Techniques and Strategies for Building Electronic Circuits
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Take a deep-dive into smart strategies and methods for building circuit prototypes faster and easier, including a method for making instant surface-mount boards.
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I wish I could like this video as many times as I've watched it. Not just the tips, but to get you in the right mental state for prototyping. I need to become more like this.
Did you succeed?
Yeah, what happen? You better be careful what you wish for. I'm afraid he become more like his prototype, whatever the hell that was. His brain done spun out into some sort of Hoover Vacuum Cleaner or something. Or maybe got banned for spamming the like button.
Everything in this video is gold! I do about 2/3 of this myself, and I'm going to try to work the rest in now.
Bare wire + teflon tube is genius. I can't tell you how much time I waste just stripping wires in these point-to-point projects. (So much that I usually just make a PCB.)
I also really like your cutter. I have an acrylic-scoring blade that I bought for mat knives that's essentially the same thing, but if I didn't, I'd be making one of yours.
I have that same blade, but I think I'll make one like his anyway - the acrylic scoring blade makes too narrow a cut, while the chisel tip makes a nice wide gap that won't attract so many copper hairs.
@@BrightBlueJim Yeah - it's not a "cut" it's a groove with an actual width.
@@paulwomack5866 exactly, you need a clearance gap
Just use enameled copper wire and use the soldernto burn of the insulation. Works perfect with a hot iron.
@@clockworkvanhellsing372 Word of warning: the insulation on magnet wire is very thin, and you can get significant crosstalk between wires running in parallel, even over a few inches. I like kynar-insulated wire-wrapping wire better.
I love your xacto knife modification for expedient PCBs! I've been doing the two parallel cut and scrape method by gluing two blades together, the ground blade tool removes the scrape step. I've never used teflon tube, must try that. I use magnet wire with the insulation that tins easily from the ends (but less so in the middle) for interconnects and kapton tape for insulation where required. Definitely into copper tape for bus and ground, drill track breaking on veroboard and isolation on clad matrix board.
CA glue can be handy for larger components that need mechanical support beyond their leads, but sometimes I just tie them down with tinned wire soldered to the plane. Cosmetic nail glue is cheap and comes in disposable project-sized tubes so you never have the open tube solidified by the next project. It can be annoying when it fumes as you solder, but soldering heat also cures it rapidly when you glue a fragment of board to another and then tin it. I don't like the wicking solder under double-sided island method, but it can work too.
I have never seen better tips in any other video. This was absolutely perfect and I love how it included a wide variety of methods that are all easily done. Thank you so much!
most precious collection of tricks and tips i‘ve ever seen - back in my days as HW designer i used quite a few tricks myself and found similarities to some of your tricks, but never used to work with smd‘s in that time, we could stick with THT parts and used wire wrap and solder sockets the most, but the tricks with solder boards scratched connections are absolutely golden - never thought this works so well - Leo. your collection is one of the biggest gem‘s one can find in YT - thanks for sharing them with us - stay safe and healthy - you got a new fan, kind regards from Mannheim, Germany
Wow, *SUPER* useful, thanks! The scratch-n-sniff SMT adapters were a revelation, as well as the recommendation for fine, bare wire + tiny Teflon tubing. I also liked the suggestion to use adhesive copper tape for laying down power and ground planes. Pure gold, thanks again!
Well, pure copper
Another viewer posted this comment (but YT didn't post it due to having a link).
Thanks. Valuable input 8yrs later. There's also Leo sharing his technique which I found out about a couple of days ago: ua-cam.com/video/vq968AFgPhg/v-deo.html
Very encouraging as a new Ham homebrewer.
A "simple" question.
What is the best dremel tool attachment for shaping the blade?
Chris
The abrasive cut-off wheel.
Need to make a scraper like that. I was also wondering if I could make two of those blades and put them side-by-side with a shim in between, giving a scraper that "draws" traces by removing copper on either side...
I was thinking the same thing.
This video is tragically under-viewed. Not only did it open my eyes to a bunch of soldering strategies I hadn't considered and made them look possible even for my hacky soldering skills, you introduced me to QRPme, and that tipped me over the edge into finally getting my Technician's license...
My hands aren't strong enough to manually cut the PCB so I use markers to draw circuits on the blank PCB, add water to my etching pool and heat it in a microwave oven to 60°C(140°F), and etch the circuit board within around 10 minutes. The marker acts as an etch resist and protects the copper underneath and can easily be washed off by some dilute sodium hydroxide. It works as well as, if not better than, hand-scratched PCBs and it's much faster than the toner transfer or photoresist method.
