3M breadboards for cheap

[jklasdf]

Looks like it's for a split (+/-) supply.

[PlainName]

Ah! Good thinking

[tooki]

Split supplies are so common for some types of circuits, I wish they made breadboards with three buses on each side instead of two!

[Richard Crowley]

ALL breadboards are made like that.  The metal contact strips are NOT made in continuous lengths.  They are made in discrete unit lengths. They are chopped into the groups of  5 for the vertical columns, and they are used "whole" for the horizontal (power bus) sections. 

The problem with this board is NOT how it is constructed.  The problem is that it is not labeled properly to show where the bus segments are.  I typically just solder jumper wires on the back side to make the horizontal nodes continuous.  Tempest in a teapot.  Nothing to see here. Move along.

[rsjsouza]

The problem with this board is NOT how it is constructed.  The problem is that it is not labeled properly to show where the bus segments are.  I typically just solder jumper wires on the back side to make the horizontal nodes continuous.  Tempest in a teapot.  Nothing to see here. Move along.

All the breadboards I used had a continuous busbar at the top/bottom that extended through the entire width of the board, except an ancient HP5035T that I used in the university labs. It was interrupted in the middle and caused a lot of trouble for us younglings... The only indication was a faint blue/red line on the component side - pretty easy to miss.

Tempest in a teapot.  Nothing to see here. Move along.

That is a common trait that, sooner or later, traps every Youtuber out there.

[rdl]

Check out the SYB board front center. Rails are broken into thirds. Had me really confused for a few minutes first time I used it.

(click for bigger)

[tooki]

My Assembly Specialist haul:



1x SS748 (gold)
1x CS253
1x DS293
2x TS273
4x BB309
1x JW01
1x SS252

All told, this would have cost almost $650 from Digi-Key (and that's pretending you could order just one SS748; the actual minimum quantity is 10, which is kinda prohibitive at $262 each!), and it was $168 from AS, including $22 shipping (to USA).

[aeberbach]

Well I was looking for 3M breadboards again, always wanted the big one, and found this thread - surprise, I can afford the big one from Assembly Specialist!

It occurs to me looking at the pictures that the Assembly Specialist label looks like an applied stick label on top of the red enamel steel while the 3M branded ones look like they are enamelled on. Anyone peeked under their Assembly Specialist logo?

[tooki]

See also: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-new-breadboards-assembly-specialist/

Not sure what’s been sold or not, but it’d be even cheaper!

[seanspotatobusiness]

I've been buying the BusBoard Prototype Systems breadboards from the US. I'm not sure where they're manufactured but the company is Canadian. I saw them recommended on YouTube and I think they're alright. I would try the 3M/Assembly Specialists but it seems getting them to the UK is hassle.

[tooki]

Looks like AS raised its prices a LOT. Still cheaper than 3M, but nowhere near the savings they once were.

For example, the CS253 mentioned in the original post is now $17.50 instead of $9. Still less than the $33 of the 3M one on Digi-Key, though. Shipping narrows the savings even further.

[bd139]

Too expensive. Have been buying the Wisher ones from TME. Just as good quality and a hell of a lot cheaper.

[rsjsouza]

For those in the US, Microcenter still kept the price of some dirt cheap (almost throwaway) breadboards.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/486584/inland-830-tie-points-solderless-breadboard

[tooki]

Looks like AS raised its prices a LOT. Still cheaper than 3M, but nowhere near the savings they once were.

For example, the CS253 mentioned in the original post is now $17.50 instead of $9. Still less than the $33 of the 3M one on Digi-Key, though. Shipping narrows the savings even further.

And now it’s $24 for the CS253. Still cheaper than 3M, but with shipping, probably only makes sense for larger orders.
 

[cdev]

So there's a fairly wide consensus on here that 3M breadboards are among the very best, perhaps the best, on the market, discussed in e.g.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/quality-breadboards-on-ebay/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/what-is-so-great-about-3m-breadboards/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/quality-breadboards/


Anyway, 2 years ago I bought a single 3M breadboard from a local distributor. The actual item that arrived says "AP PRODUCTS MENTOR, OH" on it. (As do some items on the third page linked above.)

A bit of googling seems to indicate that while that company still exists (and lays claim to being the inventor of the modern breadboard), it doesn't look like they're still making breadboards, nor have any locations in Ohio. A bit of further googling, however, ends up with an Ohio company called Assembly Specialist, whose products include breadboards.

This page contains this nugget:

Bread Boards
Popular for protoype building and home hobbies. We offer 7 different size boards, all specifications can be found on our website. These are high quality boards originally produced by AP Products in the 70's and 80's and now owned and proudly produced in the U.S.A.by Assembly Specialist.

And indeed those breadboards look suspiciously identical to the 3M/AP ones -- all the way down to product names ("Super Strip" and "Circuit Strip") and part numbers (e.g. my breadboard, which is a 3M Circuit Strip, part number 923253, vs Assembly Specialist CS253), and errors in the data sheets (that item is erroneously described by both 3M and Assembly Specialist as having 620 tie points in 2x48 rows + buses, but it's actually 610 points on 2x47 rows + buses).

So I'd be willing to bet that Assembly Specialist is still the actual OEM making these things for 3M.

And they sell direct.

And they're incredibly cheap.


They are bigger than the ones I usually buy which admittedly are cheap and kind of crappy, and fall apart when pieces get out of the back..

For example, the 3M 923253 is about $27 on Digi-Key, while the CS253 is under $9 direct from Assembly Specialist.

For the gold-plated version, the 3M 923749 is a $121 special-order item from Digi-Key, while the equivalent CS749 direct from Assembly Specialist is $40. 

I'm thinking I may order some from them to see. Figured you all would appreciate knowing about this, too.

FYI, they charge $11 shipping in USA, but their Paypal seems to not be set up for international, as it wanted to charge me no shipping at all to Switzerland, which can't possibly be right.


Yes, this is an old thread but they are at least as of last year are for real and a good deal for the money..

For reference, here are the product pages:

All 3M breadboard products
Assembly Specialists breadboards on baseplates
Assembly Specialists bare breadboards

[tooki]

cdev, what was the point in quoting, without any modifications or comments, the original post?

[ebastler]

He did hide a little comment of his own in there,

Yes, this is an old thread but they are at least as of last year are for real and a good deal for the money..

Maybe a belated Easter post? 

[LoneWolf6912]

I hope that one day they will allow shipments to Europe. It's a shame they don't allow it. 

[dobsonr741]

Adafruit's premium breadboard is just $5.95 and I'm a happy user of it: https://www.adafruit.com/product/239

"Buttery-smooth operation thanks up upgrade spring clips. Updated design also includes a metal plate. The metal plate is used to stick the breadboard on for mechanical support, and to keep the paper on the bottom from coming loose and sticking to things. secondly it provides a small amount of shielding to your circuits, and if you connect an alligator clip from it to earth/ground you will get an earthed shielding as well."

[tooki]

A lot of Adafruit stuff is fairly inexpensive Chinese stuff. Sure, they do choose so it’s better than average, but it’s not going to be equivalent to a top-tier breadboard like the ones this thread is about. (This thread is about how to get the best breadboard brand on the market for cheap; it’s not really intended as a comparative discussion of breadboard brands.)

[eti]

And now watch the prices go through the roof as the manufacturer sees that EEVblog is generating them huge sales spikes. Whoops.

[abeyer]

And now watch the prices go through the roof as the manufacturer sees that EEVblog is generating them huge sales spikes. Whoops.

Look at the post date on this thread