What are the pads on the sides of prototyping board for?

[ralphd]

I've been using prototyping board like the ones below for years, but never used the large oval pads at the sides of the board.  Anyone know what they're actually intended for?

https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10000065/1491402-7-9cm-bakelite-plate-universal-pcb-prototyping

[tyguy2]

I'd be willing to bed they are places to solder interconnects between boards, but that's just a guess.

[djQUAN]

I use them for connections between boards and to the outside world.

Here's a build I made using the green proto boards.
http://quan-diy.com/projects/amphour/meter.htm

[GNU_Ninja]

I'd be willing to bed they are places to solder interconnects between boards, but that's just a guess.

 

[ralphd]

I use them for connections between boards and to the outside world.

Here's a build I made using the green proto boards.
http://quan-diy.com/projects/amphour/meter.htm

Impressive for a project made out of prototyping board.
The pads on the boards you used look like they are on convenient 0.1" spacing, but on the single-sided boards I have, the pads are around 0.15".

[djQUAN]

I use them for connections between boards and to the outside world.

Here's a build I made using the green proto boards.
http://quan-diy.com/projects/amphour/meter.htm

Impressive for a project made out of prototyping board.
The pads on the boards you used look like they are on convenient 0.1" spacing, but on the single-sided boards I have, the pads are around 0.15".

Yes they are. These can be bought cheap in packs online. I prefer these than the phenolic ones as they are better mechanically and have plated holes.

[tooki]

Indeed. I'm surprised at how high quality these are. I just stocked up on a whole bunch of sizes. FYI, this vendor has a shockingly low price on the 2x8cm boards, so I ordered a lifetime supply (well, two orders @50pcs): http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/381374535525

My only complaint with these boards (in all sizes) is that they use the same silkscreen for both sides, so the alphanumeric coordinates on one side of the board don't match the other!!!  That and that I like layouts other than individual pads.

Does anyone know of a good source for similarly priced, similar quality veroboard (strips) or other prototyping board that has multiple-pad connections? I've ordered boards like this (http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/171288690519 ), which have a layout I like, but are absolutely lowest quality phenolic. (The boards aren't entirely flat, the etching is rough, with bridges between traces I had to Dremel away, and a few missed or incomplete holes I also had to drill myself.) I'd love things like this, but in the quality and price of the plated through hole perfboard linked above. Any ideas? All the good quality non-pad-per-hole boards I've found have been rather expensive.

Also, does anyone have any good tutorials on using prototyping board, or just tips? What I've done with it by following instinct seems OK, but I'd love to see more examples of professional use of them - the tutorials I have seen on YouTube have mostly been by amateurs whose skills are so bad they have no right to be instructing others...

[linux-works]

I noticed these on amazon about a year or so ago and I use them alot:












yeah, I've been kinda busy, huh?   all this from just the last year, pretty much.

[JoeN]

They sell those boards on eBay too, various sizes.  They are actually very good quality for the given price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50PCS-Double-Side-Prototype-PCB-Bread-board-Tinned-Universal-2x8-20mmx80mm-FR4-/381374535525
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-Double-Side-Prototype-PCB-Tinned-Universal-Breadboard-4x6-cm-40mmx60mm-FR4-/310685400426
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-Double-Side-5x7-cm-Prototype-Universal-FR-4-Glass-Fiber-PCB-Board-/130842094734

[djQUAN]

Also, does anyone have any good tutorials on using prototyping board, or just tips? What I've done with it by following instinct seems OK, but I'd love to see more examples of professional use of them - the tutorials I have seen on YouTube have mostly been by amateurs whose skills are so bad they have no right to be instructing others...

Here's how I usually do mine to make the layout neat. I set the grid to 0.1" and move parts around to fit.