In article ,
says...
Hello Tim,

Just one more thought: I use "living-bug" arrangements almost
exclusively. Every once in a while I cut up some strips so they fit the
most popular "underbellies" of chips. Then I glue the strips onto the
large panel and the chips on top of the strips in a rider's fashion.
Ground connection can be achieved by slightly bending down a pin, the
rest gets wired up Sauerkraut style like usual. When stray capacitance
is critical I take washed wood strips instead of copper clad. Makes for
a really nice excuse to eat another Haagen Dasz.

This avoids having to think in reverse pinout and it often looks nicer,
too. Plus you can still see the "CD4007" on the chip.

Or you can just bend all but the ground pins outward from the base of
the chip (e.g., www.speakeasy.net/
~jmiles1/ke5fx/492ap/large/close1.jpg). The pins won't break if you
don't flex them more than once or twice.

Sometimes I'll use a drop of cynaoacrylate adhesive to hold the chip
into place if there are few or no grounded pins, but it's rarely
necessary.

This also works for SOICs and even TSSOPs, as long as you don't bend the
pins more than once.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
------------------------------------------------------

Hello John,

Or you can just bend all but the ground pins outward from the base of
the chip (e.g., www.speakeasy.net/
~jmiles1/ke5fx/492ap/large/close1.jpg). The pins won't break if you
don't flex them more than once or twice.

But then I won't have an excuse to eat another Haagen Dasz bar :-(

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

"Joerg" wrote in message
m...
Hello John,

Or you can just bend all but the ground pins outward from the base
of
the chip (e.g., www.speakeasy.net/
~jmiles1/ke5fx/492ap/large/close1.jpg). The pins won't break if you
don't flex them more than once or twice.

But then I won't have an excuse to eat another Haagen Dasz bar :-(

You don't need an excuse. We give you permission. ;-)

BTW, you can go to Michaels or other hobby/crafts store and buy a whole
handful of ice scream sticks for a couple bucks. You don't have to wash
'em, then. :-P

Every year the Engineering Club has a model bridge building contest.
They make them out of ice scream sticks. They support the ends of the
bridge on some bricks and suspend a bucket from the middle. Then fill
the bucket with sand until CRACK! the bridge crumples. Pretty neat!

You could come on over afterward and get some free slightly used ice
scream sticks. :-)


Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Hello Watson,

BTW, you can go to Michaels or other hobby/crafts store and buy a whole
handful of ice scream sticks for a couple bucks. You don't have to wash
'em, then. :-P

HD and Lowes have suitable hardwood strips, too. That is what I use when
it is a client's breadboard.

But these still don't come with vanilla almond chocolate crunch.
However, there is a trailer in front where they sell jumbo cajun links...

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

"John Miles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
Hello Tim,

Just one more thought: I use "living-bug" arrangements almost
exclusively. Every once in a while I cut up some strips so they fit
the
most popular "underbellies" of chips. Then I glue the strips onto
the
large panel and the chips on top of the strips in a rider's fashion.
Ground connection can be achieved by slightly bending down a pin,
the
rest gets wired up Sauerkraut style like usual. When stray
capacitance
is critical I take washed wood strips instead of copper clad. Makes
for
a really nice excuse to eat another Haagen Dasz.

This avoids having to think in reverse pinout and it often looks
nicer,
too. Plus you can still see the "CD4007" on the chip.

Or you can just bend all but the ground pins outward from the base of
the chip (e.g., www.speakeasy.net/
~jmiles1/ke5fx/492ap/large/close1.jpg). The pins won't break if you
don't flex them more than once or twice.

Sometimes I'll use a drop of cynaoacrylate adhesive to hold the chip
into place if there are few or no grounded pins, but it's rarely
necessary.

This also works for SOICs and even TSSOPs, as long as you don't bend
the
pins more than once.

-- jm

What's the board in? A receiver? What's it do?

Or you can just bend all but the ground pins outward from the base of
the chip (e.g., www.speakeasy.net/
~jmiles1/ke5fx/492ap/large/close1.jpg). The pins won't break if you
don't flex them more than once or twice.

What's the board in? A receiver? What's it do?

It's a PLL that locks a Tek 492AP spectrum analyzer to an external 10
MHz GPS reference. The box contains an x100 prescaler, x10 prescaler, a
phase/frequency detector made from two halves of a 74LS74, and a slow
loop filter made from an LF356 opamp. There's also a relay that
switches the correction signal in and out of the circuit based on
whether the GPS reference is connected.

The 494 and 494A had the reflock assembly built in, but the 492A didn't.
So I added it, along with a few other tweaks that bring it up to 494A-
level functionality.

Lots of stuff in a very small box, without much room for component
standoffs or other prototyping aids. I've built a ton of stuff that
way, at frequencies up to and including 2 GHz. Wouldn't even consider
any other assembly techniques for RF work at this point.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
------------------------------------------------------

"Joerg" wrote in message
om...
Hello Tim,

Just one more thought: I use "living-bug" arrangements almost
exclusively. Every once in a while I cut up some strips so they fit
the
most popular "underbellies" of chips. Then I glue the strips onto the
large panel and the chips on top of the strips in a rider's fashion.
Ground connection can be achieved by slightly bending down a pin, the
rest gets wired up Sauerkraut style like usual. When stray capacitance
is critical I take washed wood strips instead of copper clad. Makes
for
a really nice excuse to eat another Haagen Dasz.

