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progressive wiring: SMT part with normal protoboard...

  • Thread starter Ozone Hole near South Pole
  • Start date
O

Ozone Hole near South Pole

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have just come across this page that describes the progressive
wiring technique.
http://elm-chan.org/docs/wire/wiring_e.html

The author managed to build an MP3 player using a normal prototype
board, with mostly SMT parts, some ICs are as complex as 48 LQFP. The
trick is to connect the parts with thin enamel wire one by one. It
seems to be a very attractive option as I don't have room in my flat
to setup a PCB tank and want to avoid spending money to make the PCBs
professionally.

The technique seems to be very good, but, it does not seem to be a
common technique when I search the web. I wonder if anyone has
experience with this. Also, the polyimide (Kapton) tape mentioned in
the article is hard to locate in my town. Any alternative solution for
that?
 
D

Dave Garnett

Jan 1, 1970
0
It works up to a point. You need ~ 350C to melt the covering quickly, but if
you apply 350C to the leads of many SM parts, damage will result ! If you
scratch the covering a bit, then a soldering iron at ~260C will enable you
to tin wires and make joints - but it takes much longer.

The other key point about this and similar techniques (wire-wrap for
instance) is that you really need a ground plane for most of todays fast
digital logic. You can buy proto boards with a collander ground plane, and
these work well. Any significant wire length in a ground or power decoupling
circuit is asking for Trouble.

Finally, it is pretty fiddly to do, particularly when you need multiple
connections to each pin. With my aging vision I always need to check my work
under a low power microscope !
D
 
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