Contents
What wires should I use?
The most common sizes you’ll find in residential work are 14-gauge and 12-gauge. Larger appliances such as electric stoves, electric water heaters, electric dryers and central air units will often use 10-, 8- or even 6-gauge wire. If you’re adding an outlet, you need to use wire the same gauge as the existing wiring.
What are Stripboards used for?
Stripboard is one of the commonly-used types of prototyping board. These boards are intended for permanently assembling one-off circuits, especially prototypes. The board is made from insulating material, usually a resin-bonded plastic or fibreglass. One side has parallel copper strips on it, spaced 2.54 mm apart.
What’s the best way to make circuit on a stripboard?
But always think through where you want to place the components before you start soldering. After placing a component, bend its leads to make it stay in place when you turn the stripboard around to solder. Solder all the components to the stripboard and make sure you have good solder joints all over.
What’s the best way to solder a stripboard?
Try to use the connections already on the stripboard as much as possible. If you have a lot of components, this might not be efficient. But always think through where you want to place the components before you start soldering. After placing a component, bend its leads to make it stay in place when you turn the stripboard around to solder.
What to use to clean copper tracks on stripboard?
If the copper looks dull, or you can clearly see finger marks, clean the tracks with fine emery paper, a PCB rubber or a dry kitchen scrub before you start soldering. Components are placed on the non-copper side, then the stripboard is turned over to solder the component leads to the copper tracks.
What kind of circuit board do you need?
A stripboard is a circuit board with holes and printed strips of metal. These boards are a good way of connecting simple to medium complicated circuits. I highly recommend using stripboards in the beginning.