Altoids Pocket Super Solderless Breadboard Junior

Solderless Breadboards are really nice to quickly prototype a circuit, they are inexpensive and can be used almost indefinitely. I gave some thought as to what I could do to improve on the basic breadboard and this is what I came up with.
My design requirements were as follows

1) small foot print
2) heavy enough to keep it from moving around while in use
3) Capable of handling 2 16 pin IC's and support components
4) Single built in power supply
5) Additional storage space for jumper wires
6) less than $10 dollars to build
7) Catchy product name ( Extra points for Cool Acronym )

Submitted for your approval is the Altoids Pocket Super Solderless Breadboard Junior

Step 1 BOM (Bill of Materials)

The Bill of Materials and assorted links to them. Just a note I've chosen Radio Shack P/N's not because they great but more because they are handy. If you do a little searching you'll find better pricing and quality on the Internet or maybe even in your own stash. (Which is all the better!)

1) Altoids tin
2) 4 AA battery holder (Radio Shack AA Holder)
3) Solderless Breadboard (Radio Shack Breadboard)
4) (Optional) Single Pole Single Throw SPST Switch)
5) (Maybe) Double Sided Sticky tape or Servo Tape (see my other instructable if you haven't used Servo Tape)

Please forgive the unnecessary picture I thought something should be there

Comments

[scratchr]

You could remove the sticker on the bottom of the breadboard and solder your connections there.
You can  even add a variable power supply.

[absolute zero]

what does a breadboard do?(dumb question, i know)

[wolf555hound]

Just type in "Breadboard" on the white, boxy thingy and the top right, and welcome to the world of testing circuits!

[absolute zero]

yea, i googled it an stuff after posting that, seems very cool.......if some of my fking led's would work...

[wolf555hound]

I dont even have any, i just desolder from old toys. I just need to find out how to get a good resistor for them....

[Mudbud]

I normaly use a 220 ohm resistor for 3 volts but for six volts I use 1k ohm resistor.

[absolute zero]

i do the same thing, the store hallmarks had a big sale an there were TONS of little LED flashlights an i got a bunch. An right after posting that i realized the battery i was using was completely dead

[wolf555hound]

After re-reading the comment, i finally understood and started laughing. What color we're the LEDs?

[absolute zero]

that was funny? damn, for once some1 laughs at me an i didnt even make a joke...there were many colors of led, purple, red, green, orange, and a few morre

[wolf555hound]

dont be too flattered, i laugh at almost anytihng. Yesterday I was playing basketball and I got hit in the face, and I started cracking up....

[dombeef]

Me too!

[absolute zero]

wow...thats not too bad, i randomly bust out laughing at things that happened weeks ago and sometime argue with myself(that can get really freaky)

[jaxxster1]

u r awsome! u strangly remind me of my grandpa. (in the way of electronics) lol

[technodude]

I spent a few minutes trying to find some details on your RS Breadboard, about all I found was on the Radio Shack breadboard reviews. I'd take a DMM and check for continuity between the buses. Having four buses sounds pretty handy. If each side isn't tied together and you want them to be, it'll only be a matter of a couple of jumper wires.
Nuts and Volts magazine has a pdf on breadboarding.
http://www.nutsvolts.com/media-files/1016/How_To_Breadboarding-NV200812.pdf
Hope this helped

Steve

[Zem]

Hey, cool project. I have a question about the breadboard, I just got the one from Radio Shack earlier today, and instead of one bus on each side, it has both positive and negative and each side, does this effect the way you would attach the power supply to it?

[eomonkeyboi24]

For the switch can I use a 1A 250VAC switch instead of a 3A 125VAC. do I need to do anything extra to make this work or do I need to go buy a new switch?

[technodude]

The only concern I'd have is, does it physically fit in the box? If it does I'm sure you can use it. if you accidentally shorted the batteries you'd probably smoke a wire or torch your AA batteries before you took out your switch. Hope this helps Steve

[explosivemaker]

thats a neat idea....

[Chiana_Rei]

yes yes it is, also an ingenious use of an altoids tin, also it has its own self contained power supply, and room left over to store some components. Say you make a circuit and want to show it off, all you have to do is take this with you, on another breadboard you have to hope to find or have a power supply available.

[technodude]

Yup, You saw right through line 7 of my design requirements (I'll work on that) However it really is handy to be able to build a circuit and take it to work or show a friend without having to mess with an external power supply. The next revision "Altoids Pocket Super Solderless Breadboard" will contain additional features, but for those that only need a simple solution think "Junior"

[AnarchistAsian]

wait, isn't this just a breadboard on top of an altoids tin?