This avoids having to think in reverse pinout and it often looks
nicer,
too. Plus you can still see the "CD4007" on the chip.

Back in the early '70s I got some prototype boards from a company that
made aircraft receivers. They used four push-in pins, one for each lead
of the four corners of the IC. Two of these are usually power and
ground, pins 7 or 8 and 14 or 16. These four hold the chip up off the
board, and the other pins are wired spaghetti style, which I presume is
the same as your sauerkraut style.

Speaking of this.. Last Sunday at our monthly compouter club meeting
someone donated a homemade S-100 system to the consignment table, but no
one bought it, so it ended up on the freebies table later, probably then
into the trash later. It had a chassis and box pop riveted together,
and the S-100 bus was all wire wrapped. A lotta love and time went into
building that way back in the late '70s.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Hello Watson,

Back in the early '70s I got some prototype boards from a company that
made aircraft receivers. They used four push-in pins, one for each lead
of the four corners of the IC. Two of these are usually power and
ground, pins 7 or 8 and 14 or 16. These four hold the chip up off the
board, and the other pins are wired spaghetti style, which I presume is
the same as your sauerkraut style.

Neat. Yes, sauerkraut style is similar to spaghetti style. No meat sauce
though ;-)

Speaking of this.. Last Sunday at our monthly compouter club meeting
someone donated a homemade S-100 system to the consignment table, but no
one bought it, so it ended up on the freebies table later, probably then
into the trash later. It had a chassis and box pop riveted together,
and the S-100 bus was all wire wrapped. A lotta love and time went into
building that way back in the late '70s.

Oh, wire wrap. Most older computers were that way in the 70's when I was
at university. It caused a lot of grief but then I found out an upside.
As a student you are always short of money, looking for an opportunity
to make a buck. These old wire wrap graves still would have some life in
them but not enough for the institutes to warrant the huge service
contract expenses or $200/hour repairs. So they just sat there, dead.
Then I offered to repair them provided I could do it my way. Brought the
big solder iron and soldered the whole backplane which brought them back
to life. They actually ran more reliably then ever, some told me. Often
the pay wasn't money but a keg and pizza which was then immediately
consumed by me and some staff on the lawn in front of the place.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

From: "Tim Shoppa" on Tues,May 3 2005 10:22 am

Many years ago (like, 20) I bought many 24" x 24" sheets of
single-sided PCB that I've been using to homebrew dead-bug style and
for other activities like soldering together little shielded boxes.
Probably mail-order from Fair Radio.I'm sure I paid very little for
the
stuff at the time, probably a few bucks a sheet. Now my stash is
almost gone. Anyone care to recommend a good cheap supplier for
similar single-sided PCB? I'm not picky as to phenolic vs glass-epoxy
or whatever, I just need a good ground plane. Big pieces are good but
I can live with little pieces too.

Ebay might be good as someone else suggested. The best bet
for low CO$T material is to sweet-talk a PCB maker for left-
overs...if one is in your neighborhood. I've gotten fairly
good prices from www.circuitspecialists.com on double-sided
stock (comes in protective plastic envelope).

The stuff I got 20 years ago was, for some reason, pre-tinned. (Maybe
this is why it was so cheap?). That was nice because I don't have to
clean off my dirty fingerprints when coming back to a project after a
few weeks or a few years :-). Pre-tinned is a big plus.

Cleaning OLD PCB stock the "green" way -

Sprinkle any kind of table salt on the PCB stock, then take
half a lemon and rub it on the salt. Most of the blackened
oxide will disappear!

I tried that late last year on some 4" x 8" double-sided
phenolic substrate PCB stock after seeing all those "green"
site remarks that I didn't really believe. It WORKS! :-)
Those pieces had been sitting in the back of the workshop
for about 35 years.

I did "cheat" a bit. Have a year-round producing lemon
tree and my wife had some coarse salt left over from a
canning experiment. Zero cost trial...lemons at the
markets can run 50 cents each. The residue can easily
wash down the sink, don't need any gloves, nothing toxic.
Result is easily solderable although for best appearance,
some cleaning with a bleach-containing kitchen cleanser
will make it shiny and spotless.

wrote in message
oups.com...
[snip]

Cleaning OLD PCB stock the "green" way -

Sprinkle any kind of table salt on the PCB stock, then take
half a lemon and rub it on the salt. Most of the blackened
oxide will disappear!

I've amazed a few people when we go out to eat lunch. I take a
tarnished golden dollar and put it in the lemon from a drink, or catsup
works just as well. Less than a minute later, it's nice and shiny
again. The vinegar or citric acid reduces all that tarnish to
invisible. Some say the carbonic acid in the fizz in cola will do it,
too, but I haven't tried it. Check it out sometime when you're into
impressing your friends.

I tried that late last year on some 4" x 8" double-sided
phenolic substrate PCB stock after seeing all those "green"
site remarks that I didn't really believe. It WORKS! :-)
Those pieces had been sitting in the back of the workshop
for about 35 years.

I did "cheat" a bit. Have a year-round producing lemon
tree and my wife had some coarse salt left over from a
canning experiment. Zero cost trial...lemons at the
markets can run 50 cents each. The residue can easily
wash down the sink, don't need any gloves, nothing toxic.

Just make sure you don't get any of it in a cut on your finger. The
lemon will add a whole 'nother meaning to rubbing salt in your wounds!!

Result is easily solderable although for best appearance,
some cleaning with a bleach-containing kitchen cleanser
will make it shiny and spotless.