Solderable breadboard as ground bus

[ghotiphry]

Let me run something past you electronics gurus.  One thing that's always bothered me is the haphazard method of grounding.  What I'm thinking of doing is taking one of these:

and making a ground bus.  Simple enough.  I like using quick connectors when I put things together.  It would just be a series of wires soldered to the board, and soldered all the way across to make a common bus.  Then I would just plug in grounded components as needed.  Get where I'm going with this?

The dimensions of the board are about 1.25" by 2".  I'm looking for something that's smaller still.  I only need a dozen connections or so.  Can you get custom breadboards done inexpensively?  Or could I just cut these somehow?

Anything I don't know about that would make this a bad idea?

 

[ghotiphry]

Found a 1" square PCB board.

 

[DarkPenguin]

Just cut them down.

Or use a grounding strip.

 

[ghotiphry]

I would, but I've never found anything commercially available at the size needed.  I made a grounding strip once.  It was a mess.

 

[DarkPenguin]

There should be small ones available for amp building.

 

[ghotiphry]

I wish I could find one.

 

[swarfrat]

A better approach:
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/stargnd/stargnd.htm

Not blind starring everything (like I did on my first amp).  Just making sure that grounds are localized and high current grounds can't impact high sensitivity points.

Also, subsequent stages can share grounds at the signals they carry are inverted from each other.

 

[ghotiphry]

Wait a second... I'm talking about doing something that fits in a guitar.  Not an amp.  Yes, basically it's a star ground I'm working on.  I'm just looking at a better way of doing things.  Soldering stuff to the back of pots just chaps my hide.  The back of a pot should have a single wire headed to ground, not the recipient of all other grounds.  Just IMHO.

 

[DarkPenguin]

You could also put a post down (screw) and just use solder terminal lugs. I've done that for a couple things.

 

[mayfly]

Sorry to hear about your hide chaps.  I personally think that the perf-board ground plane is a bit amateurish.  IMHO and all that.

What exactly are you building?  I wonder if a PCB for it with separate traces for all the ground pins, and the pots soldered directly to the board, would be a better thing.

 

[ghotiphry]

Well, at least no one said it was going to make my bass explode.  I've got some ideas.  I promise it will look professional.  I won't use it if it doesn't.

 

[Cagey]

If you do what you're planning, your bass will explode.

 

[Cagey]

What might be a little easier/neater would be a terminal strip similar to these...

They come in a variety of widths/terminal counts, are pretty durable, and are slightly less costly than dirt. It'll cost more for shipping than the parts themselves unless you buy a lifetime supply all at once.

They also could be configured in such a way as to common up connections other than ground if necessary, simply by selectively shorting terminals together. Plus, the mounting flange/foot can be a ground connection if you're a 'shield the cavity' kinda guy. Kill twice as many birds with a single projectile. 7 at a stroke, if you're as good the proverbial tailor  :laughing7:

See here.

Incidentally, those are kinda obsolete parts. Although at one time they were highly popular and used everywhere and there are probably still billions of them out there, it might not be a bad idea to buy as many as you think you'll ever need. Finding/shipping them is only going to get more difficult/costly as time goes on.

 

[ghotiphry]

Thanks for the information, Cagey.  I'll take a look.

 

[Sovereign_13]

One alternative to Cagey's excellent suggestion (which I was going to make) would be a terminal block, like this:

These are more "modern" and probably easier to come by.  Same thing, basically.  They also make block plates that slide under all the screws on one side, effectively tying all the terminals together neatly.  Grounding to the shielding would just require you to run a small wire from the terminals to one of the screws you attach it with.  As far as I know, they come in multiples of 4, but they're just plastic and easy to cut down if you need an odd size.

 

[Cagey]

Those are nice, too, but he might run into space issues. Some control cavities are less generous than others about available real estate.

 

[ghotiphry]

Exactly my problem with those blocks.  What I'm considering is the 1" square PCB board with PCB board terminal blocks.  Alternatively, I'll try cutting down a stripboard.  I will post results, of course, if it works.  If it doesn't, I'll just slink into the night.

 

[rgand]

Taking Kevin's idea, I did a search for terminal strips on ebay. Those things are readily available. Not expensive but not nearly as cheap as the ones on Kevin's link. How do you find these good deals, Kevin?

 

[Cagey]

Pact wit de debbil  :glasses10:

 

[Cagey]

Exactly my problem with those blocks.  What I'm considering is the 1" square PCB board with PCB board terminal blocks.  Alternatively, I'll try cutting down a stripboard.  I will post results, of course, if it works.  If it doesn't, I'll just slink into the night.

Terminal blocks on a PC board just seem like a lotta work, you have the same issue with space, plus mounting considerations. Screw or compression terminals are attractive because you don't have to solder and circuits are easily modified, but you're basically talking about creating a ground bus. I think you might be getting into feature creep.

I gotta dig up some pictures, and I'll show you what you wanna do.