One of the common reactions that people have when they first see our Three Fives kit is to joke “Now all I need is a giant breadboard!” Well, Michael Pechner actually designed and made one, and put the files up on Thingiverse. He built the design in Fusion 360 with a little help from Michael Gregg and printed it out in PLA ABS on his 3D printer.
Thus far, the design is “plastic only,” without the metal inserts that one would find in a real electronic breadboard — but that’s okay, since the aluminum legs on the Three Fives kit are also decorative rather than functional. But, there are holes in the tops and slots in the bottom in case someone would like to add them.
Extra neat ;-)
I wonder if it might be possible to adapt some RF shielding “fingerstrips” (these are the sort of things I’m picturing: http://hollandshielding.com/258-Beryllium_copper_fingerstrips_overview-en.htm) to act as sprung contacts. Even if they only contacted one edge of the pins, that would be enough. I don’t know about getting the right pin spacing though!
Looks like it should work. I think those are slightly smaller than 1/4in holes I did.
It is clear ABS. But obviously PLA will work. It took 3 revisions to get it correct. 3D printing has rules.