Last week I needed ONE protoboard. Naturally, I ended up building a generic protoboard generator that I used to generate some 7000 different protoboards variants
. It can do different pin pitches, both THT and SMD, mixed layouts of both, arbitrary sizes, mounting holes and some other stuff. Below is a screenshot of a random example. I put a big honking table of all the protoboards with gerber downloads up on a website (caution, large HTML file):
https://dyna.kokoroyukuma.de/protos/You can filter by properties digikey-style, and you can sort things by clicking on the table column headers. Note that some pads look cut up in the SVG and PNG preview images, but all pads are fine in the final gerbers.
If you know python, you can play around with the generator script yourself. You can get it on github:
https://github.com/jaseg/gerbolyze/blob/main/generate_protoboards.pyI'm looking for new layouts and layout options to add for the thing. If you have a look through the big spreadsheet and you find anything you miss, I'd love to hear about it so I can add it to the next iteration
Nifty!!
I’d recommend adding some additional pitches used in connectors, like 1.0, 1.25, 2.0, 2.50, 3.0, 3.5, and 3.96mm.
Also, I would add logic that deletes fractional pads at the edges of boards.
I would make the mounting holes a little bit larger.. Like 3.2mm instead the 3mm..
I love this generator, that will certainly come useful.
I would make the mounting holes a little bit larger.. Like 3.2mm instead the 3mm..
Yeah, this. Contrary to the popular belief, 3mm hole will have problems with an M3 screw, despite the screws being actually slightly smaller. There needs to be some tolerance.
I’d recommend adding some additional pitches used in connectors, like 1.0, 1.25, 2.0, 2.50, 3.0, 3.5, and 3.96mm.
Good idea!
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Yeah, this. Contrary to the popular belief, 3mm hole will have problems with an M3 screw, despite the screws being actually slightly smaller. There needs to be some tolerance.
You need some tolerance for any holes on the pcb, especially with the through plated holes. I had several proto boards where I was not able to insert a through hole component into as the plating added to the hole diameter, of course..
What I am missing is a selector for the through hole diameter (the dia after the plating).. Pitch is there, but what is the hole diameter?
Nifty!!
I’d recommend adding some additional pitches used in connectors, like 1.0, 1.25, 2.0, 2.50, 3.0, 3.5, and 3.96mm.
Also, I would add logic that deletes fractional pads at the edges of boards.
Maybe easier to spec the number of holes and have it calculate the size from that, or do that.
.. and of course you need an "order" option where it auto-plugs the numbers into the order page on JLCPCB,PCBway, Allpcb etc.
I use this one for THT projects. (and few SMD)
Example of use with THT and SMD components
I’d recommend adding some additional pitches used in connectors, like 1.0, 1.25, 2.0, 2.50, 3.0, 3.5, and 3.96mm.
Thanks for the suggestion! That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I should add variants where there is a thin strip of 2 to 5 rows of pads at some of these "odd" pitches on the outside of the board, since that's where connectors are most likely to end up.
Also, I would add logic that deletes fractional pads at the edges of boards.
The cut-off pads are only in the SVG. They get removed during the gerber export step. The reason is that this way, the SVG files are wayyyy smaller (~50 kB versus ~10 MB otherwise for a large board).
I would make the mounting holes a little bit larger.. Like 3.2mm instead the 3mm..
You have a good point. I added 0.2mm to all holes in the script.
What I am missing is a selector for the through hole diameter (the dia after the plating).. Pitch is there, but what is the hole diameter?
I was thinking about this as well. I chose the hole size here according to my own "gut feel", but I think it would make sense to have a "normal" and a "large hole" setting. I'm unsure of the actual values though - I am thinking of 1.0mm dia for 2.54mm pitch "normal" holes, and 1.2mm dia for "large" holes. 1.2mm is what Adafruit uses on their proto boards (
https://www.adafruit.com/product/571). I'm open to suggestions though.
Another interesting prototype board for Manhattan style - you could probably generate those kind of boards too from your script -
https://miscdotgeek.com/a-new-prototyping-pcb-for-qrp-homebrew-radio/
That looks useful! I'm definitely adding some of those.
I use this one for THT projects. (and few SMD)
The connected holes are a neat idea, but I also like the idea of just having a "square pad" option.
For my protoboards I have a bunch of the cheap chinese matrix boards, mainly because the're cheap and easy to obtain, and I have some older versions also with THT holes, but single sided and I think I prefer these slightly better.
I have long wondered about a protoboard with also a 2.54mm x2.54mm grid, but not plated, and for which the whole top side of the PCB is a GND plane, but with a small clearance distance from the holes, so you don't create shorts.
