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crazy prototyping idea

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2/9/2001 3:50 PM

crazy prototyping idea

I just had a crazy idea for prototyping simple effects. Remember those Radio Shack electronics kits? it had components attached to a piece of cardboard, with little springs to run the wires to and fro. Seems like you could make something like that, using those springs, but connecting them to sockets, so different parts values could be changed out, while different circuits could be run by running wires to different parts. Theoretically, a circuit could be constructed within minutes, without solder, could be tweaked to satisfaction, and the components could then be transferred to a more permanent circuit, like perfboard or pcb.

2/9/2001 4:01 PM
ac	Yeah i got one of those for xmas when I was 9ish. Lotsa fun. Taking the idea one step further - among commmon compentents you could include a few commonly used circuts, fet mu-amp etc. AC

2/9/2001 4:44 PM
ed guidry	yeah, you could definitely try lots of stuff, make different circuit blocks, each of which could be instantly "moddable", try different values, different tone stacks, different diode clippers. I think I'm going to try it. The only thing is where to get the springs. You could find some generic springs, or maybe find some old radio shack kits from a thrift shop or something.

2/9/2001 7:14 PM
loauc	great idea, i had one too for '86 xmas... getting the springs won't be difficult, I've seen places with signs stating "we make springs with your specs" try looking for any of these. Rgds l.

2/9/2001 7:22 PM
ed guidry	I found one of those radio shack 130 projects kit on ebay, I put in a $10 bid on it.

2/9/2001 7:31 PM

I just bought two of these kits on Ebay - the 150 in 1 and 200 in 1. I paid about $30 each with S&H -a little high, but hey, it's Ebay. I was thinking th same thing when I bought them - proto'n stuff in stages. There are only a few component values available, but enuf to build basic stuff. Additionally one could change out the values attached to the springs if so inclined.

Cheaper than a large breadboard.....

Pat

2/9/2001 8:41 PM

actually, pat, I was thinking of just redoing the whole thing, taking out the cardboard bottom and keeping all the springs, then putting a bunch of sockets everywhere on a new board, all soldered or connected to the springs. That way I can push in transistors or components, and route them however I want with little lengths of wire.

The whole idea for me is to be able to prototype without firing up the soldering iron if at all possible, once the proto board is complete, with input/output jacks, a variety of pots available, etc.

Once the circuit is tweaked to my liking, I can then take those parts and just use them in a perfboard or pcb.

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