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Breadboards in an age of miniaturization
Components continue to get smaller. Before the introduction of surface mount devices, designers often created hand-soldered prototypes on a breadboard, applied known signals, and, with jumper clips, observed the behavior of the circuit on a scope. In most cases, this is no longer feasible.
There are other options. Simulation packages have become more powerful. One possibility is to simulate as much as you can, keep the quantity of circuit boards in your first order fairly small, and hope for the best. This isn't a bad option when the designer is operating in "comfortable territory"- where, for example, he/she is making small changes to already familiar electronics. But for less familiar stuff, the risk isn't justified.
If it is possible to find through-hole equivalents for the SMD components (often available from the vendor though, perhaps at shocking prices), one can build a through-hole equivalent board. This isn't a particularly good solution for layout-sensitive circuits, though, since everything changes when you produce your final SMD version. The same objection applies to SMD adapters which are even more prone to altering the signal environment on the board.
At Mass Design, we offer two solutions to this problem. The first is Custom Designed Prototype/Breadboard and the second is Prototypes - From Your Own Board Design.
Stencil/Microwave oven home-brew approach
It is technically possible to apply solder paste and mount components in your laboratory/workshop. The technique consists of applying the paste with a stencil (supplied by others) and, using a squeegee and a lot of caution, applying the paste to your substrate. Then, (again with an excess of caution and steady hands) the components can be tweezers-mounted under a scope. Finally, with the help of a microwave oven, the paste flows to complete the electrical connections.
We aren't fans of this approach. Solder paste is perishable and difficult to store and manage. It is a toxic material. The toxicity of lead is not to be taken lightly. It is a dangerous subtance. Successfully handling and mounting SMD devices by hand (tweezers, if you will) is not for the faint-of-heart (or the old-of-hand).
If you are determined to go down this path, we understand and we sympathize. We were "low on resources" (some would say poor) once ourselves. You do what you gotta' do. But we have something much better to offer.
The Real-McCoy
We have gone out of our way to make it possible to get a cost-effective (didn't say cheap) professionally-built solution. You can let us layout, build, and assemble a PCB which contains your design (or the part you want to test) but also has plenty of room for testing. It also has privision for wiring/rewiring right on the circuit board. See Custom Designed Prototype/Breadboard
Alternatively, you can lay out such a Prototype/Breadboard and upload it to us so that we can make build the prototype and assemble the components to it. In either case, you will get a board with the components properly mounted. If you later choose us create your production boards, we will make an appropriate adjustment to the price to reflect the cost savings to us in designing a board where we already have a "jump start" (having created the prototype/breadboard version). See Prototypes - From Your Own Board Design
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