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Prototyping board

My picture shows a prototyping board that I have. Sorry that the contrast is not great, but there are two vertical rows of connector like pads down the left and right sides of the board. They are oval. They look like they're for some sort of board connection, but there are no through holes.

If you solder wires to them, then what? If you solder a connector wire to the board, and another leading to a component, they'll just come apart when trying to solder each other one. I can't think of any suitable mechanical connector either.

What are they for, and are there any examples of their use?

Subsequently to this post, I've discovered that there are lots of these boards available at Chinese bulk buy sites (as my example below). They come in all sizes right up to 150mm across. I use them a lot for projects, but still haven't discovered an appropriate use for the edge pads. Others must also use them frequently, so...

more boards

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Is the other side of the board the same? \$\endgroup\$
    – gbulmer
    Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 1:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ @gbulmer Identical in all respects. Through plated holes. Cheap but good quality boards. \$\endgroup\$
    – Paul Uszak
    Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 1:50

2 Answers 2

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They're handy for mounting headers along the plane of the board, either single-row, double-row, or box headers. The other header pins will keep the header from coming loose when the other solder joints are made.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Mind including a picture of that? I don't get what you mean. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 23:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Passerby Here's a picture linked from Google Images: link \$\endgroup\$
    – bitsmack
    Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 0:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @bitsmack edge mounting like that makes sense when the pads are routed. In these veroboards they are not :/ \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 0:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Passerby I thing Ignacio was saying that you could solder wires directly to the header pins which are also soldered to those pads. It's still a prototype-level connection, but the benefit would be that the headers have a rigid connection to the board. \$\endgroup\$
    – bitsmack
    Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 0:35
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I found this

Prototype board with buses

where the two sets of edge pads have been used as buses. Still not sure if this is the intended usage though. Feels wrong somehow.

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