For Sale 500 Series VPR Prototyping Veroboard

[azet]

Hi,

I'm posting here in black market first to see if there's any interest: I've created a 500 series PCB that's basically a Veroboard that can be plugged into a 500 series Chassis -- although you'd probably rather plug it into an extender for development. It has a small optional LED circuit to see if it's "on" incl. switch and variable resistor for brightness.

Board specs:​

• ~148 mm x 116 mm
• FR4 TG 135-140 - Two layers
• ENIG with Gold thickness 1u"
• Gold Fingers @ 45 Degrees for the contact Pins

Each Pin is routed by default to the next adjacent Veroboard hole and numbered 1 through 15. Of course you can opt to reroute from there anywhere you want.

I was thinking about 16-18EUR per board considering production cost, work, shipping costs/import/duties/taxes. Which leaves me a tiny margin. That would include the three (3) through-hole components for the LED circuit but exclude shipping as that's really dependent on where you live. It should be no more than 12-14EUR within the EU, incl. tracking and insured. Outside - I'd have to check.

I've attached a 3D ECAD Screenshot (incl. optional LED circuit). And some of the actual PCBs:



PCBs:




I will open-source all project files under CC0 1.0 Licensing so anyone can re-use the design or get their own boards made after a short period of testing it and getting feedback (if any).


Thanks,
Aaron

 

[nielsk]

Looks interesting, what is the hole spacing?
I think having some spots where the pin spacing (& hole size) works for 2520 op amps / sockets, and the rest 0.10"
If not it will require some (very) low profile adapter PCBs...

 

[azet]

Hi @nielsk:

Looks interesting, what is the hole spacing?

From middle of the hole to middle of the next one it's always 2.54mm (all measurements in metric/SI units)





From pad corner to corner it's about 0.5mm.



As far as l know this is as close to typical Veroboard as possible: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/10822.pdf

I think having some spots where the pin spacing (& hole size) works for 2520 op amps / sockets, and the rest 0.10"
If not it will require some (very) low profile adapter PCBs...

I actually opened a thread for exactly that reason but it went unnoticed. I wanted to include a possible adapter or section for classical opamps. But many adapter designs are available as kits anyway. The thread can be found here: ECAD/Gerber for classic OpAmp Board (API-Style 6 Pin)

Hope that helps, let me know is you have any questions.


Thanks for the feedback,
Aaron / azet

 

[Rob Flinn]

Maybe you're not aware but this product already exists from at least one place.

www.audiomaintenance.com/acatalog/AML-07-073a_extended_info.html

 

[azet]

@Rob Flinn

Maybe you're not aware but this product already exists from at least one place.

www.audiomaintenance.com/acatalog/AML-07-073a_extended_info.html

Unfortunately I wasn't. I know AML and thought I knew their product catalogue. Must have missed it. Personally for me this doesn't change a lot as UK import to mainland EU has become such a problem that I rarely order from there anymore. I've put off an AML order for more than a year now until I get enough articles together and multiple parties so the cost of import and dealing with our customs is worth it.. They're especially painfully slow and very very precise when it comes to any order from the UK. I used to get a lot of things from there including scientific publications, books and diving related products, most of these cost less than 30-40EUR per order and the tax and customs duty ends up being almost the same as the order. For publications where you pay once a year and then get eg. four volumes a year this was especially difficult as customs attached 20% tax and 35EUR handling fee to each shipped volume. For a subscription that's less than 90 GBP a year it's really ridiculous.

Thanks for pointing out the AML product though -- I'll take a look at the differences and possible improvements. It actually looks very close to a second version I was working on minus the LED circuit.

Aaron

 

[jasonallenh]

@Rob Flinn


Unfortunately I wasn't. I know AML and thought I knew their product catalogue. Must have missed it. Personally for me this doesn't change a lot as UK import to mainland EU has become such a problem that I rarely order from there anymore. I've put off an AML order for more than a year now until I get enough articles together and multiple parties so the cost of import and dealing with our customs is worth it.. They're especially painfully slow and very very precise when it comes to any order from the UK. I used to get a lot of things from there including scientific publications, books and diving related products, most of these cost less than 30-40EUR per order and the tax and customs duty ends up being almost the same as the order. For publications where you pay once a year and then get eg. four volumes a year this was especially difficult as customs attached 20% tax and 35EUR handling fee to each shipped volume. For a subscription that's less than 90 GBP a year it's really ridiculous.

Thanks for pointing out the AML product though -- I'll take a look at the differences and possible improvements. It actually looks very close to a second version I was working on minus the LED circuit.

Aaron

Ok but what if this was a breadboard ?????

