Using a breadboard for permanent circuits?

[Zero999]

I cringe whenever I see a solderless breadboard installed inside a project box, I've seen it more than once.

Perhaps the person who made it doesn't have a soldering iron?

[frogg]

Provisional solutions tend to last longer and outlive most permanent solutions.

Here's another one I live by: "Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution."

[TomS_]

can't post the pic as it is not mine

I dont see why you cant, as long as you dont claim it is yours and provide a link to the source. 

Solderless breadboards are to me not something to be used for permanent circuits, more for development and design.

Well, you have to consider the application first and foremost. Model railways are a hobbyist endeavour, all aspects of them entail hobby level skill and craftmanship, although some take it to greater or more professional extents than others. And dont forget, electronics is not everybodys forte, and usually constructed using the easiest to source materials and components from published plans or ones own designs, if not bought off the shelf.

Since we're talking about a model railway, I dont see the problem constructing electronics on perf or proto board. Block detection isnt exactly high frequency, or high energy, or even safety critical in this context.

If the guy somehow tried to push his own weight around by "playing the MIT PhD card" and claiming superior knowledge, then yeah maybe you can have a poke at the guy. But its also possible he used that card to demonstrate he has an understanding of the electrical characteristics of what he is building and what he is building them with, and that possibly things are perfectly fine the way they are.

Could it be designed into a custom PCB and made to look more professional? Sure. But to me, there is some kind of charm seeing perf/proto board construction tucked away under a model railway. 

[Domagoj T]

Since we're talking about a model railway, I dont see the problem constructing electronics on perf or proto board. Block detection isnt exactly high frequency, or high energy, or even safety critical in this context.

It certainly can be.
DCC (and MFX) is in 10 kHz ballpark (certainly not high frequency by most standards, but still high enough to cause some unexpected issues if you expect DC or 50Hz). Boosters (power supplies for digital signals in the rails) of 4A at ~20V are perfectly normal.
As for safety critical aspect, on the layout I work on we had a situation where a loco got stuck between two boosters or something (it's been a while, I forgot the details). By the time we noticed it, the plastic ballast under the track (where the power pickup was) had melted. It's perfectly possible that if we hadn't noticed, we would have had a fire.
I've also seen guys making a temporary power connection using ~2 m ~0,14 mm^2 wires which they used to span a room. Then they promptly made a short circuit which led to the insulation smoking up and just falling of the wire.
Some block detection systems use current sensing, meaning that all the current goes through the device, so if the device is dodgy and you have a short, you could have some issues. There are a lot of short circuits in model railroading, some are operator error, but a good deal are just derailments, so you're bound to have some, even with best of practices and complete care while doing electrical work. This is definitely not a hobby where breadboards are suitable, not even for temporary holiday displays. I'm also one of those that consider the saying "Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution." to be an axiom.

[ChristofferB]

I must admit I just dont really get solderless breadboards for anything larger than quick tests, or rapid interfacing with a microcontroller. The mere knowledge that I'll have to do the circuit over completely if I want to use it is such a lhuge deterrent for me, and honestly, if one bread boards neatly, it's not "that" much faster than:

- soldering on perfboard
- Manhattan style "ugly" construction on bare copper pcb
- wire wrapping
- verowiring

And all of those are stable enough for indefinite use!

[peter-h]

In the old days it was normal to wire wrap circuits. An extremely reliable technique which also lends itself to automation.

[ebastler]

This?

These PCBs probably fill an existing need, for those who are building stuff by literally following "Fritzing" diagrams. 

[DenzilPenberthy]

As someone who's day job is doing electronics for academics:  It would be a HUUGE mistake to equate having a PhD with having any sort of practical skill or ability to make anything!   

[TomS_]

It certainly can be.

As I said, you have to consider the application.

If youre trying to do "high current" on a board where tracks are periodically drilled out and left (sometimes) with mere whiskers of copper around said holes, and if youre relying on those whiskers then, well, youre doing it wrong and you will learn a lesson. Or you need to be beefing up the high current sections with some thicker conductor, coat the tracks with solder etc.

Short circuiting power conductors which then burned out is a "rookie mistake" in a couple of ways, and you should only be working on that kind of thing if the power is isolated.

Fires can be detected with smoke/heat detectors as in any domestic or commercial situation, and all areas of the layout (above, below, inside) should be reachable from somewhere if you had to use a fire extinguisher for example. That seems like common sense and general perparedness to me.

I love PCB design and would probably end up designing my own PCBs for anything I needed, but I still dont have a problem using perf/proto boards for a one off or small batch.