Hi All
Circuit bugs - poor connections, etc, within my breadboards - are costing me such a lot of time and heartache.
QUESTION: How can I find good quality breadboards? How do I know what is good quality? Who supplies them?
IDEAS: Can you help me with some ideas?
Look forward to your replies
Thans in advance
EGB
It depends on your wallet. Obviously, the more expensive one performs better. But there is a "margin of error" comes with every product - even human being. So just buy couple of them when you go shopping.
If you want a more stable test bed, start wirewrapping your design on a Island of Holes perfboard.
Then you can move it easily, ,make changes easily, and not have to worry about wires getting pulled out of holes (these white boards with red/blue stripes are very good, just too many wires dangling about)
This was a pain to work with after just a few days, very unstable.
So I made it more stable.
example front & back of a board used for software development before I turned it into a PCB
Green PCB is from Velleman,
https://www.vellemanusa.com/products/view/?country=us&lang=enu&id=350322
ECS 1/2 it's called, very good quality, holes very even spaced and pads are also very good.
Wirewrap sockets and wirewrap socket strips, 30 AWG wire, and wrapping tool can be found here.
I use the Gold colored tool on page 2. Stripper built into the handle.
Get a 2-3-4 wire colors. One for Gnd, one for power, and 2 for signals to mix them up a little.
The board in the end
Obviously, the more expensive one performs better.
Meh. All too often the "more expensive" products are the result of some middleman marking up the cheap version 
I've seen 3M and Global Specialties recommended.
These days you can get a PCB made for less than the cost of a good breadboard.
Hi Westfw! Yes, I agree with your Meh response about Quality=Function(Price). Partly a reason for posting this topic.
And, I note the 3M and Global Specialties!
westfw:
Meh. ...
... I've seen 3M and Global Specialties recommended. ...
CrossRoads:
If you want a more stable test bed, start wirewrapping your design on a Island of Holes perfboard.
Then you can move it easily, ,make changes easily, and not have to worry about wires getting pulled out of holes ...
Thanks CrossRoads. Tonnes of meat in your reply. I like the three stages - ultimately ending up with a stable PCB!
So thank you all - I'm off now to look at those big Island of Holes perfboards!
EGB
Maybe it's as much how you use them, as the quality of the breadboards themselves. This is how I like mine to look
I think the quality of these breadboards is as good as most or all. They are relatively small and the power rail sections can be detached. So they are highly flexible in terms of the shapes, sizes and configurations you can clip them together in. They clip together quite firmly. The best thing about them, their "USP", is that the holes are in groups of 6, vs. every other brand which have only 5. This can make a useful difference with wide breakout boards like esp8266-based ones. Now the bad news. I've only ever found them in one (chain of) shops, and they recently went bankrupt and closed. RIP, Maplin! I managed to swoop in, vulture-like, and buy a few more for my personal use, at reduced price, before the end.
Here are my breadboard tips.
Buy only "breadboard compatible" components wherever possible. In other words components that plug directly into the breadboard. So Uno & Mega are out, in favour of Nano, Wemos, Teensy etc.
When you can't get a breadboard compatible version of a components make or buy adaptors so you can plug them in.
Use solid-core hookup cable, cut to length and laid flat against the breadboard, like in the picture above. When you are done with a prototype circuit, keep all the bits of wire in a jar/boxes for re-use.
Use several colours of wire, and be consistent with your use of colours, especially red for Vcc and black for ground.
PaulRB:
Here are my breadboard tips.Buy only "breadboard compatible" components wherever possible. In other words components that plug directly into the breadboard. So Uno & Mega are out, in favour of Nano, Wemos, Teensy etc.
When you can't get a breadboard compatible version of a components make or buy adaptors so you can plug them in.
Use solid-core hookup cable, cut to length and laid flat against the breadboard, like in the picture above. When you are done with a prototype circuit, keep all the bits of wire in a jar/boxes for re-use.
Use several colours of wire, and be consistent with your use of colours, especially red for Vcc and black for ground.
@PaulRB: I like your tips. Valuable ideas.
Some of these breadboards came in the post the other day: Elegoo 6PCS 170 tie-Points Mini Breadboard kit (6 pieces) for Arduino. Small boards. The pin-holes are firm, tight. So far, contacts seem very good.
In contrast, these breadboards have poor alignment between the "USP" and the pin-holes, and the connections are loose. They have plagued me with connection problems: Breadboard Solderless Prototype PCB Board – ALLCA BB-102 (3pcs) 400 Pin with 4 Power Rails and Double Sided Tape for Raspberry Pi and Arduino …
Thanks all
EGB
Some of these breadboards...
In contrast, these breadboards...
Were you going to post some links or pictures? Can't make much sense of your comparison without them.
poor alignment between the "USP" and the pin-holes
By "USP" i meant "Unique Selling Point", something about a product that distinguishes it from similar products on the market. What did you mean by "USP"?
PaulRB:
Buy only "breadboard compatible" components wherever possible. In other words components that plug directly into the breadboard. So Uno & Mega are out, in favour of Nano, Wemos, Teensy etc.
My common observation - take it or leave it:
The UNO and Mega are toys - designed for demonstration purposes used either alone or with whatever limited function the matching "shields" offer.
