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Breadboards

Last updated on September 26th, 2021

Breadboards are a key tool in rapid prototyping circuits. Breadboards provide quick, stable, temporary connections between components. This Building Block will introduce you to key concepts and proper breadboard use.

Despite being very simple, breadboards can be confusing — especially when you are starting out. You will use them constantly in this course and you will get more and more comfortable with them as you build.

Video :: Intro to Breadboards

Note in 2021 your kit has 3 short breadboards — instead of a mix of long and short.

Slides :: Grab a copy.

Get a copy of the slides for this video.

Breadboard Logic

The breadboard’s role in circuit making is to connect components together. Inside the breadboard are collections of metal rows called terminal strips. You access the different strips through the holes or tie points on the top of the board. For you to do this effectively you need to know how the internal strips are arranged.

The image above shows a breadboard on the left with a diagram of how the terminal strips are arranged on the right. (Your breadboard will be less blurry and may be a slightly different color).

Note that the strips do not cross the middle gap — the space I call the great divide. The strips also do not touch each other left to right. And finally note there are long strips on the top and bottom – often called busses (bus, singular). By convention we use these for power. The bus labels are also defined by convention (history and habit) the red line indicates connections to the plus (+) side of your power supply, the blue (black on some boards) line indicates connections to ground or negative (-) side. We will get into all the details in later building blocks and explorations.

Your experience of this course will be infinitely easier if you memorize the layout on the right. To help you along we have added a breadboard diagram sticker to your kit. You may want to put it on the inside lid of your kit or somewhere memorable to remind you how breadboards connect.

External Resources

Check this Sparkfun tutorial for some extra history and more details on breadboards.

Wire strippers

Last updated on September 15th, 2024

Your wire strippers are your yellow-handled and scissor-like tool. They can be used to cut wire to length and, once properly adjusted, they can be used to strip (remove) insulation from ends of wire.

In this building block I will show you how to adjust your wire strippers and how to set up power rail jumpers on your breadboard.

Required parts

  • wire strippers
  • breadboard
  • wire pack (hookup wire — white box)

If you have a wire kit, you will need to unwrap the wire spools in the box — the plastic goes on and on and on and on and on. Please recycle it. Once each spool is unwrapped, pass the end of each wire color through the box slot and close the box again.

If you are viewing this post-pandemic, lengths of solid core wire are available in class and in the makerSpace.

You also need to adjust your wire strippers so that they can properly remove insulation. Watch the video below to see how it’s done.

Adjusting and Using Wire Strippers

You can jump to 1:49 to learn how to adjust your wire strippers.

Please note there is a purposeful use of a butter knife in this video — normally this would never be promoted. However, the video was made during the pandemic and people could not go shopping of they didn’t have a tool- so we had to have back-up strategies. In general – always use the right tool for the job – its safer.

If it all goes sideways — remember — you have candy.