Home > Point-to-point construction
Point-to-point construction is the way most electronics were constructed before 1950s. Point-to-point construction is still used to construct prototype equipment with few or heavy components.The crucial invention was soldering. In soldering, an alloy of tin and lead, or later bismuth and tin, is melted and adheres to other, nonmolten metals, such as copper or tinned steel. Solder makes a good electrical and mechanical connection.
Point-to-point construction uses terminal strips. A terminal strip is a stamped strip of tin-plated loops of copper. It is mounted in a way that electrically insulates it. Usually it is mounted on a cheap, heat-resistant piece of plastic, usually brown bakelite. The plastic is mounted to a metal standoff with a mounting hole .
The chassis was constructed first, from sheet metal or wood. Insulated terminal strips were then riveted, nailThis article is about nails as used in engineering. See Nail for other uses of the word. In engineering and construction, a nail is a pin-shaped, sharp object of hard metal, typically steel, used to fasten things together. It is driven into the workpieceed or screwThis article refers to the threaded fastener. For other meanings, see Screw (disambiguation A screw is a shaft with a helical groove formed on its surface. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used to hold objects together, and as a simple machine useed to the underside of the chassis. Placing the wiring in the box protects it from mechanical damage when the chassis is mounted in a piece of furnitureFurniture is the collective term for the movable objects which support the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide storage, and hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground. Storage furniture is used to hold or contain smaller objects suc or an equipment rack . TransformerThe word Transformer can also mean: The Transformers toys, and the related comics and animated television series which have run from the 1980s onwards. A glam rock album by Lou Reed, named Transformer . Transformers ''Typical electrical configurations Sees, large capacitorA capacitor (historically known as a "condenser") is a device that stores energy in the electric field established between a pair of conductors on which equal but opposite electric charges have been impressed. Historically, capacitors have taken the forms, tube-socket s and other large components were mounted to the top of the chassis. Their wires were led through holes to the underside. The wires of electronic components were physically looped through the terminals and twisted on them. Small electronic components were mounted by twisting their wireThis article refers to metallic wire. For other usages of the word, see wire (disambiguation). A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electrical energy and/or fixed telephons around terminal loops. Finally, the terminals with wires were soldered. The processA process is a naturally occurring or designed sequence of operations or events, possibly taking up time, space, expertise or other resource, which produces some outcome. A process may be identified by the changes it creates in the properties of one or mo is error-prone, and nearly impossible to automate. It is quite good for building small numbers of equipment when laborIn classical economics and all micro-economics labour is one of three factors of production, the others being land and capital. It is a measure of the work done by human beings. There are macro-economic system theories which have created a concept called costs are low.
Professional electronic assemblers used to operate from books of photographs, and follow an exact assembly sequence to assure that they did not miss any components.
See also: printed circuit board, wire wrap, PCB layout guidelines, veroboard and electronics.
Electronics
