I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder
to. No other through holes, other than for mounting.


--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Does anyone remember Radionics?
When I were a lad and my parents did not want me burning myself or
embedding solder in the carpet, they bought me many of these kits and
accessories. Basically sheets of Perspex with peg board style holes. all
components came with studs, 6BA in brass and plastic bases with the correct
number of pins. Note this was before ICS. The connections were made using
brass strip punctured with holes at the same pitch as the board, and these
could be cut to any length you liked and were cheap as chips so no issues
there. Lots of nuts needed etc, and obviously things like coils needed to
have spade or similar ends and there had to be battery clips etc. most
projects could be powered by pp9 or Bijou 3v batteries.
You got circuits and suggested layouts. However of course once you learned
the basics of how transistors worked one was encouraged to design ones own
circuits. this simple system taught me a a heck of a lot about stuff not
just the colour codes of resistors and the values of capacitors etc, but the
way transistors worked. Most of the transistors at that time were Germanium
and easily destroyed of course, but also they were cheap. As my father
worked in the industry I could easily get them replaced on the original
bases.
As I recall, inductors were blue, semiconductors yellow, resistors red,
Capacitors white.
Things like relays and transformers were considered to be inductors.


Bit on the large side for prototyping today, but for teaching I think it was
great.
There was even a simple binary counting project using one astable and
several bistable circuits with low current bulbs in the collector circuits.
They were made in Three Bridges Crawley.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Graham." wrote in message
news

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder
to. No other through holes, other than for mounting.


--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Does anyone remember Radionics?
When I were a lad and my parents did not want me burning myself or
embedding solder in the carpet, they bought me many of these kits and
accessories. Basically sheets of Perspex with peg board style holes. all
components came with studs, 6BA in brass and plastic bases with the
correct number of pins. Note this was before ICS. The connections were
made using brass strip punctured with holes at the same pitch as the
board, and these could be cut to any length you liked and were cheap as
chips so no issues there. Lots of nuts needed etc, and obviously things
like coils needed to have spade or similar ends and there had to be
battery clips etc. most projects could be powered by pp9 or Bijou 3v
batteries.
You got circuits and suggested layouts. However of course once you
learned the basics of how transistors worked one was encouraged to design
ones own circuits. this simple system taught me a a heck of a lot about
stuff not just the colour codes of resistors and the values of capacitors
etc, but the way transistors worked. Most of the transistors at that time
were Germanium and easily destroyed of course, but also they were cheap.
As my father worked in the industry I could easily get them replaced on
the original bases.
As I recall, inductors were blue, semiconductors yellow, resistors red,
Capacitors white.
Things like relays and transformers were considered to be inductors.


Bit on the large side for prototyping today, but for teaching I think it
was great.
There was even a simple binary counting project using one astable and
several bistable circuits with low current bulbs in the collector
circuits.
They were made in Three Bridges Crawley.
Brian


There was another breadboarding system based on a matrix of springs mounted
vertically. By bending a spring over, components could be trapped in the
turns of the spring. Not very compact but it worked well.

I made a system for I/C's on 12 " Square fiberglass one sided copper clad
onto which I etch a simple pattern for i/c socket where each pin came out to
a turret tag for soldering to - again worked quite well. I mounted it all in
a nice mahogany box - may even have it still somewhere.

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with brass
screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

Andrew

In article ,
Graham. writes:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder
to. No other through holes, other than for mounting.

Never seen anything like that.

I use Veroboard Copper Tripad Board, which is veroboard with
the tracks broken every 3 holes, which is ideal for DIL layouts.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...2&l=7fade13f01
Maplin sell it.


Here's a postcript program to print a board on a postscript
laser printer (or via ghostscript onto anything) so you can
mark out your component layout.


%!PS-Adobe-2.0
%%Creator: Andrew Gabriel
%%CreationDate: 30th March 1994
%%DocumentData: Clean7bit
%%DocumentFonts:
%%LanguageLevel: 1
%%Orientation: Portrait
%%Pages: 1
%%EndComments

72 10 div dup scale % set units to 1/10ths inch

%%BeginProlog

% Constants

/radius 0.1 def % radius of hole
/track 0.3 def

%................................................. ..............................