Not for breadboarding/ prototyping/ real-world applications. A Nano/ Pro Mini/ Leostick etc. will not only mount on a breadboard, but can subsequently be used as a "daughterboard" on your custom PCB, or a "terminal adapter".
For Wi-Fi functionality, move from the ATMega Arduinos to the ESP8266, particularly the WeMOS D1 Mini. Same comments apply, as in PaulRB's illustration.
I have found that solderless breadboards made by Osepp are pretty reliable.
The main issue I see with breadboards is a common belief that it is okay to plug in devices that use 0.025 inch square header pins as commonly used on Arduinos like the Nano and breakout modules.
The metal clips used inside breadboards were designed for dip ic leads and round wires typically up to a maximum size of 22AWG which is 0.025 inches. A 0.025 inch square pin is about 0.035 inches diagonally which exceeds the size limit and they can/will deform the contacts, making that connection point or perhaps all four or five in that connector strip loose and not usable once the oversized pin has been removed.
As a solution, you can buy 0.100 inch header strips of 40 pins with round pins top and bottom with the pins being about 0.020 inches in diameter. These can found on eBay and Aliexpress for less than $0.50 US per strip of 40 pins in lots of ten strips. You can also spend buckets of money for the same thing with higher quality made by Mill-Max and Samtec available through Digikey and Mouser. I find the cheap Chinese variants to be perfectly serviceable for the job.
I guess the big downside for some beginners is that soldering is required to install pins and many buy their boards/modules with the pins already soldered in place. Removing square pins isn’t difficult if you have decent soldering skills, you clamp the board and heat one pin at a time and pull them out though the plastic header with needle nose pliers. Once all the pins are removed, solder wick opens up the pads for the new strip of round pins.
@avr_fred, I'm not getting your point. Why does the diagonal dimension matter? You don't/can't plug things like Nano in diagonally...
Paul__B:
My common observation - take it or leave it:
The UNO and Mega are toys - designed for demonstration purposes used either alone or with whatever limited function the matching "shields" offer.
I do agree with this. Although, the 'toys' part is all relatively speaking of course. Since 20 or 30+ years ago, these kinds of toys would be considered devices having enormous controlling/computing power. Today, they certainly are very good devices for proof of concept, testing etc. And, in many cases can be boxed up and actually used in some kinds of home systems. Usability-wise ----- quite good.
PaulRB:
@avr_fred, I'm not getting your point. Why does the diagonal dimension matter? You don't/can't plug things like Nano in diagonally...
Ever hear the expression “trying to shove a square peg in a round hole”? Those protruding corners increase the overall dimension and bend the fingers of the breadboard connector open. The cheap ones never return to the original dimension resulting in bad or intermittent connections.
whatever limited function the matching "shields" offer.
"limited functions" - hah. You can probably get as much functionality in Arduino Shields as you ever could in half-a-dozen other "board" architectures, and at a fraction of the price.
EGB:
Hi AllCircuit bugs - poor connections, etc, within my breadboards - are costing me such a lot of time and heartache.
QUESTION: How can I find good quality breadboards? How do I know what is good quality? Who supplies them?
Without really good closeup photos you can't tell without handling them - I can personally recommend
the K&H AD-series breadboards, they have 6 tiepoints per strip, not 5, and thats really really useful, and the holes are
round and the springs shaped for leads, definitely good ones.
IDEAS: Can you help me with some ideas?
That's a rather broad question! Can you be more specific?
Look forward to your replies
Thans in advance
EGB
MarkT:
I can personally recommend the K&H AD-series breadboards, they have 6 tiepoints per strip
Ah, those are the ones Maplin used to sell that I was recommending earlier in the thread. They were sold in Maplin branded packing, so I did not know the manufacturers name until now, thanks!
The best protoboards I have are the oldest, bought at Radio Shack in the late '70s and early '80s. I've bought a number of them recently that are junk. Loose connections abound.
I have to chime in here. Low quality breadboards drive me nuts. It is hard to design and troubleshoot a circuit, especially if there is a steep learning curve or there is the need to learn new math to build the circuit. If you cannot rely on your breadboard to have tight, reliable connections, and low resistance between connected holes, you never know if a problem you encounter is caused by the breadboard or by YOU! 
Cheap, no-name breadboards are attractive because of their low price until you try to use them and realize that half of the boards cannot be trusted. The low-quality breadboards can make a circuit that ought to work either work intermittently or not at all.
That being said, I have found that by paying just a few extra dollars, I can obtain breadboards that I can generally rely upon. I have found that the breadboards with the model number, "ZY-201", available on ebay, work well and cost less than $10 each. I suspect that all "ZY-201" breadboards are made in one factory somewhere and then are re-sold by various vendors on ebay and through other channels.
The ZY-201 breadboards come with a metal frame, rubber feet, and three banana-style terminals. Sometimes the rubber feet do not stick and I have to use some cyanoacrylate glue to get them to stay on. This is a minor annoyance for an otherwise good breadboard available at a low cost.
How can I find good quality breadboards? How do I know what is good quality? Who supplies them?
I've been using solderless breadboards for over 40 years and haven't had much problem with them. I've even bought some of the cheap ones from AliExpress and most of them are decent quality.
I've had a cube prototype on some 3M boards for almost a year now. Have moved the board a number of times and haven't had any problems. If wires get disconnected, you use standard troubleshooting techniques to isolate the problem.
