The Party Breadboard v002 is an electronics prototyping platform built into a 12hp (60.6mm) wide Eurorack format, allowing the exploration and design of custom circuits to expand a Modular Synthesis environment. When creating a new module or whipping up a quick LFO or blinkenlight, nothing makes the process easier than an integrated prototyping breadboard! Purchase the Party Breadboard in my store. Also available in super cute 1U format for Pulp and Jel systems!
Printable-Instructions https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t_eVLtVa8f25B5C8VLIUo2R9oE2Kq5l0Wpl25trGX6w/edit?usp=sharing
In this DIY build users have a variety of I/O options. The included three 3.5mm jacks along the bottom of the module easily patch signals to and from other modules, or one of the jacks can be exchanged for an indicator onboard LED! The board also has footprints for a variety of mini and 9mm potentiometers, allowing many different trimmer and small pots to be used. Finally a tactile switch sits to the bottom right corner.
Each of the I/O can be interfaced using the 8 pin jumpers at the bottom of the breadboard with J1/J2/J3 being the tip of each jack (the sleeve is grounded), P1/P2/P3 connected to the wiper and ends of the potentiometer, and B1/B2 attached to each side of the tactile button.
Power is provided on the back by a 10 or 12 pin connector, this should be a surface mount male header and you may need to ‘clip’ the small plastic tabs on header. The 5v rail can be engaged by closing the SJ1 jumper and including a 7805 regulator, or you can use 5v provided by the main skiff power supply using a 12 pin header. I tend to regulate my own 5v on each module, considering it is usually used for microcontrollers and sensitive devices. For protection there are include PTFE fuses on all three power rails in order to manage short circuits and zener diodes to dump excess voltages.
The LEDs on the front panel each have their cathode (negative/flat side) towards the right side edge from the front face of the panel, the LEDs go through the current limiting resistors and then to ground. Resistor values can be chose to taste, many prefer very dim LEDs for their modular systems (especially ‘always on’ indicators), I use a 10k trimmer pot to test the brightness of the LEDs before installation into the board… testing and choosing the indicator LED brightness is a great first project to use the Party Breadboard! Diodes D1 and D2 are 12v zener with D3 being 5.1v. Similarly F3 is a 5v fuse and F1/F2 are 12v fuses. The 7805DT regulator is a SMD package, but any 5v regulator could be hacked on, be sure to close Jumper SJ1 with a piece of wire to power the 5v regulator! Two capacitors are included to clean up the power lines around the regulator, if you are using 5v from the modular case then these caps can be excluded as well as exclude the 7805 and leave SJ1 jumper open.
This Schematic shows the simple routing from the jumper points and the power connections.
Tinkercad design for Party Breadboard
I like to draw up my modules in CAD in order to make sure everything fits between the rails, and to test out orientation of components. I created my own parts for the Pot, Thonk-style 3.5mm vertical jack, and the breadboard and LEDs I found in the Tinkercad.com library. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/gJaaTd4QUVj-party-breadboard-12hp/