Your channel is incredible. Your knowledge and teaching methods are top notch.
As a professional who runs my own repair lab… It’s wonderful to come across channels like yours. I stream UA-cam in my lab all day because it gets lonely… and all the metrology/ recalibration crap makes me want to jump out of a window. Too bad I’m on the bottom floor.😁🔫
But channels like yours are a breath of fresh air! Truly in the top 1%
I just had a bunch of boards made up by JLBPCB or some other board maker that fits the different SMD pin layouts and bring them to standard 100 mil pin spacing so I can use any SMD on a standard bread board. Similar to the ones you show.
Finished watching the video, closed it, moved on. Thought about it a little bit, re-opened to thumbs-up, and to comment that this is probably the most concentrated collection of good advice I've ever seen, only to find that many others have already said so. I don't mind repeating.
I I am studying basic electronics I have no clue what you are doing but it is very interesting I do Marine Electrical and Automotive electrical I want to be able to restore vintage receivers and speakers and turn tables
I've learn so much from your video. I spent 16 months at an internship and didn't learn even 1/10th of what you taught me in this video. Thank you Leo.
Some great techniques there Leo!
Like the copper tape idea.. I have been trying the nickel plated steel strip ( for battery packs) soldered to the cheap breadboards with 0.1” isolated PTH grid pads for high current prototypes. With tinning they worked great. Can even work them double sided if the PTH via is drilled out at the crossovers
Wow, these tips are really neat! Never heard of any of these since I did my apprenticeship 10 years ago. Due to the antiquated methods I was taught, I still stick to THT components on perfboard. Can't wait to try out your xacto blade idea and design technique. Thank you so much!
I love this technique, would've saved me a lot of headache fiddling with a breadboard then a non-equivalent through-hole op amp on my current project. And that's a great tip using thinner copper clad, I'll have to pick up some for my next project.
Excellent video. My tips 1. limit your caffeine
Using roommate's toothbrush to scrub the board! hahahaha love it
Why is this channel only get 14K subs ? , this should be more popular . This would save me a lot of time if I watched it during Uni. Amazing content.
I wholeheartedly agree with Your strategy of design/testing/layout in parallell, been doing it like that for over 40 years now...
My design expertise is largely in analog fast and HV circuits a and HF/MW stuff. Modularization is immensely important. Testing before layout prevents many recipes for disaster... and use simulators wisely and with caution. They are excellent for some tasks and hopeless for others.
I liked Your scratch tool, definitely going to try that but I will make one from scratch since I have a fair machine shop. Probably try a piece of carbide, FR4 is really dulling. I actually have sub mm cutters for the lathe between 0.4 to 1 mm for small retaining rings etc, perhaps those could be used.
All my work nowadays is SMD and it is just seems getting smaller and smaller over time. No way for me to work without a stereo microscope anymore. And some high quality tweezers etc.
Best investment I made in recent years is a Weller XCMT kit with exchangeable tips and a SMD desoldering tweezer. Speeds up my work a lot, also have the same WCP20 as You as well for a very long time. The soldering station has buttons for 2 temperatures which is immensely useful for me. Temperature sets in a few seconds.
Most of my wiring is with 0.1 to 0.3 colored solderable magnet wire. Used deadbug in the past taught to me by one of my mentors Coe Wescot in the 1970:s while the bugs still had legs... Still have that Vero wiring pencil.
Nowadays I order new adapter boards from china when needed, just make a simple layout and get exactly what needed. Cost is very low. I have also standardized several sizes small prototype boards with 0.1" pads around a ground plane that can take connectors. Very useful for modular testing and sometimes re use of circuits.
I use shop made rosin - IPA on my boards to facilitate soldering. Non activated rosin seems not corrosive as far as I have seen and can be left as a protective lacquer on prototypes. The solution degrades over time.
Got burned by CA glues, developed some allergy. Some friends of mine had the same issue. Nose distance and hi temp decomposition products may make that worse in this case. If I use manhattan pads I now just solder them double sided to the ground plane or stick them on with 3M365P. For LowRel, hot melt glue. I also use copper tape, but the glue is not very good. One of the best I found is outdoor copper anti snail tape for gardening.
On prototype decks, I almost never use them, but if You do for obvious reasons ditch the cheap ones and buy a few high quality ones.
