Jump to content
  • 0

breadboard rail socket issue


ideainnova

Question

Hi,

After so much problems with respect to specs and quality in recent years, I finally arrived to Digilent breadboards.
..Finally good contacts "preserving standard rail location" for premade jumpers and kits. Easier to connect parts to rail too.
BUT


1 - What is the reason that rail sockets need a kind of insertion effort that is totally out of logic to be able to use board? Middle area is one of the best on earth, on par with my very old retro 80s board, at least with initial look. However inserting anything that is not thin, is real problem regarding rails. To make the necessary balance to insert 2 end of jumper to board is simply too much pain for any child, even for any adult.

a) If idea is that rails will be used more and so pron to be loose earlier, "simply no" my 38 years old board still have all equal insertion feeling anywhere and no loose contacts.

b) If used metal is the same with middle part, then is it due to the molding issue of rail plastic that cannot give equal result?

+) There is serious amount of rough surface feeling while insertion. Just like sand paper. Oems get really shiny! a good thing for me. Probably different nickel coverage procedure creates this.

 

2 - What is the reason that rails are still not continuous but are grouped unnecessarily since 1972? If insertion to a hole makes adjacent socket loose (so max 5 in a group), it is the problem of spring design only, IC sockets are always continuous and never fail. 

3 - Why is still not there even 1 example that rail lines are adjacent to middle part for a really really good advantages? Just in different color!

4 - I would buy mid size one. But it has rail holes that are not aligned with center holes. Many known brands have this issue on products and there is no explanation or mention of this, no spec, no record, nothing but just oem is coming then going to garbage bin. Why?

5 - In center part, 5 column rule since first patent has not been broken yet but only a brand, however it is  not even possible to buy while it is source producer for many. Why is still 5? why not 7-10? Removing unnecessary hole between rail and center , then inserting holes for center consume no area.

6 - I would design a deeper board having at 2x longer spring length, thus removing stress from metal, gaining more spring effect for thin wires, having much longer lifespan, much less insertion power, supporting also any pot beating any spec, removing contact issues at all. This is the same issue with new age trimpots, no spring effect at all, just 1mm metal while old style ones having real 5-6x long semicircular double spring inside for with the same footprint. Lifecycle would be not 200(practically 20) but again 10000 (practically 5000). I dont know if stainless steel is not suitable in regard to resistance, but i know how those tiny steel needles are. Impossible to bend easily or gets broken finally, very strong, rust proof, and may have silver finish to preserve low resistance. Yet even old trimpots give success of contact after decades without being steel. Mechanical aspects or world cannot be produced in nano manner, To create a smaller universe, you need smaller atoms, different atoms that have different material properties, rest is just marketing, crm, outcome management, more profit, selling more, less quality, quality for low life span, selling more, climate change, loosing cows and meat, etc. I still use 38 years old breadboard and I broke in half, threw more than 30. Everyone could buy that oem non branded board anywhere anytime at that years while eating meat burger cheap.

I wish Digilent will produce such a midsize board giving perfect modular small tasks for small stages of small children, thus they will play again like ones played with needle or spring or screw wooden breadboards without contact problems. The difference is just IC. Conductive sticking of smd's to small islands over gnd plane, which is to clean by water or something safe may be route to them later. But even hidrogen peroxit + citric acid (or vinegar) has never visited chemistry lessons yet to etch children pcb's to learn lm358, dont compare, think, wish, just do buy.  

Best wishes and thanks

 

Edited by ideainnova
new idea
Link to comment
Share on other sites

0 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

There have been no answers to this question yet

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...