3D Printed Breadboard

pinshape

This project has been on my to-do list for at least 18 months now, ever since I got involved in 3D printing. The recent release of conductive filament has made it possible to create some truly impressive circuitry designs. I've managed to create a breadboard with a 3D printed conductive node. We know that we can print the non-conductive parts of a breadboard, but the electrical grabbers underneath have been resistant to replacement - until now. This morning, I realized that a simple wedge shape could replace the grabbers. I quickly created an OpenSCAD model of a wedge that would fit and got some decent results. Each resistor had a 500 Ohm resistance to a central node with low resistance - it makes sense, doesn't it? Next, I printed a second wedge that fit better and was thinner, resulting in very low resistance for the node - although it later opened up, suggesting that it might have been loose. I believe what's needed is not just the friction fit provided by the wedge; instead, we should incorporate a simple spring-loaded mechanism into the breadboard itself to hold the wires against the conductive wedge or rectangle. It's an open-source community, and this is a much-needed item - I'm sure someone will come up with something that works even better than my design. Here are some additional details: