Dying gasp of the perfboard rant - tales from the bench

[Mark Hammer]

I know that Aron locked it, and he was wise to do so.  Just one final comment, borne of a recent experience.

I was building a battery-powered mini-amp as a birthday present for my son's friend this past weekend.  Since it involved sticking a pedal and an amp circuit on the same board, that made it awkward to use a PCB, so I perfed it to fit the space.

On boot-up, the amp misbehaved badly, and the chip got quite hot.  On investigation, turned out that while the PCB layout for the amp was just dandy, there were pinout errors in the schematic drawing.  Of course, working from the schematic alone to do my perfing, those errors were faithfully replicated.  When I noticed the excessive heat, I realized something was wrong and eventually noted the error in the drawing.  The mistakes were corrected and everything continued just fine.

Of course, there are numerous examples of things working in the complete opposite fashion: the drawing is fine and someone's attempt at a PCB layout makes inappropriate connections, resulting in a nonfunctional project.  I guess the point to be made is that there are MANY potential sources of error, and that neither perf, vero, point-to-point, breadboard, or PCB necessarily provides complete protection against those errors.   We'd all like to feel that we could rely completely on one specific construction technique, but perhaps that's a bit too much to ask for.  Ultimately, to have projects that work as intended and are "clean" builds, you have to check, recheck, and triple check, measuring and verifying along the way, and working with accurate component information at your side, no matter what construction technique you use for that circuit.

[David]

Huh?   

I must have been out of the loop.  It didn't look too bad yesterday afternoon.  Must have been a very fast death!
What happened (and there's no desire to gawk or gossip in that question)?

[soggybag]

I use perf board often and it seems to work just fine. The most common problems have to with my mistakes in assembly.

[Joe Kramer]

You make a good point Mark--nothing's totally foolproof, but use the method that works best overall for you.

I rather thought the perf thread was shaping up to help some folks learn what they might have initially misunderstood about a very useful skill.  It didn't seem hostile or divisive to me, but in the end I trust Aron's experienced read on it.

Joe

[markm]

This thread is just a continuation of the "locked perf thread" with final points? 
Fascinating.

[Mark Hammer]

I wasn't attempting to drag it out.  It just happened that a relevent experience occurred for me at about the same time the thread was losing steam for Aron.  I'm perfectly fine with the steam running out here, too.  I just didn't have anywhere else suitable to park it.

[Dave_B]

I'm confused.  I didn't see anything bad about that thread.  In fact, as a result of reading it, I'm now interested in trying perfboard.  Maybe some offensive posts were deleted?

Signed,
Nosetta

[aron]

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with starting a thread saying - "Perfboard is great and here's why".

However, I felt that in that thread, it had evolved into trying to convince someone to use perfboard when he already said he hated it. If you don't like something, don't use it. It's kind of like pedals, if you don't like it, then move on. You don't have to elaborate on how much _you_ don't like it when someone else does.

[petemoore]

  I printed schematics, grabbed a chunk 'o perf like I do, and whipped up a couple circuits.
  One needed the transformer to be at the very end of the board to fit a tight corner space, N/P, planning the edge board to be where self tapping mounting screws were snapped up the mounting procedure.
  Planning on the fly, repeatedly referencing the schematics while populating developed a loaded board and mind, now I could type the values/connections of my new / Octo-Booster / Montezuma box.
  Neither required much debugging [I missed a transformer connection], but following the schematic on perf [mostly], and remembering the circuit made it easy to trace through the signal path and find the loss/missed connection, I only had to occasionaly glance at the schematic to verify my memory.
  I learned alot of circuit info from perfboard builds, two more schematics loaded to memory in the past two days.

[markm]

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with starting a thread saying - "Perfboard is great and here's why".

However, I felt that in that thread, it had evolved into trying to convince someone to use perfboard when he already said he hated it. If you don't like something, don't use it. It's kind of like pedals, if you don't like it, then move on. You don't have to elaborate on how much _you_ don't like it when someone else does.

Agreed.
It started to become a Ping-Pong thread ya know.....back & forth.

[petemoore]

  Shoelaces made of leather or gold,
  Made to fit, or to be sold.
  Ask yourself which one is best...
  Use the first, then try the rest.
  Food for thought and hairy beast,
  cook with one you like the least !
  noboard/bookboard/cardboard/counter...long as she's right and you can mount 'er.
  "To me"...
  'Machs nicht...whatever sticks'.
   

[markm]

*sigh*
Okay, now we have limmericks.

There once was a man from Nantucket........

[GREEN FUZ]

Whoo! Where can I get me someathem fancy shoelaces made o` gold?

[markm]

Whoo! Where can I get me someathem fancy shoelaces made o` gold?

For Sale page?

[SUPER VELCROBOY]

Ultimately, to have projects that work as intended and are "clean" builds, you have to check, recheck, and triple check, measuring and verifying along the way, and working with accurate component information at your side, no matter what construction technique you use for that circuit.

yup pretty much what i do all the time.

[burnt fingers]

Perf is my preferred method for building.  PCB is preferred by ohters.  I think the method of building doesn't matter as much as the exchange of useful information that should happen on this forum.  I learned everything I know about building stompboxes from here,GeoFX,tonepad, GGG and Runoffgroove. 

Obviously we have experts in etching and PCB making who are a great resource for those who want to make a PCB project.  We have experts in Vero and Perf who are great resoources for those who want to make a vero or perf project. Instead of getting into a disput about which is better lets just appreciate the fact that if you decide to take on any method of building, there are people on this forum who will be able to help you through the process.

Scott

[Blues Lyne]

I'm far from an expert.  I've built four pedals and modded quite a few.  I used PCB that I bought from GGG for one of the pedals, the rest I did on perfboard.  I somehow feel more satisfaction when I build with perfboard.  I feel more connected with the circuit.  It's kind of like PCB is paint by numbers for me and perf is more from scratch. 

Of course, I'm sure this would be different if I designed and made my own PCB.  It was easier to build with the PCB and was easier to swap out components for experimenting.  However, since I've discovered the joys of a breadboard, I do my experimenting there and then build when I've settled on what I want.

Like most things in life, the best way is the way that works for you and gives you enjoyment and satisfaction.