New bread board style Proto type board

Greyling

New Member
Hi guys, I have designed this PCB and was wondering if there might be any interest in it. The price will be $8.95 a piece with discounts for larger orders.
It has places for the most common parts like 78xx regulators and a 3.75mm stereo jack for programming. Here is a pic of the front side of board.
Rows 1 to 15 are wide enough to support the wide body chips.
I welcome any feedback (please be nice.) I use these alot and they work great for me!
JBP-450F.PNGJBP-450F.PNG
 

westaust55

Moderator
Firstly, Please read the Read Me First! post at the top of the Active PICAXE forum.
No advertising or spamming is permitted.
That said, in terms of providing some comment about the design for your own use:
1. “Rows 1 to 15 are wide enough to support the wide body chips.”
Why not have 20 rows to accommodate the 40X2 parts
Even without the wider rows there are 2 hole on one side and 3 holes on the other for wider (0.6”) chips.
My personal preference would be for say two sets of 3 hole pads on each side. Makes a proto-board more flexible for inclusion of resistors/transistors etc adjacent to the IC
2. There is a lot of PCB area at the right that many folks may not use.
What is the ZN5-G5LA device allowed for on your board?
Maybe for your/others broader appeal/useage rather than provision for screw terminals and the ZN5-G5LA have say more pads with 3-hole islands that you/folks can use for header strips or other components.
3. Us there supposed to be a reverse image? Or how does one route from the 78xx voltage regulator to elsewhere on the board.
Same for the Programming socket and no provision for the 22 k/10 k Ohm resistors for the programming circuit.
4. Why not include 2 trace/ buses down the middle of the IC area for as well. Extending the traces on both sides of the main proto area and aligning with the proto area (not a half space difference) and no gaps in the intermediate areas would be better.
 

techElder

Well-known member
Greyling, here's a little board I put together last year or so with a 40X on it. 3-3/4" x 5". (Didn't cost me what you want for that board. :D)
Lots of space with no fixed positions for components.
Your design doesn't allow for many analog components. I've always called those "glue."

I can't imagine the layout if you fix the layout ahead of time.
 
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Greyling

New Member
OK, GREAT suggestions. I will try and see if I can work those in. If anyone else has thoughts on what they would like to see in a board, please let me know. Once I make these changes I will post another pic. Sorry about breaking the rules about posting things for sale. Thanks all!!! :)
 

Greyling

New Member
Geez, I have not even made it yet. I am just looking for advice and suggestions. Is that all right with you??
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
Geez, I have not even made it yet. I am just looking for advice and suggestions. Is that all right with you??
Well, look at it this way. You're advertising a product for sale that is in DIRECT competition with products sold by the company that runs this forum! Now, is that reasonable?

Take a look at the Rev Ed site linked from this forum (the "Buy Now" tab to the right) and you'll see a range of prototyping boards they sell. I personally own, and use a lot, an AXE091 board, the "big daddy" of them all, but they also sell a range of smaller prototyping and project boards too. The direct link to the store is here: http://www.picaxestore.com/index.php/en_gb/picaxe.html and here's a link to the project boards section: http://www.picaxestore.com/index.php/en_gb/picaxe/project-boards.html There are also some boards in the "teaching systems" area, here: http://www.picaxestore.com/index.php/en_gb/picaxe/teaching-systems.html and in the "starter packs" section, here: http://www.picaxestore.com/index.php/en_gb/picaxe/picaxe-starter-packs.html
 

techElder

Well-known member
Is not posting another picture also breaking the rules on advertising ?
I believe many of us are "guilty" of posting photos and getting advice for professional products. I don't recall reading where it is against forum rules to post these photos.

Selling the product here on the forum is a different problem.
 

erco

Senior Member
@Greyling: Good on ya for offering to make a board which might fill a gap in the current lineup. Looks to me like you're just doing some market research. Unless Rev Ed deems otherwise, continue to let your Yankee ingenuity shine through.

What I'd suggest you add to your board are connections for multiple servo headers, a 3-pin IR receiver and 1/2" diameter piezo buzzer. Maybe a few LEDs too. Love me some blinky bling.
 

Goeytex

Senior Member
Maybe a place for a reverse polarity protection diode for the power input. Never know when / if someone will plug in a "negative center" connector.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Interestingly though, if you use a PICAXE to build a commercial product you can advertise it in the Project Gallery, complete with a link to a purchasing page.
But to be fair that's a traditional build it yourself project with circuit and software provided for free with optional paid access to some more advanced documentation. It wouldn't fit with what I would call a commercial project or blatant advertising.

It's always a difficult line to walk. There is always going to be dispute over what is more advertising than not but I think we all have a feel for what is unacceptable and what is just incidental, what's of benefit to members and what is less so.