Hopes any of these ramblings helps. It is my experience that in this line of work there is always infinite room for improvement... I also highly recommend the writings of Jim Williams in the old LT application handbooks.
What a wonderful video. Is there any chance you can add a list of the tools/materials you used to the description so we can just go out and buy them?
I don't know if i want to deal with big surfaces like these, when i have perfboards with a little copper circle around each hole, the gap between them is small enough to solder SMD components and i can still solder wires to it to make long traces
I was thinking the same thing.
Great channel! If these videos keep coming it's going to get big. Thanks!
Leo, this video completely changed my workflow!! I've totally converted over to this technique, and crossed with Manhattan style islands glued to the board too. Thank for posting this video, it's a great one!!
Excellent video! Thank you for the tips!
So great video! Thanks a lot!
I do not understand your (English) language,
but much of what you have shown makes a lot of sense
No, no, no, never just use the leaded solder.
This video is an absolute gold-mine. Every aspiring or current electronics hobbyist should watch this, probably multiple times. There's a large number of wildly useful ideas and techniques here!
Its funny I never knew about these "surfboards". Turns out they were patented 18 years ago. Had no idea you can "patent" literally copper strips on a pcb. I guess we will see these flood the market in 2022? Anyway, some good 'ole new techniques. Ordered all parts and will try. Thanks Leo!
Just search on AliExpress for smd adapter/breakout boards, they are easily available. I sometimes just make mine if I am getting into a new footprint..
your close up shots are super useful
This is video is pure gold. Probably purer than a Rolex.
this channel is so underrated
Amazing! It is so easy to build circuits using your method even by 0603 parts. The connections are solid and stable. Wonderful! Thank you so much.
protyping electronic circuits
dont u have atleast 1 day .........1st half of the day design schematic pcb and layout.......2nd half etch the board and place components and put in an oven..........
The best part of my method is NOT HAVING TO USE A COMPUTER! It's so nice to do something that doesn't involve staring at the computer screen.
Which is different than doing things quickly/efficiently. There is a big problem with engineers protoboarding too much, when getting in a good rhythm with your versioning and your fab house ship times is a far better use of anyones time. The computer was made to help us!
Loved watching it!!!
INTUITIVE and METHODICAL
Cant see anything UNLESS you have knowledge of it....
I now see clearly!!!!
ALL I have todo now is rewatch this x10
To reinforce everything
Dude your channel is awesome! Greetings from Germany :)
Great stuff!
Question: Where do you purchase your Wire-Wrap supplies? Everywhere I look the choice is limited (particularly for IC Sockets) and the prices insane!
They actually make hooked utility knife blades that look exactly like that. They’re called “hooked” or “drywall” blades and usually available at big box stores like Menards.
Really good video! Finally a good explanation of how to work with SMD parts at home.
Excellent, Priceless Info! Why didn't you make this video 60 years ago? I basically developed most of these techniques from the "school of hard knocks" and smoke! Didn't have PCB material or SMT parts back then (transistors were new and hard to get); so I sometimes built semi complex circuits in "air" like a giant spider's web. One of my criteria of success was when it worked two or 3 days later and a week after that. Fifty years ago, I could get surplus Teflon tubing and copper clad board, even with holes in them (but I would have to cut a few more lawns to get the extra money for the holes 😁). All your electronic videos should be MANDATORY for all EE students!
The tool seems great; however, in an academic environment, it can be dangerous for students to be asked to build something like this. I built a similar version, which uses a small chuck for a Dremel rotary tool. Then, I went to a metal workshop to have a handle made to fit an M8 size with a 0.75 mm pitch. Subsequently, I acquired broken CNC machine bits, and those bits are quite hard and sharp enough to cut the circuit board very deeply and with very wide grooves. This tool also serves as a small handheld drill, a center point, and a punch. I highly recommend it. Nevertheless, if the aim is simply to make deep grooves in a circuit board, I have found that using a #3 scalpel with a #12 blade is good enough to achieve a similar result. Greetings from Colombia 😊
Ahhh! Where's the stereo microscope so you can SEE SMD components? As for me, gimme 6C4s and 6AU6s, or nice hand-filling type 80 rectifiers, 2in long paper caps, and point-to-point wiring with terminal strips...oh well, time to fire up the trusty 545 (that's a REAL 'scope, not some crummy AC coupled recurrent sweep Heathkit!) and get back to work on that Magnavox console....