Besides that, The PCB's I design are also prototypes, and in anticipation to modifications I tend to fill unused areas with proto board like arrays. It's quite easy and quick to make some custom footprint in KiCad with a row of pads or a 2 dimensional array of pads, and such footprints can be fine tuned to the available area. KiCad also has "Footprint Wizards" written in Python. The Idea is to type in some parameters (such as pad size, pitch and number of pads) and then a footprint is created from it. I'm wondering if it would be handy if KiCad had a footprint generator explicitly designed for designing protoboard pad arrays, but in the end I think it won't be such a big difference from just drawing an array of pads.
..
I have long wondered about a protoboard with also a 2.54mm x2.54mm grid, but not plated, and for which the whole top side of the PCB is a GND plane, but with a small clearance distance from the holes, so you don't create shorts.
..
I have such a board, with top AND bottom Vdd and Gnd planes. It was used in 80ties with "wire wrap dil sockets" - you put the socket into, all the pins were isolated from the planes by some small clearance, on top side you soldered the Vdd (5V at that time) pins to, and on the bottom side the GND pins to the respective plane.. Decoupling was easy to do - just put a THT capacitor into the holes and solder one leg from top and the second from the bottom
For my protoboards I have a bunch of the cheap chinese matrix boards, mainly because the're cheap and easy to obtain, and I have some older versions also with THT holes, but single sided and I think I prefer these slightly better.
I'm feeling the same. My main issue with most cheap chinese proto boards is that they often use plated through holes, and tbh for soldering prototypes I prefer nonplated holes since they don't wick away the solder. With plated through holes, when you're soldering SMD components on the top without a component leg inside the hole, solder tends to just flow through the hole and drip from the bottom.
I have long wondered about a protoboard with also a 2.54mm x2.54mm grid, but not plated, and for which the whole top side of the PCB is a GND plane, but with a small clearance distance from the holes, so you don't create shorts.
I know those under the name "RF" or "shielded" proto board. I think I might add such an option to my script.
Besides that, The PCB's I design are also prototypes, and in anticipation to modifications I tend to fill unused areas with proto board like arrays. It's quite easy and quick to make some custom footprint in KiCad with a row of pads or a 2 dimensional array of pads, and such footprints can be fine tuned to the available area. KiCad also has "Footprint Wizards" written in Python. The Idea is to type in some parameters (such as pad size, pitch and number of pads) and then a footprint is created from it. I'm wondering if it would be handy if KiCad had a footprint generator explicitly designed for designing protoboard pad arrays, but in the end I think it won't be such a big difference from just drawing an array of pads.
I do that as well. IMHO KiCAD is not the best tool for designing standalone protoboards for two reasons. I find it tedious to create larger arrays, and KiCAD gets very slow on my (rather beefy) computer when there are more than ~1k pads in a design. Maybe at some point I'll extend gerbolyze with a function that automatically fills any ground planes it finds in KiCAD gerbers with prototyping areas...
...
I have such a board, with top AND bottom Vdd and Gnd planes. It was used in 80ties with "wire wrap dil sockets" - you put the socket into, all the pins were isolated from the planes by some small clearance, on top side you soldered the Vdd (5V at that time) pins to, and on the bottom side the GND pins to the respective plane.. Decoupling was easy to do - just put a THT capacitor into the holes and solder one leg from top and the second from the bottom
In a similar way a layout I'm thinking about adding to my script is this fairly genius one sold by a Japanese electronics shop. Pictures attached. These boards have a normal, plated through hole 100 mil grid, but diagonally in between these normal pads they have small round SMD pads. Those SMD pads are connected with solder mask-covered traces in horizontal rows on one side, and vertical rows on the other side. This makes them awesome for power distribution.
https://akizukidenshi.com/catalog/g/gP-07214/I have not seen similar proto boards anywhere else though, and that store does not ship internationally (they're a really small shop in Akihabara, Tokyo and they do most of their business in person).
That akizuki board is cool.. Some "power pads" there are through plated holes and some are just pads - thus creating the matrix without shorting the power lines, amazing..
Edited after I understood that technology
.. for soldering prototypes I prefer nonplated holes since they don't wick away the solder. With plated through holes, when you're soldering SMD components on the top without a component leg inside the hole, solder tends to just flow through the hole and drip from the bottom.
..
The through plated holes allow to have a "larger hole" with a "smaller pad", thus increasing the clearance - as the plating inside the hole fixes the wire by the wicked solder. Without the inner plating the small pad will simply be weak mechanically, imho..
