From Breadboard to Protoboard--There Must Be a Better Way!

Breadboards are used by many involved in electronics from the DIYer to the student to the professional. It is especially used by the newer electronics enthusiast or student. Many times a circuit is laid out on a breadboard to assure proper functionality and then moved to a protoboard, where it can be soldered for more permanency. The act of taking a circuit from the breadboard and transferring it to a protoboard can be frustrating and problematic. To go from the contentment of a working circuit to the frustration of one that must be troubleshooted after soldering is no fun.

Schmartboard, in addition to selling products and engineering services, as a public service, teaches electronics in our local community of Fremont, CA. It was during these sessions that we realized that this was an issue to be addressed.

Introducing Schmartboard Bread/Protoboards. These boards are the exact dimensions of a 400 or 830 Tie Point breadboard with all of the same traces and power rails. With this board you can either remove the parts from a standard Breadboard one at a time(while they are next to each other to assure proper placement) and solder them onto the Bread/Protoboard, or you can lay the Bread/Protoboard, on top of your breadboard, place parts through the Bread/Protoboard and into your breadboard and then when ready, solder the components from the top to the Bread/Protoboard, before removing the Bread/Protoboard, and component leads from the breadboard thus saving the step of transferring the components from the breadboard to this board(where errors are most commonly made).

The 830 Tie Point Bread/Protoboard,, bundled with a matching breadboard is $15.00 Retail, the 400 Tie Point Bread/Protoboard, is $10.00. Schmartboard will start using these internally for teaching starting in April with Ohlone College, who has some electronics labs at Schmartboard's facility.