I've been a technician and hobbyist for the past 14 years and I've NEVER seen either copper clad nor bare perfboards. I've only seen them with pads, and sometimes they're double-sided. I've also NEVER seen that tool you used to wrap the wire.
Might be cus I'm in Brazil...
Small tip: 2:28 Looks exactly like an acrylic sheet cutter, which costs about 2-3$ on amazon.
What sort of teflon tube do you use? Where can it be sourced? I mostly find larger diameter stuff, but for the purpose you show it should be tiny I suppose...
www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/alpha-wire/TFT20024-NA005/ATFT20024-100-ND/502350
This stuff is expensive, but one roll will last you 5 years.
@@leosbagoftricks3732 I thank you very much!
Ordered me some. It's expensive indeed but I for one am tired of attempting to strip the insulation off very short pieces of wire. This trick is gold!
I think I found the stuff on Amazon. At least, the specs look right. Uxcell PTFE tubing. .5mm x .9mm. (That's the inside diameter x outside diameter). 16.4 ft for $9.39.
@@leosbagoftricks3732 Wow, that is expensive.
brilliant, came here from digi key channel. Keep making more of these! Product links for makers (AliExpress?) would be great...
I put almost all SMD just on standard develop PCB with holes, I just find a way to fit them, something it's just as easy as turn the component 45-degree, other components I need to scrap some traces/pads away, death bugs style, etc, I will find a way. :D
Thanks For The Proto Tips !!! .... i can't stand surface mount... i suppose if all prototyping could be done in the digital realm, few would care;
but the Real Problem with surface mount is environmental conditions ... i live in Wisconsin, we get polar vortexs that send us below -40F ... and then any surface mount electronics left in a storage unit, or garage, are complete junk....just like that.... so i will keep my trough hole component designs.
Wow, really smart!! Thanks so much for sharing! Excited to try this approach. ;-)
Back in my day the Texas Instruments TTL databook was our "holy bible" so to speak lol Wire wrapping was the way to go, it was great when the 'IC ID' thing came out since that reduced the number of times you had to figure out which pin was which lol "We" used to love the smell of solder back in college, or the burnt smell of 'destroyed' electronics, but that is apparently a bad thing now-a-days. So too is 'lead' solder as it isn't ROHS compliant. Soldering is a 'learned form of art.' In college for our final project - we were to design build and prototype a Z-80 based micro computer. Low and behold I was a student and the Teachers Assistant! lol Ya want faster and easier - leave it to the professionals.
Fabulous! All the time saving survival tips in one place!
wow !!!! So Glad I found this channel, this guy's GREAT !!!
I wish there was some other button saying "1000xLike". I would definitely hit that button!
11:45 An electric toothbrush works really well. You probably wouldn't spend $120 on a Philips Sonicare for the workshop, but I had one we were retiring from bathroom use because its battery had lost capacity. Keeping it in its charger, it's fine for brief circuit-board cleaning.
Great overview and lots of useful tips, but i wish you'd spent more time describing the "island" CB prototype method for tiny ICs.
That jug of flux must've cost 500 dollars haha. Joking aside though, great video. You've given me ideas.
Don't overlook making your own breakout boards as modules to be used in later prototyping. Ie: if in your work you use a lot of a particular scale of IC packages, then you can either buy commercial breakout boards, or you can look for some already designed on sites like OSH, or you can design your own the way you like them and order cheap from the usual Chinese PCB vendors. For example, if you use a lot of dual op amps in SO-8 packages, sure you could use off-the-shelf generic SO-8 breakout boards, or you could design your own with a few extra features specific to dual op amps, like pads for decoupling caps, or feedback components, a ground plane, guard rings if applicable and so on, and edge pins (like surf boards) if that's what works in your system . You can have these in stock ahead of time, and that can shorten your development time when it comes to a specific project.
These smd boards are cool and all for testing 1-2 parts but I think for anything more complex a cheap 2 layer PCB would end-up saving you time.
Wow! This is great!! This channel is amazing...can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Really awesome info ! Anyone know what the Molex kk 254 Crimping Tool model is that's shown? ..I couldn't read the label (I really need a better tool than what I'm using .. albeit these look to be expensive)
I'm new to this kind of stuff and I find watching these things helps with building up my mental model of how I can approach my own projects. It's really cool to see how experts think about their problems, so I can try to copy that line of thinking. Thanks for the video!
super useful information!!! thank you. As a hobbyist I'm always in need of informations like that because of the lack of formal training. Thanks again!
