Not A Number

A while ago I started  labeling my chips when breadboarding. Having a bin of properly labeled common jelly bean chips is just an extremely useful thing to have in arms reach when prototyping or experimenting with circuits. One thing that is annoying is having the decoupling capacitors right over the top of the chips blocking the layout and not doing a very good job decoupling due to it’s large leads adding dreaded inductance.

Then after spilling some parts I noticed this.

From Misc Projects

The axial decoupling caps fit directly in the grooves in the breadboard! Let’s take advantage of that….

First place the chip over the capacitor and bring it right up against the Vcc pin; generally you want your caps right next to Vcc unless otherwise specified in the data sheet.

From Misc Projects

Then while keeping the chip pressed into the breadboard so the leads don’t deseat the chip, bend the leads out and around making contact with the Vcc and GND/Vss pin leads. bring the leads to as close as you can to the top of the pins so you are not soldering right next to the plastic breadboard.

From Misc Projects

Solder the leads directly to the pins on the chip and cut off the excess.

From Misc Projects

Enjoy the results! labeled chips that have a decoupling cap well connected and hidden away that still fit in your breadboard.

From Misc Projects

If you plan on packing the chips tightly on the board, you may want to put a little tape over the ends to keep them from shorting to the chip next to them, but assuming standard cd4000 or 74xx layout, the leads will always bend in opposite directions so will not hit each other.