In a similar way a layout I'm thinking about adding to my script is this fairly genius one sold by a Japanese electronics shop. Pictures attached. These boards have a normal, plated through hole 100 mil grid, but diagonally in between these normal pads they have small round SMD pads. Those SMD pads are connected with solder mask-covered traces in horizontal rows on one side, and vertical rows on the other side. This makes them awesome for power distribution.
I have not seen similar proto boards anywhere else though, and that store does not ship internationally (they're a really small shop in Akihabara, Tokyo and they do most of their business in person).
That's neat. Let us know if you add it I'd like to order some from one of the PCB suppliers.
Two other designs for protoboards (I have not used them myself)
https://www.crowdsupply.com/ben-wang/perf-2https://www.crowdsupply.com/aerd/alio-proto-board... and KiCAD gets very slow on my (rather beefy) computer when there are more than ~1k pads in a design.
That should not happen. I have a quite new but not extremely fast Ryzen 5600G with 16GiB memory. I just created a footprint with 200x200 = 40k pads. Moving that footprint still gives me a refresh rate of approx 2Hz.
When I turn off Integrated graphics (PCB Editor / Preferences / Preferences / PCB Editor / Display Options / Fallback Graphics** then it does get noticeably lower, but not very much. When the 40k pad footprint is just present on the PCB the difference is significant though. With accelerated graphics I have no issues whatsoever, (Zooming and panning with >10Hz) but with the fallback graphics zooming and scrolling is quite slow when zoomed out so all pads are on the screen, but it's still doable.
I find it tedious to create larger arrays,
Even with manual copy and paste (on a grid) a large array is quite easy to make, and with the array tool you only punch in some numbers for number of rows and colums, and distances.
That akizuki board is cool..
Agree! So useful that every component pad has power and ground just one solder bridge away
The through plated holes allow to have a "larger hole" with a "smaller pad", thus increasing the clearance - as the plating inside the hole fixes the wire by the wicked solder. Without the inner plating the small pad will simply be weak mechanically, imho..
Ooooh I get it! I totally didn't realize this. I still like the nonplated ones better because I like it when I can easily bridge adjacent pads to create a connection, but I'll totally include this in my script and make the annular ring of the through-plated variant smaller.
Thank you for the proto board links
... and KiCAD gets very slow on my (rather beefy) computer when there are more than ~1k pads in a design.
...
I have a quite new but not extremely fast Ryzen 5600G with 16GiB memory. I just created a footprint with 200x200 = 40k pads. Moving that footprint still gives me a refresh rate of approx 2Hz.
I have a very similar setup. Ryzen 3600, rx580 gpu and 32G ram and I observe pretty much te same refresh rate. To me, 2 Hz feels very slow. Placing the footprint is fine, but when I integrate such prototyping areas in another design it makes later modifications to the non-protoboard parts of the board painful without first deleting the protoboard pad arrays.
I am sure that's going to be fixed at some point though, because a modern computer should be able to chug through a few thousand graphical primitives with ease unless there's some algorithmic inefficiencies hidden somewhere.
I would make the mounting holes a little bit larger.. Like 3.2mm instead the 3mm..
You have a good point. I added 0.2mm to all holes in the script.
There are times when hole son nominal size are needed and more often slightly larger diameters are needed. It might be easier in the long run to generalize this and force the user to decide upon the proper hole size for his board.
What I am missing is a selector for the through hole diameter (the dia after the plating).. Pitch is there, but what is the hole diameter?
I was thinking about this as well. I chose the hole size here according to my own "gut feel", but I think it would make sense to have a "normal" and a "large hole" setting. I'm unsure of the actual values though - I am thinking of 1.0mm dia for 2.54mm pitch "normal" holes, and 1.2mm dia for "large" holes. 1.2mm is what Adafruit uses on their proto boards (https://www.adafruit.com/product/571). I'm open to suggestions though.
I'm really down with the user selecting hole size. In the end this should simplify your software. We could complicate this again by suggesting that it might be useful to have a board that can accommodate multiple hole sizes per land. Imagine if you have a project with power resistors or large transistors to solder to the lands but at the same time have signal wires you want to connect. What came to mind here is audio amp experimentation where there is a high power section and plenty of low power stuff going on.
Another interesting prototype board for Manhattan style - you could probably generate those kind of boards too from your script -
https://miscdotgeek.com/a-new-prototyping-pcb-for-qrp-homebrew-radio/
That looks useful! I'm definitely adding some of those.
I use this one for THT projects. (and few SMD)
The connected holes are a neat idea, but I also like the idea of just having a "square pad" option.
lots of neat ideas here.