/drawhole
{
/y exch def
/x exch def
x radius add y moveto
newpath x y radius 0 360 arc closepath

y 3 mod 0 eq {
x track sub y 0.5 sub moveto
x track sub y 0.5 add lineto
x track add y 0.5 sub moveto
x track add y 0.5 add lineto
} { y 3 mod 1 eq {
x track sub y 0.5 sub moveto
x track sub y track add lineto
track 2 mul 0 rlineto
0 track 0.5 add neg rlineto
} {
x track sub y 0.5 add moveto
x track sub y track sub lineto
track 2 mul 0 rlineto
0 track 0.5 add rlineto
} ifelse
} ifelse

0.01 setlinewidth
stroke
} def

%................................................. ..............................

%%EndProlog
%%Page: 1 1

10 10 translate

1 1 63 {
/y exch def
1 1 39 {
y drawhole
} for
} for

showpage % print sheet

%%EOF

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 13/11/16 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:


There was another breadboarding system based on a matrix of springs
mounted vertically. By bending a spring over, components could be
trapped in the turns of the spring. Not very compact but it worked well.

Those springs were mainstay of the Tandy Radio Shack Science Fair
150-in-1 electronic kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOLvB5JIGI

Watching that vid gives me goosebumps...

Made some great things to upset local radio reception ...

I remember one Christmas morning playing with this kit on the dining
table, completely oblivious to the fact that behind me in the kitchen
the toaster had just caught fire....

--
Adrian C

On 13/11/16 09:16, Brian Gaff wrote:
Does anyone remember Radionics?
When I were a lad and my parents did not want me burning myself or
embedding solder in the carpet, they bought me many of these kits and
accessories. Basically sheets of Perspex with peg board style holes.

Basically reborn as 'Snap Circuits'.

http://cpc.farnell.com/snap-circuits...ght/dp/HK01231

http://www.snapcircuits.net/

--
Adrian C

On Sunday, 13 November 2016 11:31:45 UTC, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
On 13/11/16 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:


There was another breadboarding system based on a matrix of springs
mounted vertically. By bending a spring over, components could be
trapped in the turns of the spring. Not very compact but it worked well.

Those springs were mainstay of the Tandy Radio Shack Science Fair
150-in-1 electronic kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOLvB5JIGI

Watching that vid gives me goosebumps...

Made some great things to upset local radio reception ...

I remember one Christmas morning playing with this kit on the dining
table, completely oblivious to the fact that behind me in the kitchen
the toaster had just caught fire....

Those spring kits were easily greatly upgraded by simply pulling all the components off. Then you can make far more things. String the parts between springs instead of wires - I always wondered why they fitted the components.


NT

On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Does anyone remember Radionics?
When I were a lad and my parents did not want me burning myself or
embedding solder in the carpet, they bought me many of these kits and
accessories. Basically sheets of Perspex with peg board style holes.
all components came with studs, 6BA in brass and plastic bases with
the correct number of pins. Note this was before ICS. The connections
were made using brass strip punctured with holes at the same pitch as
the board, and these could be cut to any length you liked and were
cheap as chips so no issues there. Lots of nuts needed etc, and
obviously things like coils needed to have spade or similar ends and
there had to be battery clips etc. most projects could be powered by
pp9 or Bijou 3v batteries.
You got circuits and suggested layouts. However of course once you
learned the basics of how transistors worked one was encouraged to
design ones own circuits. this simple system taught me a a heck of a
lot about stuff not just the colour codes of resistors and the values
of capacitors etc, but the way transistors worked. Most of the
transistors at that time were Germanium and easily destroyed of
course, but also they were cheap. As my father worked in the industry
I could easily get them replaced on the original bases.
As I recall, inductors were blue, semiconductors yellow, resistors
red, Capacitors white.
Things like relays and transformers were considered to be inductors.


Bit on the large side for prototyping today, but for teaching I think
it was great.
There was even a simple binary counting project using one astable and
several bistable circuits with low current bulbs in the collector
circuits.
They were made in Three Bridges Crawley.
Brian


There was another breadboarding system based on a matrix of springs
mounted vertically. By bending a spring over, components could be
trapped in the turns of the spring. Not very compact but it worked well.

