In sci.electronics.design Michael Black wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2014, Don Kuenz wrote:

Do you personally use a plastic solderless breadboard for your
prototypes?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=...ess+breadboard

If not, what do you use for your prototypes?

TIA.

Is this one of those surveys in advance of one of those kickstarter
campaigns? I seem to recall filling one out months ago, but I can't
remember if it really was related to breadboarding. I know the people
behind the survey had no real idea of the market.

And then, just last week, I saw something about a kickstarter campaign of
a little plastic gizmo that amounted to a microUSB connector with leads
that fit the breadboard. Have we dumbed things down that much? Forty
years ago, when those breadboards were new and I got one, I'd just wire
some bits of wire to things that didn't fit into the breadboard holes. No
need to buy something.

That said, one uses what fits the situation.

Those white breadboards are great for ICs since they are layed out for
ICs. They aren't so great for discrete components.

So you put your IC breadboarding on the white breadboards, and then hou
use scraps of copper circuit board for the rest, soldering to the copper
when you need a ground connection, and keeping everything in the air above
the board. Works fine for breadboarding, you can use components salvaged
fro something with small leads, or (if the circuit allows it) use parts
without cutting their leads, so they can be reused later. I used the same
piece of circuit board for years, it's even better after a bit of use
since the solder is already on the board, you just need to heat it a bit,
maybe add a bit of solder, and solder the component lead. This
arragnement makes it really easy to change things, or scrap it all.
Perfboard is lousy for making changes.

If you build compactly, you can just make the "breadboard" the finished
product, hide it behind a panel somewhere.

I've done something similar. I've used a nylon breadboard to prototype,
then migrated all components to a breadboard perfboard, and finally hid
the whole contraption in a bud box. What goes on inside the bud box,
stays inside the bud box.

--
Don Kuenz