Ultimately the decision rests with Admin and Technical and they will remove anything they find unacceptable. If there is anything I think is borderline or I don't feel comfortable making a decision on that gets passed their way.
 

Greyling

New Member
@Greyling: Good on ya for offering to make a board which might fill a gap in the current lineup. Looks to me like you're just doing some market research. Unless Rev Ed deems otherwise, continue to let your Yankee ingenuity shine through.

What I'd suggest you add to your board are connections for multiple servo headers, a 3-pin IR receiver and 1/2" diameter piezo buzzer. Maybe a few LEDs too. Love me some blinky bling.
Thanks Erco for the encourging words. I really appriciate them.....
unfortunately the xx USA just ended TPP today which allowed little people like me to buy parts from China SUPER cheap. If I have to buy parts here in US I will never be able to stay in this hobby. I am disabled and cant work so price is very important to me.
 
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rq3

Senior Member
Thanks Erco for the encourging words. I really appriciate them.....unfortunately the *** USA just ended TPP today which allowed little people like me to buy parts from China SUPER cheap. If I have to buy parts here in US I will never be able to stay in this hobby. I am disabled and cant work so price is very important to me. Our country is going down the tubes quick. I Wish I could move to yours where the quality of people is so much better. (Count your blessings over there!).
Greyling, bless you, you CAN work and you've just proved it. You've designed a product that seems to have an interested market. Go with it. Work doesn't mean laying bricks or building cars. It means dragging the human race, kicking and screaming, from where it is now to where it should perhaps be next.

I build and sell a commercial product based on the Picaxe. Non of it comes from China, or indeed from anywhere overseas, except for the chips themselves. But the Microchip PICS go to England to become Picaxes, and then sold back to me to become incorporated into a product that is sold all over the world (in admittedly very small quantities).

Have faith, carry on, and sell me a board!

EDIT: Greyling, when I first asked myself whether I belived in my own product to the extent that I had to commit to a substantial order (populated boards, electrically tested, packaged and delivered), I was absolutely shocked at how cheap they were. Once I had approached a local board shop, had a design review, and got a formal quote, it was roughly 15% of what I been spending assembling them myself. I specified all of the parts and provided them the Gerber files. That was it. Their ability to merge parts purchasing across a huge number of customers using the same part saved... a lot of money. I'm an engineer, and a bad businessman. It still awes me that the power of the market can drive product prices as drastically as it does. If you think you have a real product, sink what you can afford into a first production run,(even if it's only 1, or 10) and sell it. Listen to your customers, but don't let them turn your product into a Frankenstein. Stick to your guns, and take Bill Lear to heart:
"Find a need, and fill it".
 
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mikeyBoo

Senior Member
Thanks Erco for the encourging words. I really appriciate them.....unfortunately the xx USA just ended TPP today which allowed little people like me to buy parts from China SUPER cheap. If I have to buy parts here in US I will never be able to stay in this hobby. I am disabled and cant work so price is very important to me.
Greyling, the infantile name-calling you just did shows a serious lack of class. Religion or politics don’t belong on a tech site. If you were an American vendor trying to compete against free shipping & a grossly unfair exchange rate, you would see things in a different light.
 
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Goeytex

Senior Member
...unfortunately the xx USA just ended TPP today which allowed little people like me to buy parts from China SUPER cheap. If I have to buy parts here in US I will never be able to stay in this hobby. I am disabled and cant work so price is very important to me.
The TPP was never enacted nor were its rules and regulations ever put in place much less enforced. TPP had NOTHING to do with allowing us in the USA to buy cheap stuff from China. TPP if enacted would have raised the cost of goods from China as China was not a party to the proposed treaty.

That being said, I do not think it appropriate to use this forum to spew political rhetoric. I would kindly ask the moderator to remove it.
 
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westaust55

Moderator
Folks,

In view of requests, I have removed some of the "name calling" and politically orientated statements while endeavouring to retain some of the fundamental content in the initial post and in the quoted content from that post.

I trust all accept this position.
 

Pongo

Senior Member
Thank you!

Can I suggest you remove rq3's profanity too?
 
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Greyling

New Member
WOW, I did not mean to upset anyone at all. I apologize to all I have offended. Thanks to those of you who gave some supportive comments. They are great suggestions.
Good bye.
 

julianE

Senior Member
I am beyond impressed by the civility of this forum. It's very comforting to know that there is decency in cyberspace.
 

rq3

Senior Member
Pongo at al. My sincerest apologies if my posted grawlix actually made it through as the actual word! I'll edit more closely in future!
 

Pongo

Senior Member
@rq3 - It didn't make it through as the actual word but left nothing to the imagination. It would not have raised eyebrows on many sites but this is a manufacturer sponsored forum for a product aimed at the educational market. Conversations here are generally very civilized so I felt its use was inappropriate for this one.
 
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