I don't know what the manufacturer is thinking when they do that, but I find
the solder pads very convenient for mechanically holding the componants to
the board. With just wire wrap things slide around (and it didn't occur to
me until _just now_ that I could have used glue).

I generally prefer dead-bug on a ground plane, or paying a few bucks to a
quick-turn PCB house.

"James W" wrote in message
...
Thanks... but one more question.. The boards I've seen have individual
copper pads that surround each hole. The pads do NOT interconnect holes.

If these are for wirewrap, why the copper pads at each hole?

- jim

p.s. I'm familiar with many fabrication techniques, I'm just trying to
figure out how one works with these particular boards.. i.e. why are
these boards so common and electronics stores.

W3JDR wrote:
Unclad perf-board is generally used for wire-wrap applications only. To
do
wire-wrap work you need a wire-wrap tool and a roll of wire-wrap wire.
Both
are available at Radio Shack. You buy the type of IC sockets that have
long
wire-wrap pins. For leaded components, you either wrap directly to the
leads
or you put them in wire-wrap sockets.

Wire-wrap works OK for digital and low-freq analog work, but it doesn't
work
at all for SMT parts. You generally need a good copper ground plane for
RF
work.

Joe
W3JDR

"James W" wrote in message
...

When working with simple perfboard (just holes, no 'traces' connecting
the holes) how does one connect the components together? I'm guessing by
using jumper wires for point-to-point wiring on the backside, but that
seems a bit ugly.

- jim