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Rewiring time!

A project log for Yet Another TTL Computer

Yet another TTL computer, inspired by Ben Eater's YouTube video series.

amosAmos 02/20/2019 at 06:343 Comments

I only had 10 breadboards when I started wiring up my computer and I thought I would simply purchase another batch of 10 boards from the same supplier. Well the breadboards arrived a couple of weeks ago, but when I went to add them to my project I noticed they were slightly different - the colour was a slightly off-white shade, compared to the bright white of the first batch, and the boards were even more warped than the originals. I want the final product to be a nice display piece, so I am not really happy about using two different types of breadboard. As it would happen, just after I noticed this discrepancy I was placing an order for some PCBs and components with JLCPCB and LCSC. I checked LCSC's breadboards and their prices were about the same as the cheap Aliexpress-sourced breadboards. Throwing caution to the wind, I added 15 breadboards to my order and hoped for the best...

My JLCPCB/LCSC order arrived yesterday and I couldn't be happier! The new boards are all identical, plus they all sit perfectly flat and the power rails are nice and square. (The rails on the previous boards were a bit loose and off-kilter.) So I've made the brave (foolish?) decision to move the construction over to the new breadboards. This is going to be fun!

Here is the current state of my build:

And the new (bare) breadboards look much nicer IMHO:

The few parts above are just resting loosely in place - I am going to reposition the components of the clock to give a slightly more pleasing layout. I also found a frame which is the perfect size for this project, so I can display it properly once it is complete. 8^)

Moving the four modules I have already finished over shouldn't take too much time and I should end up with a much nicer looking result. Wish me luck! ;^)

Discussions

matseng wrote 02/20/2019 at 13:59 point

The boards I got from LCSC are both cheaper and better than all the other cheapo-boards I've bought lately.  Of course they can't compare with real 3M boards, but who can afford a dozen of those? ;-)

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Amos wrote 02/20/2019 at 14:08 point

Actually, looking at the LCSC invoice and factoring in shipping, these boards did come out marginally cheaper than the Aliexpress boards I got previously. I am very impressed with these and will be adding another bunch to my next JLCPCB/LCSC order.

I have three old breadboards I got 20-30 years ago and they are streets ahead of the LCSC boards in terms of quality (and still in very good shape - the cheap boards prolly won't last that long!) but considering I paid 15-20 times the price for them, they'd want to be better quality! ;^)

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matseng wrote 02/20/2019 at 17:45 point

Seems like they have increased in price since December. I paid $1.20 for them back then, now they're $1.54.  But still really super-cheap compared to most eBay/Amazon/Local electronics mail order places....

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