Breadboarding tips

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[gloverelaxis]

This is like the electronic engineering equivalent of gardening or knitting for relaxation.

[shubhammaurya]

Title should be " How to BeNeater"

[expolarity]

I think it's important to note that this takes a lot of practice and you shouldn't give up when you don't get it extra tidy on your first try

[SpaghettiRoad]

Until these videos I didn't know I was attracted to cable management.

[SamBebbington]

When you realise you just watched Ben strip wires for 20 mins and you enjoyed it!

[RoboGenesHimanshuVerma]

Breadboarding so clean, even PCBs are embarassed

[thomasrogers]

Ben eater is the guy who I just watched eyeball a wire strip to within 3 decimal points to.3 inches.

[JohnHollowell]

I'm pretty sure this is the new Bob Ross but for electronics. The introducing us to the tools at the end, eyeballing things perfectly, saying it doesn't have to be perfect, the calm voice. It all comes together

[CainGantt]

Ben is the Bob Ross of computing. So calming to watch, only peaceful vibes, and with expert skill in the subject.

[bobweiram]

You're the Bob Ross of Electronics: "The Magic of Breadboarding"

[ruutjormun]

thank you for this video. i found this in the final weeks of my third-year undergraduate robotics project. the examiner was particularly impressed with the breadboarding neatness. i credited you in my acknowledgements section of the thesis, and got a first class grade out of it!

much love

[edwardpaulsen]

This was quite the excellent video and covered nearly everything I learned over almost 50 years of direct experience, including wire wrapping. There is only one bit of caution that I would like to add and that is "Bend Radius"...

For the most part, these wires will likely be bent only once and will stay that way, however if these will be used repeatedly especially if it may get adjusted at the corner of the bend then one should take that into account. Bend radius varies depending on wire or cable type with larger wires or cables having a larger radius multiplier. Small wire (under 14Ga) has a minimum bend radius of three times OD, solid wire 12Ga or larger is six times the OD and for stranded that can go between 7 to 12 times the OD (larger multipliers are for really heavy gauges far beyond hobby levels)

In this case, using 22 Gauge solid wire, the most likely OD is going to be 0.06 inches which, when multiplied by the 3x factor gives you 0.18 inches radius which is slightly over 3/16th inches or a bit larger then going around a standard pencil. This should be taken into account in final builds where there may be vibration or other movement that may occur. This is to prevent fatiguing the wire too much and breaking it, perhaps inside the insulation where troubleshooting can become very difficult!

As I said before, maintaining that bend radius for breadboards is not as vital as it is generally a very temporary circuit but if it gets directly transferred to a perf-board with solder that can quickly become a problem and it is better to turn those best practices into a habit early on to prevent headaches down the road.

[Otakunopodcast]

Save your cut-off parts legs! They can be extremely useful. I use them frequently for making power/ground buses when soldering components together on perfboards. If you snap a leg off a chip, as long as you didn't snap it off entirely (the top part of the leg where it enters the chip is still intact) you can solder on a cut-off lead to make a quick and dirty repair. They can also be used for repairing broken traces on circuit boards. And you can throw them at annoying coworkers like little tiny needle darts. :) (Okay, maybe that's not such a good idea...)

[hahathatsgreat]

The mark of a true engineer is calling a £5 tool (lead bender) "fancy."

[karmageddon]

Patience is key. Like plumbing or carpentry, preparing for the work takes time but it makes the job easier and neater. At the end, a lot more satisfying.

Thanks Ben

[renakunisaki]

More tips:

Use consistent colors! In DC circuits red should always be + and black should always be -. I personally like yellow for clock, green for data, white for analog. I have to break the rules occasionally, but it makes things much easier.

Once you've cut one wire, use it to measure additional cuts for the same length.

Wire is cheap, and you can always cut it again. Don't be afraid to cut off more than you need.

I have a set of red/black wires tying the voltage rails together for each breadboard. They're basically permanent. They can be removed as needed, but each board has its own pair.

Good breadboards have little indents and nubs on the sides so they can actually snap together!

If you need to strip an extremely thin wire and your tools can't do it without breaking it, you can melt the plastic off with a soldering iron. Just be sure you have a good fume extractor (melting plastic gives off toxic fumes), clean the crud off the iron afterward, and do it on a table you don't mind marking the surface of. Also, ensure no pets or toddlers eat the waste plastic!

If something isn't working, don't forget to test the wires themselves! They can break or be defective too!

[PixelSchnitzel]

Excellent tips! Your videos *greatly* improved my breadboarding after decades years of tinkering. THANK YOU. I have 3 tips to add:
1) I finally pried ~$75 out of my wallet for a Patco PTS-10 thermal stripper on eBay. Best prototyping money I ever spent. I set the depth for 0.3" and can prep bazillions of wires in very little time. Less work / more prototyping! Also, wire nicking can never happen, so ALL my wiring work has improved. Bonus: Good enough for NASA!
2) Keep a set of disposable medicine cups (great for mixing epoxy too) to organize red & black wires for jumping to the bus bars (0.3 and 0.4" insulation length). These wires are used in great numbers and having a bunch on hand will save you time & keep things neat, even if you use random wires for everything else.
3) I keep a 6" scale graduated in 1/10" increments so I can simply count holes, add 0.6" and prep a wire using the ruler. When the breadboard is getting busy, that makes life easier.

[rodcleaves]

In 1970 I bought a couple of HeathKit breadboard consoles. They included prepared jumpers, power supplies and adjustable/variable clocks. They even included provision for ganging several together for common power, ground, and clock. What Ben is doing in theses videos is exactly how we built systems.

[benassakhir]

Super Video! Ich habe für 2, 00 € Applaus gesendet. 👏

[ahmedsamiatta]

He is very professional that he doesn't do a lot of editing and cutting in the video, one of the best and limited channels in electronics