I've found plenty of how-to's for soldering through-hole components but I haven't seen anything about techniques for neatly organizing all the components and wires on a prototyping board prior to soldering.
As an example: I have a simple 555 circuit laid out on my breadboard. I've got two things connected to pin 6 by slotting wires into two slots in the same column as that pin. I'm stumped on how to do this cleanly on a proto board.
They sell protoboards with traces arranged like a breadboard, including the horizontal power busses at the top and bottom. They also sell them with all the holes in connected rows, in which case it would be up to you to cut the traces. Other than that, you might have to use a lot of wires.
This is how I've been doing it, anyway. If there's a better way, I'd like to know, too.
The other thing is... loosen up about your circuits. Wiring stuff up on a plain pad-per-hole circuit board is NOT neat, but works great, and is really flexible. If you need to do a lot in a hurry, sometimes beauty can be (temporarily) sacrificed. ;)
Thanks for the info! I'll look for some matched boards at the local shop.
Funny you responded Windell. It's your Cylon-o-lantern I am currently working on wiring up. As a beginner, I really wanted to be able to reach into my screen and turn your board over so I could see how you connected everything. :)
>It's your Cylon-o-lantern I am currently working on
Ah-- then I suppose I'm in a good position to give you more concrete tips. I make these on plain pad-per-hole perfboard... and I let them be messy on the bottom side. The transistor driver array is what takes up space, so lay one out first-- just put the parts in the holes to see how close you can fit them. Take that repeating unit and shove them together as close as possible, and repeat that. Bend the wires that are supposed to touch together under the board and solder them in place. Second hint: Use the diodes *as wires* to connect from the chip to the transistor drivers; that saves a little space as well.
When you have to solder a wire to a lead, wrap it around at least once for strength before soldering. If you're using pad-per-hole board, use bare tinned stranded wire ("bus wire") to create common rows and columns. A toothpick or spudger can really help maneuver the wire into place around a component lead before snugging it down and soldering it.
As for layout, that's just something you'll learn. Using the pre-tracked perfboard with a layout that mimics your breadboard is nice, if you're not worried about making things small. It's sort of constraining, though, as I'm sure you've realized if you've spent much time trying to cram more than a simple circuit onto a small breadboard. Pad-per-hole gives you a lot more freedom, and with practice you'll find all sorts of ways to arrange and straddle components for the most efficient layout.