I made a system for I/C's on 12 " Square fiberglass one sided copper
clad onto which I etch a simple pattern for i/c socket where each pin
came out to a turret tag for soldering to - again worked quite well. I
mounted it all in a nice mahogany box - may even have it still somewhere.

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice, and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.


NT

On Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 8:22:44 PM UTC, Graham. wrote:
I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder
to. No other through holes, other than for mounting.


--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Batteries and bulbs , used drawing pins in wood with paper clips as switches.

common proto PCB on the bay now is matrix board with pads, there are quite a few variants

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10X-Single...-/311586538151

On Sat, 12 Nov 2016 20:22:44 +0000, Graham. wrote:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have been
hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I do find
useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder to.
No other through holes, other than for mounting.

I found an old(ish) forum post from someone selling dead bug boards;

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?thre...e-pcbs.501689/

No provision for through hole DILs, though.

On 13/11/16 13:18, John #9 wrote:
On Sat, 12 Nov 2016 20:22:44 +0000, Graham. wrote:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have been
hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I do find
useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder to.
No other through holes, other than for mounting.

I found an old(ish) forum post from someone selling dead bug boards;

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?thre...e-pcbs.501689/

No provision for through hole DILs, though.

Easy enough to get your own PCBS made up as I found.

$20 and you get 10 or so shipped from China.

So if anyone wants a two channel high impedance buffer from a PC sound
card...


--
Microsoft : the best reason to go to Linux that ever existed.

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.

--
*Real men don't waste their hormones growing hair

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
John Rumm writes:

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

I had that book, and noticed it's still in the bookshelf at my parents'
home a few weeks ago when searching for things that might be of
interest to my nephew.

I also recall the stamp style trimmer couldn't be obtained anymore,
but I nicked one out of an old TV.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 13/11/16 14:27, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm writes:

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

I had that book, and noticed it's still in the bookshelf at my parents'
home a few weeks ago when searching for things that might be of
interest to my nephew.

I also recall the stamp style trimmer couldn't be obtained anymore,
but I nicked one out of an old TV.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/290981523952


--
"Corbyn talks about equality, justice, opportunity, health care, peace,
community, compassion, investment, security, housing...."
"What kind of person is not interested in those things?"

"Jeremy Corbyn?"

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher writes:
On 13/11/16 14:27, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm writes:

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

I had that book, and noticed it's still in the bookshelf at my parents'
home a few weeks ago when searching for things that might be of
interest to my nephew.

I also recall the stamp style trimmer couldn't be obtained anymore,
but I nicked one out of an old TV.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/290981523952

Actually, these IIRC:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compressio...-/360854318554

However, this was many decades before the Internet.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Andrew

On 13/11/2016 14:27, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm writes:

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

I had that book, and noticed it's still in the bookshelf at my parents'
home a few weeks ago when searching for things that might be of
interest to my nephew.

I also recall the stamp style trimmer couldn't be obtained anymore,
but I nicked one out of an old TV.

I think I used a modern style trimmer, and just added wire leads in the
end...

Alas at that age (probably 9 ish) I had neither the test equipment or
the knowledge to troubleshoot it and trace through the circuit.

With hindsight it was a poor first project since it was an ancient
design even then, but it was a gateway to electronics mags, and
veroboard, and then computers so I am not complaining!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 13/11/2016 17:01, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
The Natural Philosopher writes:
On 13/11/16 14:27, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm writes:

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up until
you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and called for
some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components like glass
encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage stamp style
trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

I had that book, and noticed it's still in the bookshelf at my parents'
home a few weeks ago when searching for things that might be of
interest to my nephew.

I also recall the stamp style trimmer couldn't be obtained anymore,
but I nicked one out of an old TV.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/290981523952

Actually, these IIRC:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compressio...-/360854318554

Yup that was the beastie... I recall the instructions about bending out
the terminal lugs such that they would reach between screw cups.

However, this was many decades before the Internet.

Or at least cost effective end user access to it...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John #9 wrote:
I found an old(ish) forum post from someone selling dead bug boards;

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?thre...e-pcbs.501689/

No provision for through hole DILs, though.

