The boards in this article are available from many different suppliers.
See each board for the supplier.

Page 1 Prototyping Boards

One of the most important things to help you design a project is a board for the components.
The choice depends on if you want to keep the circuit as a project or just experiment with the circuit.
At Talking Electronics we have a whole range of boards for different purposes. We use Breadboards for quick construction, Matrix Boards for laying out a project so it can be copied to make a Printed Circuit Board and Surface-Mount Boards for these wonderfully miniature components.
We have designed Matrix Boards in all shapes and sizes so you can pick a board to exactly fit a project.
Everything you do should be neat and clean and that’s why you need to have a range of boards so you can pick the most-suitable board.

Do NOT use STRIP BOARD. The strips have to be cut and its sometimes difficult to place the components exactly where you want them. Cutting the strips is very time-consuming and a messy thing to do. They also force you to lay out the parts according to the strips and this makes the project very large and messy.
I still have 3 samples of strip-board, sent to me over 30 years ago. I have never used them.
They are the worst concept ever to be put on the market.

Do NOT use Strip-board. The layout can be much smaller on matrix board
and if you use matrix board, the layout can be directly converted to a
a Printed Circuit Board layout.

For a quick construction you can choose a breadboard:

see eBay:

see eBay

Or for a more-permanent construction you can choose a MATRIX BOARD:

Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter boards by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) to Talking Electronics for these boards.

This is a UNIVERSAL BOARD containing holes and pads so you can layout the parts and solder them to create a circuit and join the components with fine tinned copper wire. The final result will be exactly like the layout of a printed circuit board and you can copy the design and KNOW IT WILL WORK.

Talking Electronics has created a number of matrix boards of different shapes and sizes so you can build a project that looks neat an d professional.
There are three different ways you can build a project.

1. Using through-hole components and a board consisting of holes and lands, the final result will look very similar to a Printed Circuit Board and the layout can be copied directly to produce a Printed Circuit Board.
2. Using surface-mount components and a Designer Board consisting of lands, the components can be soldered to the lands and joined with fine tinned copper wire or enamelled wire.
3. The project can use a mixture of through-hole components and surface-mount. This makes the project look very simple as the surface-mount components are hidden under the board.

Talking Electronics has prototyping boards for all these arrangements and you can buy a set of boards to cater for all types of layouts.

SELECTING A MATRIX BOARD

If you have some idea of the size of the board you will need for a project, go to the range of boards designed by Talking Electronics and pick the most suitable.
These boards make a project look very neat and they are used for all the projects we design.

Here’s an example of a surface-mount project built on Talking Electronics 24 holes x 50 Matrix board using both surface-mount and through-hole components. Note the number of connecting wires. It would be almost impossible to create the circuit if you have to constantly turn the board over to create the wiring. It is MUCH easier to work on one side of the board.

A microcontroller project on Matrix Board

Talking Electronics Dial Alarm-2 on Matrix Board.
The Printed Circuit board is an exact copy of the layout.

The choice of board is up to you. A breadboard is for a project you wish to take apart while a matrix board is for a project you wish to keep.

There is also a whole range of Printed Circuit Boards for surface-mount components.

Some PC boards are called “break-out boards” or “adapter boards” or “interface boards” as they simply allow a surface mount chip to connect to another board containing normal components.
Other boards have a small amount of space for surface-mount components and others allow surface-mount components to be connected to a through-hole components and chips. There are all sorts of different combinations. Some are expensive and some are cheap, but they all make a project look neat.

SURFACE MOUNT PC BOARDS:
A pack of 5 different surface mount PC boards for prototyping. These are specially designed to take surface-mount IC’s and the surrounding components are conventional devices.
$10.00 including pack and post from Talking Electronics
Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter boards by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) to Talking Electronics for these boards.

A 6pad x 40pad surface mount board from Talking Electronics $2.50
with a 1206 resistor fitted to the board to show sizes.

A 6hole x 40hole Matrix board from Talking Electronics $2.50
with a 1206 resistor fitted to the board.
This board will also take through-hole components.
Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter boards by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) to Talking Electronics for these boards.

8 hole x 10 hole Matrix Board from Talking Electronics $1.50 and 11 hole x 12 hole Matrix Board from Talking Electronics $1.50
These boards will also take through-hole components.
Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter boards by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) to Talking Electronics for these boards.

Talking Electronics Surface Mount board with a 2-Digit Counter project.
Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter boards by air mail to my country:****___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____) to Talking Electronics for these boards.

Ask Talking Electronics for these boards.
Send [email](mailto:colin@elechelp.com?Subject=Buying Matrix Board&Body=Please e-mail the cost of Matrix Boards and Experimenter Boards by air mail to my country:**___**** and send details of how I can pay for it. My name is:____)** to Talking Electronics

LilyPad Protoboard $1.50 from Sparks Fun

”Bandicoot” Surface-Mount PC Board $9.95 from Sparks Fun
No holes - each pad is 0.100 inches x 0.050 inches.
In other words, 10 pads to one inch in one directions and 20 pads per inch in the other. The board is 76 pads x 40 pads. (8cm x 10cm)
A “1206” component is 0.12 inches x 0.060 inches so it can be placed “across-wise” taking up 3 pads with room for connections.

Hex Proto PC board 0.95c from Sparks Fun

44 Pin SM PC Board $4.50 from Sparks Fun

80 Pin SM PC Board $3.95 from Sparks Fun

See Sparks Fun for other boards

3 x 14 pin surface mount ICs $2.85 from Measure Explorer on eBay

Surface mount IC and components $5.85 from Measure Explorer on eBay

This is a very good design by GoodBUY on eBay $5.00 More
The board accepts three different size chips on the top and many more on the bottom.

GoodBUY on eBay $4.50

are8-department-store on eBay SOT23-6 $2.50
See this website for more ETT boards

Boards from Futurelec 50c to $1.60 each

From DIPmicro 80cents

Boards from DIPmicro $2.50

This is only a small sample of the boards available on the web. Most suppliers have additional types and you can go to their website to see their full range. Check the pack and postage before ordering.

Page 1 Prototyping Boards