Breadboard Friendly Tactile Switches

by Eric Brouwer

10K10730

Intro: Breadboard Friendly Tactile Switches

As most of you have experienced, the good old standard tactile switch is really difficult to mount on a breadboard. This is because the pins are so thin. Even with the pins straightened, they sometimes do not make contact, or just keeps on bending trying to insert then onto the breadboard.

STEP 1: Parts Needed

You will need the following spares:

Tactile switches

Piece of vero board/proto board

Pin headers

2 female headers

STEP 2: Making the Base

Cut a small piece of vero board into a 5x4 matrix as shown.

STEP 3: Add the Tactile Switch to the Base

Insert the tactile switch onto the base.

I like to bend over the pins to ensure the switch is flush with the board.

Solder the switch to the base.

STEP 4: Soldering the Header Pins

Cut two pieces of pins, so that each piece have 2 pins.

Using long nose pliers, push the pins flush with the plastic.

Insert the pins into the base.

Use the female headers to keep the pins aligned during soldering.

I used Prestik to hold the assembly during soldering.

Solder the header pins to the base.

The final step is to solder a bridge across the pins and switch connections.

STEP 5: Using Your Switches

Simply connect one side of to the switch to the common rails (red or black) of your breadboard. Now only one wire is needed to connect your tactile switch to your circuit.

I hope this was helpfull.

Enjoy.

20 Comments

jester928 7 years ago

It reminds me of some circuits that we made at ITT Tech nicknamed surf boards these where simple circuits like voltage regulator, a small amplifier, a basic counter circuit with a 555 timer, and others all of the 'surf board circuts ' plug in to a prototype board for all external connections. We got the idea from an electronic magazine article (I forget the name) I think it's popular electronics. We made them for circuts that we found useful and made these for convenience

loptica62 7 years ago

yes, indeed very nice - I have all sorts of breadboard friendly "things" (like simple switches, leds, pots etc) but it never occurred to me to make one for a tacticle switch .... great work!

dmwatkins 7 years ago

Simple and brilliant! Thank you!

kenyer 7 years ago

Why didn't I think of this? Great idea.

sebtex 7 years ago

i think its a good idea , i will build it with a build in pull down resistor

rafununu 7 years ago

A very good idea indeed !

RajendraKumarS 7 years ago

Cool Idea! Very cool. I was just breaking my head for connecting switch with the breadboard. You really helped me a lot. Thanks a lot.

Eric Brouwer 7 years ago

Glad you liked this. Keep me posted on your creations.

dmhoke 7 years ago

why didn't I think of that ????? :))))

Eric Brouwer 7 years ago

I have no idea :) :) :)
But now you can make similar items. Hope to see some of them.

gm280 7 years ago

This technique works equally well for a lot of irregular components if you are going to breadboard a circuit prior to designing a PC board for the finished proofed circuit.

Eric Brouwer 7 years ago

Yes, I agree. Here's another one...
https://www.instructables.com/id/ESP8266-NRF24L01-Breadboard-Adapter/

BeachsideHank 7 years ago

Hmm, this give rise to the idea of also incorporating a debounce circuit as well, thus having a very useful plug- in for circuitry experimentation, nice Instructable, thanks!