Make your own breadboard

In this instructable I will show you how to make your own breadboard.

If you have read my other instructables you will probably have gathered by now that I'm a bit of a cheapskate :) The method in this instructable was something that I used a lot when I first started in electronics, it shows that very low budget needn't be a handicap.

In this instructable I am recyling some old floppy leads to create something that would be much more useful. (if I didn't already have a big breadboard)

Be forewarned that the quality of this breadboard would be not as good as a real one. these connectors are designed for accepting pins that are thicker than most component leads so there may be a little play in them when inserted, this will vary with connectors, the ones I used appeared to be fine with standard 1/4W resistors.

For this instructable you will need:
> IDC ribbon connectors (Floppy drive cables, old HD cables, SCSI cables)
> Solder (and an iron obviously)
> Glue (superglue or hotglue will work)
> Wire (Old telephone or CAT5 wire will do)
> A small flat screwdriver (for prying open the connectors and ribbon cable)
> Some kind of clamp arrangment (to hold it in place while the glue sets)

Optional:
> Cup of tea
> A good soundtrack to listen to (For this instructable I was listening to Sportfreunde Stiller)
> A small drill bit (to open up the occasional filled hole)

Note: I noticed after publishing that guinness0001 had published something similar which appears to be solderless method of doing this.
My method differs by allowing a little more flexibility in the layout design. The solderless method by guinness0001 seems to be an excellent alternative.

Step 1 Removing ribbon cable from connectors (Part A)

In order to use the method I will explain, we need to remove the ribbon from the connectors.
To remove the ribbon we need to remove the restraining pieces off the back of the connectors.

Note: There are many variations of the way the restraining pieces are clipped on, the one I photographed was very easy to undo, the other wasn't so I just cut off the clips at the side.

Remove both clips from each connector and you will see the ribbon with spikes through it.

Comments

[hdhiman]

EXCELLENT
making one noww
:)

[ctaroz]

brilliant idea! thank for sharing a very intelligent use of the lot of flat cable that everyone has in the junkbox
Carlo

[Raigmoul]

Simply brilliant, or brilliantly simple :-)
Good work, got plenty of these cables collecting dust in my drawer, my weekend's going to be busy.

Cheers mate and well done!

[ratgod]

Many thanks, I hope it turns out nice for you, please let me know how it goes.

Thanks again

Peter

[kikiclint]

Cut apart the ribbon cable and you have a bunch of hook up wire to use with this!

[ratgod]

Thats an excellent sugestion but you need to tin the wire a little heavily to make sure it makes proper contact, but it should do the trick. If you solder some to the pins from old IDC male connectors then it will be perfect. The PP3 connector in the last step has a 2 pin connector soldered on for that reason.

I still haven't done anything with my ribbon I removed yet, this may be just the job for it.

Thanks for your comment,

Peter

[codongolev]

make magazine has a pocket mint tin emergency electronics kit. I was thinking of putting one together myself (why pay for something when you can make it), but I didn't have a small enough breadboard. well now......

[ratgod]

thats an excellent idea, you could use some hot glue and affix it into the lid too.

thanks for your sugestion.

Peter

[ara]

You can't imagine how useful is this idea for me. Many thanks!

[ratgod]

Your welcome, I'm glad it is useful.

Thanks for your comment.

Peter

[AuzzieGuy42]

Genius idea!
I have plenty of old IDE ribbons from plenty of ancient computers I get given.

[ratgod]

I used to use IDE for those but I built a custom 40 pin expansion board on my PICdem plus board so I now hoard my IDE cables for that.

I'm glad you like the idea, many thanks for your comment.

Peter