I tend to use square-pad board:
http://uk.farnell.com/roth-elektroni...-s1/dp/1221149

- it has holes so you can mount DILs and through hole components
- you aren't forced into a strip layout so can route however you like
- you can add SMDs easily
- by stanley-knifing the 2.54mm square pads in half you can fit SOICs or
other 1.27mm parts.

It's basically dead-bug but with added holes. 'Splatting' bigger components
is easy - the solder will join up the pads. Though I rarely use through-hole
components these days as SMD are a lot more compact. It's quite easy to
ignore the holes except for the bits you need to use them for (eg
connectors).

If you're being cheapstake there are similar but on SRBP and with round
holes not square ones, which are slightly more annoying to use:
http://uk.farnell.com/roth-elektroni...pol/dp/1172145

I never really understood why people would torture their layout to make it
fit stripboard...

Theo

On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news

Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor OCP71


Andrew

On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Monday, 14 November 2016 19:12:14 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.

that's different to the usual story, fwiw.


NT

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...

On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws into
a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've
got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started life
on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into
quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the
fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit diagram
had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a mask
for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test, and
hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they would still
pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted, so
those ones would never work as a photo transistor.



That wasn't my experience at the time - all and any could be scraped -
things might well have changed over the years.

Andrew

On 14/11/16 19:12, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when
you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started
life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into
quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the
fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit
diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a
mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.



No.

Originally OC 71s were in black glass, OCP71 in clerr. Then they started
filling the OC71s with blue gunk, probably to help them stay cool, as
much as opaque.


--
Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early
twenty-first centurys developed world went into hysterical panic over a
globally average temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and,
on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer
projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to
contemplate a rollback of the industrial age.

Richard Lindzen

On 14/11/16 19:27, Plow**** wrote:
All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip).

ROFLMAO! I've designed and built more items of electronics than you
have pubic hairs, **** features.

One of them even was part of a missile that shot down an exocet in the
Falklands war.

I assembled and tested my latest PCB a few weeks ago.



--
Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early
twenty-first centurys developed world went into hysterical panic over a
globally average temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and,
on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer
projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to
contemplate a rollback of the industrial age.

Richard Lindzen

On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:12:16 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board
with brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly
functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from
a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap
the lead ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged such that you started with a crystal detector, and then
worked up until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old
design and called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's)
components like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a
postage stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in
practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical
circuits (like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that
breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've
got the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of
the components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab
at Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started
life on Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they
grew into quite complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for
'risers'. Then the fun came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard,
checking the circuit diagram had kept up with the evolution of the
actual circuit, then creating a mask for a PCB using a sort of
Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.

The ones I hacked had an opaque jelly in them. I filed round the base,
lifted the tube off, washed it in alcohol and glued the base back on.

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 14/11/2016 19:16, wrote:
On Monday, 14 November 2016 19:12:14 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.

that's different to the usual story, fwiw.

Indeed, but I seem to recall that an ex Mullard employee had a somewhat
more detailed and plausible account somewhere. Let me see if I can find
it...

Ah, try:

"Like other manufacturers, Mullard produced a phototransistor, the OCP71
shown on the left. This is a very early type, available commercially
from 1956. It is well-known that semiconductor junctions can be
light-sensitive, and there is a widely repeated story that the OCP71 was
just an ordinary OC71 without the black paint ('dope'). Because the
OCP71 was more expensive, some people just scraped the paint off an
OC71, to create an equivalent to the OCP71. The story then claims that
Mullard changed the filler in the capsules from clear to opaque, to
prevent this practice.

Thanks to correspondence with an ex-Mullard employee from the Mitcham
works, I now know that this story is entirely wrong. "

you can read the rest he

http://www.wylie.org.uk/technology/s...rd/Mullard.htm




--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

Crikey. Just how bad did they have to get to be only a red spot?

