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The solderless breadboard (sometimes called a protoboard)
is the most common type of prototyping circuit
board. Prototyping a circuit is the process of creating a model suitable for complete evaluation of
its design and performance. This requires the circuit to be designed, built and tested in
the laboratory. Theoretical calculations and computer simulation are part of the design process.
Once the circuit configuration is determined, the circuit is built on a prototyping board.
There are two main types of prototyping circuit boards:
- Solderless Breadboards
- Perfboard
Perfboard is a thin slab of either epoxy glass or phenolic with 1 mm diameter holes punched
through it. As an example of epoxy glass perfboard, look on top of the instrument cabinet at
your lab station. There should be a 4" x 8" section of epoxy glass perfboard with 3 types of
diodes mounted on it. A circuit built on perfboard requires either soldering or wire wrapping
the connections. A circuit built on a breadboard requires neither soldering nor wire
wrapping the connections. Your laboratory instructor will assign to you and your partner
a JE25 breadboard on which you will build your subcircuits throughout the semester. Be sure to
observe the number shown on the breadboard (just below the JE25 identifier in the upper
left corner) so that you can identify your board at each
laboratory meeting. Located at each of the lab stations is a pair of prototyping boards
permanently connected to the bench top. One of the boards is a breadboard and the other
is a springboard (rarely seen anymore except in Radio Shack Electronics Projects Kits). You
should use these boards on the bench top for making circuits that you intend to dismantle
before leaving the lab at the end of the period. Any subcircuit that you intend to interconnect
to others in later lab sessions should be built on your JE25 breadboard.
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Up: Lab 3 -
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