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Adafruit Perma-Proto Half-sized Breadboard PCB – 3 Pack! Customers have asked us to carry basic perf-board, but we never liked the look of most basic perf: its always crummy quality, with pads that flake off and no labeling. Then we thought about how people actually prototype – usually starting with a solderless breadboard and then transferring the parts to a more permanent PCB. That’s when we realized what people would really like is a proto board that makes it easy!
This proto-board is the PCB you always wish you had, but never realized it! We took the basic layout of a half-sized breadboard and turned that into a beautiful PCB. The top side has a while silkscreen, and the same markings you’re familiar with, to make transferring components easy. The bottom has the 5-hole pad design that matches a classic breadboard, with 4 power bus lines on the sides, and no mask so you can easily cut traces when necessary. All holes are thru-plated for strength – these wont peel off with rework. The finish is a gold plate so it wont oxidize like bare copper! There are also two mounting holes so you can attach the PCB to your project box
These are so handy, we decided to put them in a pack of 3. Once you use a Perma-Proto board, you’ll never go back!
FEED
Good idea! And it looks good too.
Comment by Doug — November 18, 2011 @ 12:56 pm
You are right – this proto-board is the PCB I always wish I had! Note to self to include w/next order!
Comment by Stephen Upham — November 18, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
Oh sure, you come out with this a couple hours after I place my order. *sigh*
These look nice and I’ll have to add them to a future order.
Comment by scott-42 — November 18, 2011 @ 1:20 pm
We do have wishlists
Comment by ladyada — November 18, 2011 @ 1:23 pm
Really nice. I’ll have to get a couple. Does anybody know if the pins on wirewrap IC sockets will fit in a breadboard hole? If so you could lay this over your breadboard and once its working carefully lift and solder.
Comment by Adam — November 18, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
What an incredible idea!
Comment by Marty — November 18, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
Drills are a fairly big 1.2mm – check the part datasheet to see whether your part will fit
Comment by ladyada — November 18, 2011 @ 3:02 pm
Ordered one immediately. Very impressive. It’s one of those why didn’t I think of that ideas that Adafruit turns in to a reality. Just like Adafruit’s RGB LCD which I use daily
Comment by Randall — November 18, 2011 @ 3:03 pm
If you ever do a revised version it would be nice to have 4 mounting holes, spaced far enough from the pads so that metal screws don’t cause a short.
Comment by Karl — November 18, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Karl, that would make the PCB large or not match a breadboard. Thats why there are two holes in the center.
Comment by ladyada — November 18, 2011 @ 3:18 pm
Very nice, fancy three color screening. Really like the half size, Radio Shack had one that matched full size boards, but that’s too much for a lot of small circuits.
Karl, while not as stable as 4 mounting points, remember it’s easy to break the traces on those end rows so they can still be used for devices not in the center if your mounting hardware interferes with the last couple rows.
I too would rather compromise the exact look for good mounting points, perhaps at the expense of a couple points on the power buses. Still better than the old Radio Shack breadboards that group the power bus in 5s and not aligned to the field.
Certainly going to add a couple sets to my next order though.
Comment by jpbot — November 18, 2011 @ 6:36 pm
@Karl: (provided you leave yourself enough clearance) you could just drill out a few of the thru-holes to make more/larger mounting points.
Comment by johngineer — November 18, 2011 @ 7:34 pm
Great suggestions, thanks! Now where did I put the Dremel …
Comment by Karl — November 18, 2011 @ 8:04 pm
I’ve been waiting for something like this!
Comment by Chris — November 18, 2011 @ 8:39 pm
So simple, yet so good! I have longed for this exact thing several times on past projects. I’ll definitely pick some up with my next order.
Comment by Steve Chamberlin — November 18, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
For a very similar (possibly less refined) version of this idea, see http://shop.moderndevice.com/products/wired-breadboard
It has 4 holes, but they are so close to the buses you can only use nylon standoffs, unless you want to laboriously cut the traces. It also has traces sneaking around the edge to close pads so a simple solder blob will short together the top and bottom +V rails for example. I built a project on it and it looks pretty good. Had to search for the nylon standoffs though.
Comment by JBeale — November 19, 2011 @ 1:43 am
I thought the same thing (lay this over the breadboard while working, then lift & solder). Now just make better jumper cables and all headers should be extra long!
Comment by ideakid — November 19, 2011 @ 3:07 am
I thought the same thing (lay this over the breadboard while working, then lift & solder). Now just make better jumper cables and all headers should be extra long!
Comment by ideakid — November 19, 2011 @ 3:08 am
Awesome! I put these right on my Christmas List!!
Comment by Joey Hudy — November 19, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
When can we expect the next favorite clear breadboard… lol These look great and I too plan to add to my next order I think all the great stuff coming out of Adafruit is amazing. Thanks LadaAda for helping me know that I want to be an EE.
Comment by Ecko — November 23, 2011 @ 10:04 am
Any plans to do v-scores to be able to detach the power busses like you can for usual breadboards?
Comment by John — November 23, 2011 @ 1:31 pm