A solderless breadboard (SBB) is a way of prototyping small circuits without having to solder the parts together. The SBB is made up of contact strips held together in a piece of plastic like a big IC socket. Each strip is 5 contacts electrically tied in common. There are also contacts to distribute power along the length of the board.
 
  Most manufacturers have assemblies of SBB's. The SBB's are assembled onto plates or cases with other accessories such as binding posts, power supplies, pulse generators and the like.
 

Basic SBB's
 
  The SBB should have at least 4 power busses the length of the breadboard. This is 2 busses on each edge of the board.
 
  Some SBB's come as one piece with either 1 or 2 power busses on each edge. Other SBB's come as separate pieces; the center portion and the power busses snap together.
 
  The snap on power busses allow adding more power supplies when need arises.
 
  I normally assign the busses from top to bottom as: +15 Volts or +12 Volts, +5 Volts, ground and -15 Volts or -12 Volts.
 
  In some circuits, the -15/-12 Volt bus is used for -5 Volts.
 

SBB's and PCB's
 When a circuit has been built and tested, there are printed circuit boards available to transfer the components to without having to redesign the layout.

 Given a choice, select a PCB made of fiberglass instead of phenolic. The fiberglass boards are more expensive but are less likely to break.

Updated July 17, 1999