Blocks -- little utility PCB modules

[JenniferG]

I use a neat 3D printed breadboard holder, where little module pcb's can hang from the sides.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:957376

I've been using 5x7cm strip boards as various utility modules. Like one has 6 pots, 2 mono jacks, dip switch cluster, 2 push buttons. Another has 6 audio mono audio jacks with eurorack power input. It takes a lot of time to solder the traces on some of these.. like hours it seems.

I put SIP sockets on the boards for easy jumpering with 22 awg solid core -- standard breadboard wire.

Anyways I am going to start making lots of various 5x7cm PCB's via JLCPCB, which I call "BLOCKS" -- as in building blocks.

My first couple will be a breadboard and a stripboard -- these strip boards should be much stronger than the cheap warped strip boards I've been using.

Each PCB from JLCPCB this size is around a dollar or so including the cheapest shipping.

They'll all be 5x7cm so they'll fit nicely with the rest. I will also have a shorter version at 2.5cm tall with same 5cm width. On each side of the breadboard holder I can hold either 2 x 5x7cm or 2 x 5x7cm + a single 5x2.5cm. I have an arduino nano on a single 5x2.5cm as an example use.

Here is an image of what I am talking about:


I guess the reason I went with the 5x7cm is that is the size board which I had on hand and is the perfect width really for PCB's hanging off the side of this.

What's really nice about this breadboard holder, in addition to holding 6 PCB's, is that it all stays together.. you can hold it in one hand and turn it any direction including upside down and the entire things stays put.

I'll share all the gerbers and Kicad files here once I verify they function like I want In case anyone else wants to use this same system. With the KiCad files you can tweak to your liking.. and even remove my name "JENN" from the board; I don't mind

Anyways here's a little 10 second youtube video of my first PCB I've designed and am going to order.. actually already placed the order with JLCPCB. It was $6 including shipping for 5 of these:



I decided I am going to go with white for all these just because I think it looks nice.

Three examples:

[JenniferG]

I ordered the Breadboard, StripboardT, Perfboard, Perfboard25mm, and MCUV2 from JLCPCB today. We'll see how they turn out

[Kelaifu]

It's a nice idea, there's a bunch of breadboard-friendly PCBs designed for euro dev similar to this floating around on github, I think they're usually called breadboard helpers.

[JenniferG]

It's a nice idea, there's a bunch of breadboard-friendly PCBs designed for euro dev similar to this floating around on github, I think they're usually called breadboard helpers.

Thanks I’ll check them out

[JenniferG]

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[JenniferG]

So I want to try out varous DAC chips, one of the first being the DAC8550. It is an MSOP-8 package with 0.65mm pitch.

So I made a BLOCKS: MSOP breakout board (25x75mm) to fit the system. It's supposed to be able to handle any MSOP chip, any number of pins or either pitch: 0.5mm & 0.65mm. What do you think of it? -- video follows. It has 2 rows of pin holes on each side of the chip which are connected to each other. I added the extra row of holes on each side to allow for things such as decoupling caps to be very close to the chip. (The ground and voltage ins could be in various locations and having the extra set of pin holes for every pin will allow one to locate the decoupling cap between any pins, for any MSOP.)

Will it work for them all? I suppose I should add ground plane on top and bottom and an extra pin to attach that ground plane? I haven't done that yet.

[JenniferG]

Ground plane idea. You just solder a jumper wire from either of the pair of GND pins to the ground pin on the MSOP chip. This gives shielding on both sides of the MSOP chip. So the two things this has over other breakout boards I've seen -- other than being compatible with the BLOCKS system -- is the extra row of pins for decoupling caps (etc), as well as the ground plane. Is this a good idea?

[JenniferG]

Putting these BLOCKS utility module PCB's on a Github repository I just created:

https://github.com/JenniferGDev/Blocks

[JenniferG]

Added four SMD pads at each corner of the IC. One side of each is tied to the ground plane.

So for example if I wanted a decoupling cap really close up to the DAC8550, I'd put a SMD cap in the upper left corner pair of pads (Pin 1 is power) and then I'd put a drop of solder in the upper right pads to connect the ground pin of the IC (pin 8) to the ground plane.

[JenniferG]

Wow I got a couple in the mail today.. My first JLCPCB orders ever. I am so impressed with the quality!



Only $1.20 per board including tax/shipping. If the boards are good I can order larger quantities for better price.

This definitely would be suitable to me for Eurorack Module faceplates.

[JenniferG]

Got my first Thonk order in the mail today.. bunch of mono jacks and a few stereo jacks as well. Nice stuff. I populated one of my 25mm BLOCKS perfboards with 2 Stereo jacks.. with half the inner board to spare for future stuff.

The little 25mm perf boards are working out well. Only 35 cents a piece (qty 30). I like how the solder fills the hole all the way down to the other side of the board making for much better connections, compared to the thin single sided copper layer on the cheap perf boards.

[JenniferG]

Got my Daisy Seed in the mail today. Soldered on the headers and plugged it into my MCU adapter. It's the same width as the Nano but longer. The nano is to the left and the ESP32 is to the right. Not sure how the MCU is soldered to the board -- not familiar with this package -- as I just see a white border around the chip. One solder pad is touching the white border.. actually two are.. they are so close. Hope that's okay.



Some closeups: