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Prototyping circuit designs are usually needed even after a circuit design has been developed in conjunction with a circuit simulator. Bruce Heran built this Vacuum Tube Prototyping Design Board to allow to test designs quickly and easily. "I have frequently found that the models do not agree with the final build. Some are right on, but most are off enough to turn a good idea into a waste of time. Thus the need to quickly prototype designs. Now I could have created this board with many additional features - speakers, output transformers, LEDs… But what I needed was a simple way to test single stage tube circuits. So for simplicity I wired the tube pins together (pin 1 to pin 1 and so on). The leads from the pins are brought out to terminals on a “Euro” style terminal strip. I included several other “Euro” strips, a pair of RCA jacks, a 100 k-ohm variable resistor and solderless prototype breadboard. This solderless breadboard is available in various sizes from several sources." |
November 22nd, 2009
Don’t get me wrong. I like this and will most likely build something like it myself. But…..
One tube/valve is a big limitation. What I’ve used in the past for prototyping is an old radio chassis, but soldering was required.
In the (very) old days valve sockets had screw terminals and wooden baseboards were normal. I’ll have to photograph one of my Great Uncle’s sets from the 1930s. This is probably the best way to go as for many circuits the extra wires connecting those three sockets together will do odd things.
Oh and with a single valve there’s no way all those connectors, sockets and the like will ever be used.