Manhattan Circuit Construction Technique for Homebrew Ham Radios

This Manhattan Circuit Construction Technique for Homebrew Ham Radios is very common with ham radio homebrewers. Doug DeMaw, W1FB, wrote an article titled ”Quick-and-Easy Circuit Boards for the Beginner” detailing construction using what is referred to as dead bug or ugly construction. In the same article by Doug DeMaw, Figure 3 shows the use of printed circuit board squares glued to the main printed circuit board. The squares are used to solder component leads to for common electrical and mechanical connections. This technique is attributed to Wes Hayward, W7ZOI, and Wes suggested using hot glue as a fixitive to hold the pads in place.

#hamradio #sota #portableops #electronics #gear #shorts #amateurradio #STEM #qrp #cw #morsecode #pota #keyer #ssb #N6QW #SuddenSSBTransceiver

[E-raticWarrior]

This gives "HUGE GROUND PLANE" a new meaning.

[Samuel-kmyf]

You learn something new everyday. I have over two decades of professional electrical engineering experience with at least another 10-15 years of amateur electronics experience. I consider myself an expert. I’ll be damned, but I never knew this technique existed. I can see its usefulness in applications that require large ground planes, which probably limits its usefulness to mainly RF and maybe some simple power circuits. Neat.

[cbmech]

In high-school electronics shop class we etched the circuit into the copper and then drilled into the board to attach the components after covering the copper with solder

[ridefast]

I was doing that back in 1982/83, doing logic circuits at 300Mbit/s! Made a 23-stage PRBS generator and error detector using emitter-coupled logic chips.

[davekorp]

Back in the 80S and 90s radio shack used to sell a kit for chemicals etching coper clad board. Came with a paint pen to draw the traces and a drill bit fort through hole components.

[JonathanKayne]

Another technique you can do is use a Dremel tool to remove the copper to make the islands. It took a while for my manhattans chowder tin from QRP me to arrive so I ended up using that for a transceiver project I’ve been working on.

[EfieldHfield_]

Once again I learn something new. Never seen this technique before and I’ve been an EE for near 30 years now. Not something I would use but that’s not to say it doesn’t have value. Thx for sharing.

[martynh]

My first circuits were simple too. I thought parts had to be laid out just like the circuit diagram. I made a copy of the circuit and taped the parts down, twisting wires together where they joined. To my surprise some of the things I made (very simple things!) actually worked! At about the age of 13 I bought a soldering iron and things started to work much better. That was in 1967!

[SimEon-jtsr]

This is such a good technique for me. I like dead bug construction. Thanks for making this video.

[NotSure]

Thank you! I literally asked this question yesterday. This makes a lot of sense. Having a good ground plane is very important for sensitive circuitry.

[wolfy]

For those wondering, this is for circuit where you need a huge ground plane. Anything high frequency, radio stuff, filters, etc. If you think a regular perf board will work, this technique is beyond your knowledge level for now

[eloymarquez]

Big uuhhhh moment! 😮 Antennas, HF, power distribution with low voltage drops, heat disipation, signal integrity, etc. Very useful, thank you sir!

[jamesplotkin]

In HS electronics class, we were told to leave maximum copper so the etching bath would last a lot longer.

[K.D.Fischer_HEPHY]

I see some questions about the stray capacitance of those "MeSquares", so i did a little calculation.
C=Eplison*(A/d), Epsilon is the product of the electric constant times the relativ permittivity of FR4 in this case which is about 4.4. A = Area of overlap of the 2 plates of the capacitor, which in this case is roughly 5x5mm per "MeSquare". d= distance between the plates which is commonly on FR4 boards 1.6mm. Lets put this all into SI metrics -> (8, 5*10^-12)*(4, 4)*(25*10^-6):(1, 6*10^-3) = ~5.8*10^-13 Farads or around 0, 6 pF per "MeSquare". Time this with 15 (i counted the last circuit board he showed) and you have about 9pF capacitance on the whole board added. Not a whole lot to be fair, but in very high frequencies (Gigahertz) this might matter.
If you find an error in this calculation please do correct in the comments. ;-)

[michaeldibb]

New meaning to SURFACE MOUNT electronics 😊

[flkremil]

This is actually great for a lot of tinkering. Much faster than through-hole and you can optimize inductance easily.

[tommyt]

Ive never once seen it done like this, and I've worked with a lot of old home made electronics.

[pist]

Switching power supplys, motor controllers, lots of applications. I never saw this before. Thanks for sharing!

[sparkyy]

Scribe a 7mm grid through the top layer copper with a sharp carbide tile cutter on a double sided pwb.
Exactly the same result.... but without the glue.
Cool video !!

[Barmaleyx]

Мы на станции юных техников делали на картоне соединительные проводники, под схему прям как требуется. А ещё была техника исполнения на стекле. Брался кусок оконного стекла, рисовались дорожки клеем БФ-2, по нарисованным дорожкам пролуживалось оловом. Техника монтажа на стекле лучше всего работала когда собираешь что-то высоковольтное, типа умножителя, киловольт так на 15. Нормально работает. Стекло практически нельзя перевести в режим пробоя.