Longwinded introduction: 2 minutes out of 14 minutes .. blablabla .. the gold starts at 1:57
I was expecting this to be silly, or a repeat of things I've heard a hundred times before. It's not! Really good tips, some I didn't really want to hear (breadboards), but still valid. Thanks!
Electronic circuits, idk just solder it together and stuff. RF electronics circuits, it appears your transmission line was 0.2 mm to long, so nothing will work, make your entire board again.
wow truly a master at your proffession, been working as an embedded software engineer with alot of my work including HW design, and I´ve so often had problems not finding components with larger versions, that could have been used for testing. These tips are amazing, and could change everything in how i work. thank you!
"flux is your friend"...... and so is alcohol :). Great presentation. Good to see i have been doing it right all these years (mostly anyway 😁)
I'm extremely jealous of people with sturdy hands 😅 Mine have been shaky since I was 15
I have an x carve machine but you still give me invaluable tips ..and the squirrel eating a nut cracked me up...cheers
By small CNC and do the testing prototype in it, nice finish and reliable ... good work...
7:30 Totally Agree, I don't like breadboard cause 8/10 they gives me that.
I cut the copper rings of normal prototype boards in two and then they fit the SMD foot print it's a amazing trick
Awesome video, although I fear the audience to really benefit will be fairly limited. 5k6 likes at the time of writing shows people are aspirational, though, so that's good, I suppose.
I can remember creating PCB's like this by hand to hold IC's in DIP with pads for each leg - yay for the technique
Incredible content.
Where are you sourcing copper clade perf board, or are you making this yourself with copper tape?
I silver brazed a 3mm drillbit into a cheap jeweller's screwdriver (with the bit removed). Works great for cleaning copper holes on veroboard.
Thank you very much Leo!!! Wonderful triks and tips
May I ask you to go over your tricks and tips at a bit slower pace, stressing the minute details like wire gauge and how do you detect if you get a wrong gauge, say 28 instead of 26, and how do you fix it, and how do you test that it was fixed without creating new problems (i.e. assuming that everything that can go wrong - will)? What are the prototyping stages and what are the tests at the end of every stage? What are the silly shortcuts that people commonly take? That may seem fairly obvious and mundane for you ... but it isn't so for others. Thanks!
I came here via the Isaan Space Program… made a little lurk&spy on your other stuff… and subscribed! 🙂
Hi, any way you could help me ? I have a sketch on a breadboard for a RR land crossing that's controlled by 2 IR sensors.
I have flashing alternating leds, with opening an closing gates and with Audio sound of a bell. I am wanting to build a circuit to add this to but not quite sure how to go about it. I want everything on the circuit board an only have my servo wires come out that control my IR sensors.
Dude, the technique with using the plain copper clad FR4 and cutting it into "islands" just opened up a whole new world for me. I will never use a breadboard again.
Pure Gold love this video, making some changes in the morning, the Scratcher tool is a must, wow eye opening video👍👍
Nice video, when I had my electronics business this is how I worked and yes it is the way to prototype, but I also in stage three make a PCB and etch it my self before going to get the PCB, there is nothing better than in house prototype boards.
Though it's a tiny waste of money, I'd add use a different connector (say a six pin) for your power, even if you only need three of those pins. Then use a four pin for all your sensors. Just to make it abundantly clear to yourself when you're in a rush "this does NOT go there!".
Fantastic video, thank you for providing so many helpful tips.
Thanks, interesting, I picked up a couple of interesting tricks for myself
one of the best videos on circuit prototyping. excellent job
Man I watched this video several times.
Great stuff.
Leo thank you for sharing.. I start having a sudden interest to learn all that is possible to learn about electronics since September last year. Looking forward to any help and insight I can get😊
Ordering a cheap PCB from China saves lots of time in the long run.
You make v1.0, order and go to the next thing.
Thanks for reminding me what I did when I was a kid and forgetting it all. Back to basics again and so recycled SMDs are not a problem anymore.
There is 1" x 1" tiny prototype circuit board with doublesided pattern hole pattern ready to go, it can be purchased in a bulk for descent price now over amazon.
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I used that technique for my very first board prototype back in my childhood
Just get a "carpenter's" hook blade - they fit in standard size boxcutters that are a little larger so of course gives us more leverage. Great tips thankyou!