 

[azet]

Ok but what if this was a breadboard ?????

I don't get what you mean? Of course you can use a bread board instead of a module with Vero board.. if that's your point. Most people will Experiment with designs that way. I'm no exception to that.

Aaron

 

[jasonallenh]

I don't get what you mean? Of course you can use a bread board instead of a module with Vero board.. if that's your point. Most people will Experiment with designs that way. I'm no exception to that.

Aaron

I meant a 500 series breadboard

 

[azet]

I meant a 500 series breadboard

Oh.. I don't see how this would be particularly useful or could be built well enough so you can put it into a chassis if built well. With the Vero board I'd also recommend using it with an extender cable but it would be possible theoretically - to put a prototype into a real chassis if everything is fixed to the board. You can still prototype using a normal bread board and some extenders connecting the pins to the bread board, depending on which kind you use. Some bread boards have seperate inputs for power etc.

I'm not planning to build a bread board 500 series kit because of the reasons mentioned above. I think if you want to use one it's perfectly possible with an extender/adapter already.

Hope that helps,
Aaron

 

[tommia]

I prefer single islands so you can put ic's also vertical.
Maybe also some power filtering: resistor and a cap
and a bypass switch
Also an extender pcb

 

[azet]

I prefer single islands so you can put ic's also vertical.
Maybe also some power filtering: resistor and a cap
and a bypass switch
Also an extender pcb

Thanks for the input.. I've started working on a version 2 with some features incorporated that people brought up. One of them is the common four mounting points that most 500 series PCBs have. I'll think about how to incorporate that. Another thing might be a cut out big enough for a transformer.

Let me know if you think of something else, much appreciated!

Aaron

 

[azet]

Added Pictures of finished PCBs to original post.

 

[Chrisfromthepast]

The AML board left things too open ended for me. Radial and emperical labs both made prototype boards with features that constrained the design process for better or for worse. But they are discontinued.
I went for a design that just incorporates the that corp chips and app notes for in and out.
Rev 2 is sized for the very cheap process at JLC so the x and y dimensions don’t match 500 series specs and need a L bracket to truly be secure.
Rev 3 got abandoned for microphone builds, but some vero board space would probably be perfect my kicad is out of date and my brain is too smooth to do new things today.

 

[azet]

The AML board left things too open ended for me. Radial and emperical labs both made prototype boards with features that constrained the design process for better or for worse. But they are discontinued.
I went for a design that just incorporates the that corp chips and app notes for in and out.
Rev 2 is sized for the very cheap process at JLC so the x and y dimensions don’t match 500 series specs and need a L bracket to truly be secure.
Rev 3 got abandoned for microphone builds, but some vero board space would probably be perfect my kicad is out of date and my brain is too smooth to do new things today.View attachment 108249

I don't follow your point here exactly I think. Are you interested in one of the boards? They're 18EUR + shipping (12EUR within the EU with tracking & insurance - I think 8 without) if you have a use for them.

I've made them for JLC as well so if you want I can also share the project files and you order your own. My price only has a minimal margin (size, ENIG, gold fingers etc.) so if you don't need a minimum of 5 boards it's probably cheaper to get one from me. That's why I made the first small batch and see how it goes.

I've also incorporated a few ideas people brought up into a version 2 including front panel attachments, shielding and classic opamp adapters, but I'll only order them if anyone is really interested as they're already too specific to be useful to just anyone. And I don't want to have too much potentially unused electronics parts laying around - it's a waste.

Aaron

 

[Chrisfromthepast]

Let me know if you think of something else, much appreciated!

Sorry to intrude. Preamps are pretty well covered by kits or have voltage requirements beyond +/-16v. I am sharing a solution I use to try out line level circuits in a 500 series context.
Happy to share the kicad with you some nets are wrong so I haven’t shared publicly.

 

[azet]

Sorry to intrude. Preamps are pretty well covered by kits or have voltage requirements beyond +/-16v. I am sharing a solution I use to try out line level circuits in a 500 series context.
Happy to share the kicad with you some nets are wrong so I haven’t shared publicly.

Ah okay. Probably best to open a seperate thread for them and the KiCAD files in another area of this forum as this one is for sales. Sounds interesting though. I'm always interested to see what other people build for 500 series, but it's a bit outside the context of this specific thread

 

[alhe]

I'd take two

 

[azet]

I'd take two

send me a pm with your details!

Thanks

 

[DB_]

I've also incorporated a few ideas people brought up into a version 2 including front panel attachments, shielding and classic opamp adapters, but I'll only order them if anyone is really interested as they're already too specific to be useful to just anyone.

I’d take two or three of these!

 

[Ian]

I'll snag 2 of these