Prototyping/test rig advice wanted

[hoodoo]

G'day to all, Matt here. I've seen a couple of great prototyping rigs on here recently, and was inspired to start breadboarding. I've just received the tayda breadboards and will make a prototyping rig very soon. I have never done it before, so i would like to hear from those in the know, photo's encouraged, as to what i need exactly, as they all seem to vary slightly, i'm guessing, for individuals particular needs. Would love to hear your thoughts on this before i start putting one together. Thanks, Matt.

[pickdropper]

When I recently put one together, my main focus was having the inputs and outputs anchored to the enclosure.  With my old breadboard, by the time I hooked up all the input/output/power connections it pulled it in multiple directions.  It kind of looked like my breadboard was being drawn and quartered.

The rest of it was just features that I wanted (like multiple inputs and outputs.  Having a place to hold pots during testing also helps.

But the main thing was mounting input /output/power jacks.  That bothered me more than anything else.

[davent]

Great resources at BeavisAudio. You could use his beavis board ideas as a great starting point. In addition he has a slew of excellent pdf's detailing many a breadboarded pedal circuit.

Not for sale anymore but easy enough to make your own. http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/

http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/docs/HackersGuideToTheBeavisBoard.pdf

http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/projects/

dave

[hoodoo]

Thanks for the response gents, i have checked out Beavis, very helpful, however, the type of info i was chasing was what features you have built into your test rig and why. Pickdropper, the multiple in/outs i'm guessing, is to test more than one circuit on the board? I would like to build this thing, so that i don't have to upgrade/alter at a later stage, when i might know what i'm doing  thanks, Matt.

[pickdropper]

Hey Matt,

The multiple inputs and outputs thing is more personal preference.

On the input side, I wanted to be able to easily switch between a guitar input and a function generator input.  By having two separate inputs, I can have them both attached at the same time and I can use a BNC connector for the function generator, which I prefer.

On the output side, I wanted to be able to switch from guitar amplifier to headphone amplifier.  Like with the inputs, I wanted to have the option of hooking them both up if I wanted.  On the output, this was less important to me than the input, but it was easy enough to implement, so I did.

[hoodoo]

Thanks for the explanation mate, Matt.

[selfdestroyer]

I too have gone back and forth on this idea to streamline the build process and here are a few links that I had saved for inspiration.

http://makezine.com/2010/07/13/how-to-guitar-effects-proto-pedal/
http://www.yesterdaysmoodmusic.blogspot.com/2012/03/forgot-to-post-these.html
http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=151&t=9726&start=60

I'll see if I can track some more down.

[hoodoo]

Hey, thanks mate, some good links. I'm wanting to build a bit bigger than this, but that one on the 1590bb looks like it would be real handy, all the best, Matt.

[gtr2]

Because I have quite a few breadboards, I just use my normal test rig to hook up the power, in and out when the circuits ready on the breadboard.  Then I'm not tied down to only using one breadboard rig.

Josh

[davent]

For my Beavis style breadboard i've four of the actual breadboards, they attach to the base with velcro so it's easy to swap them on and off as i try out different circuits. The base will hold two like in the Beavis original.

[selfdestroyer]

For my Beavis style breadboard i've four of the actual breadboards, they attach to the base with velcro so it's easy to swap them on and off as i try out different circuits. The base will hold two like in the Beavis original.

Thats a great idea with the velcro.

Cody