On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 4:35 AM, Gergely L?rincz <alkopop79 at gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder, which one is more reliable, wire-wrapping or
soldering on a
vero/stripboard? I fancy learning wire wrapping but it's expensive.
Veroboard is not common in the States (I bought some from Dick Smith's
the last time I was in NZ), so my choices have been wire-wrapping or
point-to-point wiring occasionally using multi-pad prototyping board
(some have a few bus lines, others have 2-4 adjacent holes connected).
I've had no reliability problems with point-to-point using
machined-pin sockets.
Wire-wrap with good sockets and good wraps is quite reliable, I just
prefer using less expensive sockets and having a shorter/thinner
design that's often easier to pack into a project case. Wire-wrap
with a "Just Wrap" tool is probably faster.
I did dabble with wire-wrap as a kid in the 1970s, but any failures
there were due to my inexperience not the reliability of the
technology. I got good at soldering, so I switched to point-to-point
and have built many successful projects that way.
My Popular Electronics Elf (built in 2004) was done with
point-to-point soldering, not wire-wrap, BTW. I had no joint or
socket problems, and it was perfectly reliable once I identified and
moved the lone wiring error.
-ethan