--
*There's no place like www.home.com *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 14/11/2016 22:09, Bob Eager wrote:
On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:12:16 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board
with brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly
functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from
a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap
the lead ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged such that you started with a crystal detector, and then
worked up until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old
design and called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's)
components like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a
postage stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in
practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical
circuits (like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that
breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when you've
got the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of
the components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab
at Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started
life on Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they
grew into quite complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for
'risers'. Then the fun came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard,
checking the circuit diagram had kept up with the evolution of the
actual circuit, then creating a mask for a PCB using a sort of
Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.

The ones I hacked had an opaque jelly in them. I filed round the base,
lifted the tube off, washed it in alcohol and glued the base back on.

Yup that sounds more reliable than just taking the black off since the
putty and alundum filling would be opaque otherwise.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Tue, 15 Nov 2016 00:52:57 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

On 14/11/2016 22:09, Bob Eager wrote:
On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:12:16 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board
with brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly
functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio
from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to
trap the lead ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged such that you started with a crystal detector, and then
worked up until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old
design and called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's)
components like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used
a postage stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in
practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are
for students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical
circuits (like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for
that breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when
you've got the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The
costs of the components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab
at Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes
started life on Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got
added they grew into quite complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper
wire for 'risers'. Then the fun came re-building it back on 2D
Veroboard, checking the circuit diagram had kept up with the
evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a mask for a PCB
using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s
that were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor
test, and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if
they would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in
an opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and
painted, so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.

The ones I hacked had an opaque jelly in them. I filed round the base,
lifted the tube off, washed it in alcohol and glued the base back on.

Yup that sounds more reliable than just taking the black off since the
putty and alundum filling would be opaque otherwise.

I didn't do anything clever with them - I think I just used them as on/
off. I had a copious source of OC71s at the time, so it was cheaper than
buying an OCP71, or even an ORP12.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news

On 14/11/16 19:12, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board
with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio from
a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the
lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that
breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when
you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices) lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started
life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into
quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the
fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit
diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a
mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.



No.

Originally OC 71s were in black glass, OCP71 in clerr. Then they started
filling the OC71s with blue gunk, probably to help them stay cool, as much
as opaque.



No, the blue gunge had originally been a by product of some chemical process
and had the interesting property that it was highly elastic if squashed
suddenly, but flowed if gently squeezed. So easy to get in the
encapsulation, but an excellent shock absorber. It was actually a poor heat
conductor. Later is was marketed as 'Potty Putty' - you could roll a bit in
your hand into a sphere then use it as a very bouncy ball!

Andrew

On 15/11/2016 08:20, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news

On 14/11/16 19:12, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/11/2016 12:52, whisky-dave wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 19:16:57 UTC, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 13 November 2016 12:00:19 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/11/2016 11:07, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news
Of course the original 'breadboard' was literally a bread board
with
brass screws put in and soldered to. No doubt perfectly
functional.

The first electronic project I ever tried building was a radio
from a
ladybird book on how to build your own radio... that used screws
into a
wood board, but with brass screw cups that were used to trap the
lead
ends under.

Alas it never did work in its full configuration (the build was
staged
such that you started with a crystal detector, and then worked up
until you have a regenerative tuner). It was a very old design and
called for some (relatively old even in the late 70's) components
like glass encapsulated OC71 transistors. It also used a postage
stamp style trimmer I recall was impossible to find.

Regens are simple in principle but very fussy & unstable in
practice,
and not something I'd suggest for a beginner.

Radios, flashing lights etc don't interest kids now.

All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical
circuits
(like Turnip). Or for assembling projects designed for that
breadboard.

More experienced constructors will find it easier just to use
Veroboard.
At least you won't then be chasing dodgy connections. And when
you've got
the prototype working you can keep it for reference. The costs of the
components are so small compared to the labour.


When I worked as a lab tech in the EOD (Electro Optical Devices)
lab at
Mullards in Southampton in the late 1960's many prototypes started
life on
Veroboard, but as things developed and bits got added they grew into
quite
complex 3D sculptures using tinned copper wire for 'risers'. Then the
fun
came re-building it back on 2D Veroboard, checking the circuit
diagram had
kept up with the evolution of the actual circuit, then creating a
mask for a
PCB using a sort of Etch-O-Sketch that scraped red wax off transparent
sheets.

(Incidentally, the OC71 line was in the next bay !)

Was it a OC71 with the paint scratched off making it a phototransitor
OCP71

Which I learned recently was actually only possible with the OC71s that
were actually rebadged OCP71s that had failed the opto transistor test,
and hence were passed onto the "normal" OC test line to see if they
would still pass as a 70, 71 or 72.

The ones made as normal transistors in the first place were potted in an
opaque insulator before being put into the glass envelope and painted,
so those ones would never work as a photo transistor.



No.

Originally OC 71s were in black glass, OCP71 in clerr. Then they
started filling the OC71s with blue gunk, probably to help them stay
cool, as much as opaque.



No, the blue gunge had originally been a by product of some chemical
process and had the interesting property that it was highly elastic if
squashed suddenly, but flowed if gently squeezed.

A "non Newtonian" fluid by the sounds of it.

That would be why the man from Mullard called it "bouncing putty" I
guess ;-)

So easy to get in the
encapsulation, but an excellent shock absorber. It was actually a poor
heat conductor.

Presumably why they added the alox / silicon oil to fill the rest of the
enclosure.

Later is was marketed as 'Potty Putty' - you could roll
a bit in your hand into a sphere then use it as a very bouncy ball!



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
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On 12/11/2016 20:22, Graham. wrote:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder
to. No other through holes, other than for mounting.


Not seen that but VERO used to make a development board .. used these a
fair bit: http://tinyurl.com/jsym2n8




I still have my Phillips Electronics Engineer sets .. they had a
peg-board style sheet - you overlaid cct diag and springs pushed
through holes, into which you slotted component leads.
Remember making radio etc.

Still have both sets in original boxes with all components - maybe I
should put them on eBay

http://www.hansotten.com/index.php?page=ee8-a20-e20

On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:25:51 +0000, rick wrote:

On 12/11/2016 20:22, Graham. wrote:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder to.
No other through holes, other than for mounting.


Not seen that but VERO used to make a development board .. used these a
fair bit: http://tinyurl.com/jsym2n8




I still have my Phillips Electronics Engineer sets .. they had a
peg-board style sheet - you overlaid cct diag and springs pushed
through holes, into which you slotted component leads.
Remember making radio etc.

Still have both sets in original boxes with all components - maybe I
should put them on eBay

http://www.hansotten.com/index.php?page=ee8-a20-e20

Good God. I got started with one of those.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Monday, 5 December 2016 21:45:25 UTC, Bob Eager wrote:
On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:25:51 +0000, rick wrote:

On 12/11/2016 20:22, Graham. wrote:

I bought this board over 30 years ago, I have developed many a circuit
on it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/g3zvt/HG594A

I hesitate to call it a breadboard, because that term seems to have
been hijacked by a particular type of solderless plastic board that I
do find useful for simple digital stuff, but it has its limitations.

Does anyone make anything similar?

Provision for 2x 16 pin DILs and lots of large pads to splat solder to.
No other through holes, other than for mounting.


Not seen that but VERO used to make a development board .. used these a
fair bit: http://tinyurl.com/jsym2n8




I still have my Phillips Electronics Engineer sets .. they had a
peg-board style sheet - you overlaid cct diag and springs pushed
through holes, into which you slotted component leads.
Remember making radio etc.

Still have both sets in original boxes with all components - maybe I
should put them on eBay

http://www.hansotten.com/index.php?page=ee8-a20-e20

Good God. I got started with one of those.

More and more stuff is being made in just surface mount rather than dip/dil.

sometimes we have to buy these sorts of things :-

http://onecall.farnell.com/aries/14-...way/dp/1136593

On 14/11/2016 19:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/11/16 19:27, Plow**** wrote:
All the various breadboard ideas sound wonderful. And perhaps are for
students starting out - or one who merely designs theoretical circuits
(like Turnip).

ROFLMAO! I've designed and built more items of electronics than you
have pubic hairs, **** features.

One of them even was part of a missile that shot down an exocet in the
Falklands war.

I assembled and tested my latest PCB a few weeks ago.



No exocets were 'shot down' in the South Atlantic..

They were blinded and distracted by chaff and helicopters
and disappeared into oblivion.