Author Topic: 371 pin board from radio shack no longer offered  (Read 1876 times)

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Offline dmcliftonTopic starter

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371 pin board from radio shack no longer offered
« on: February 04, 2011, 09:18:07 PM »
Due to my soldering snafu (described in gory detail else-thread) I came to be needing a new board for my "$50 robot". I went to radio shack and they don't seem to have the same board - check the web and no luck there either. They still have a 371 pin board, however, whereas in the guide it is listed as '276-149' what is now offered is '276-149a'. The difference, from what I can tell, is sets of 3 pin holes have copper across them.

My question is whether I can use this board the same as the last board, or if that copper on the back end means I'll be getting funny shorts all over the place - not sure what the purpose of that copper is other than to provide a soldering surface. If I can't use the new board, any thoughts on another board to use for the "$50 robot"? I did find a much larger board that doesn't have the running copper connections all over the place but wanted to avoid it if I could as it would be rather clunky on top of the robot for this particular project.

Appreciate the help.
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Offline rbtying

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Re: 371 pin board from radio shack no longer offered
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2011, 10:59:10 PM »
You will need to know your electronics, and wire around those traces (which may come in handy for the actual microcontroller, but will work against you on the power buses).  Alternatively, you could take a dremel/really sharp razor blade and cut the traces between the 3 pins.  What most people do, I think, is a combination - whenever the copper traces get in the way, just cut the connection - its only on the outside of the board.
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: 371 pin board from radio shack no longer offered
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2011, 02:54:11 PM »
do you have anywhere else available to you to source parts? Over the years radioshack is getting less and less components in stock which is a bummer.
If you can find another electronics store with a same size or bigger pc board it would be adequate. Have you looked anywhere else online?
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Offline Crunchy Theory

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Re: 371 pin board from radio shack no longer offered
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2011, 10:17:16 AM »
I used that same board, and it turned out fine. As was said above, the traces did help with some microcontroller pins and get a little in the way of some of the power connections. I just had to move some components farther away from the controller.
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