac details of the one you have.
When going to get the part, ask at the shop for an opto-triac
that will handle the voltage and current you need, rather than
looking one up, then trying to get it at the shop.
On that page there is also a schematic gif:
http://www.carlmcmillan.com/images/Optoisolated_Adapter.GIF
This shows on the left side,
the camera contacts and the resistor which limits the current
to the LED.
I don't know why he has used an opto-triac to drive an SCR.
Maybe he couldn't get an opto-triac rated for the job,
or maybe the smaller ones are quite cheap.
Anyway the circuit looks perfectly ok to me.
To transfer to vero-board.
Personally, i would make the assembly just thrown together
as a hedgehog without cutting any of the wires short on the
new components, soldering them together at full length, in
a bunch then check that it works as it is supposed to do.
Then i would cut all the components off with my side cutters
leaving as much wire on as reasonable, and poke them into the
veroboard, one at a time. Keeping track of what bits connect
to where. I have a small battery hand drill which i use to
make the 'breaks' in the vero-board where i want them.
When assembled, i would check its operation again, and if all
is well, i would cut the vero-board off with a hacksaw, and
probably file the edges neatly.
Some people like to draw things out, and lay it all out by
drawing it before they put the bits together.
I find that when putting components on to vero-board
sometimes the wires fold down nicely at some hole spacing,
so thats where i put them. Sometimes a resistor will fit
better 'standing up' than 'lying down' so it gets put where
it fits best. Just play about with the bits till you're
happy with it, and happy with the circuit connections.
Heres a bit about the opto-triac in that drawing,
http://www.web-tronics.com/moc3010.html
As you can see, it has six legs and fits on standard veroboard.
Try not to linger when soldering it in, i usually position a
damp rag to take most of the heat, i know they are sturdier
than they used to be, but i still like to be careful.
They are listed on that page as sixty cents.
I got your PM asking for clarification on this project,
i hope this covers what you need to know, but i am still a
bit unsure of what bits you are not clear about.
If theres anything else, just ask and me or someone else
will try to put you right.
Best of luck with it,
John