A Fine Example of Dead Bug Style Circuit Wiring

Technology
A Fine Example of Dead Bug Style Circuit Wiring

“Dead bug style” circuit wiring is the cute name for soldering together components without a printed circuit board. The “dead bug” is the integrated circuit flipped upside down with its “legs” sticking up.

Over at the Dangerous Prototypes forum, a maker shows off his dead bug skills, which he used to solder a Little Wire:

My level of boredom was not enough to actually etch a PCB for it so I did a freeform version of it. With a fine tip on the soldering iron, 0.4 mm solder, a stereo microscope and a hour or two of soldering and bending wires even an old fart like me can get the parts together without a PCB.

(A Little Wire is a USBtiny compatible AVR programmer.)

14 thoughts on “A Fine Example of Dead Bug Style Circuit Wiring

  1. Alan Dove says:

    This style of circuit building is also known as “ugly construction,” but that name certainly wouldn’t apply here. Excellent work.

  2. Christopher Cimiluca says:

    I have a bunch of SMD Attiny85s that I can’t figure out how to program. This is very impressive.

  3. srmoore (@srmoore) says:

    While the style certainly looks neat, never underestimate the utility of a ground plane. (Something I’ve learned the hard way with op-amps suddenly oscillating out of control without one.)

    1. srmoore (@srmoore) says:

      err.. plain. Sorry, it’s late, spelling goes to heck.

      1. srmoore (@srmoore) says:

        ack. had it right the first time, and no way to delete my ‘correction’?

        1. alpha says:

          Doesn’t matter, we still love you.

  4. Dead bugs | Digital Fanatics says:

    […] via make. […]

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    […] new meaning to the phrase Dead Bug, these photographs by Luca di Filippo use insects constructed from electronic components as their […]

  6. Insects Twisted Together from Electronic Components says:

    […] new meaning to the phrase Dead Bug, these photographs by Luca di Filippo use insects constructed from electronic components as their […]

  7. Getting Ugly, Dead Bugs, and Going to Manhattan | Hackaday says:

    […] there’s no board at all in an ugly build and the components are just soldered to terminal strips or between input and […]

  8. Getting Ugly, Dead Bugs, and Going to Manhattan - SHelfinger says:

    […] there’s no board at all in an ugly build and the components are just soldered to terminal strips or between input and […]

  9. Getting Ugly, Dead Bugs, and Going to Manhattan - Hackaday - Broadcast Connect says:

    […] there’s no board at all in an ugly build and the components are just soldered to terminal strips or between input and […]

  10. Sega Nomad Reset Button Mod | WR Labs says:

    […] use a prototyping board if you wanted to, but for a project this small I opted to just wire it “dead bug” style (i.e. sans-board). I first made the following […]

  11. Sega Nomad LCD Upgrade (Part 2): LCD Brightness/Menu Control | WR Labs says:

    […] 3 – If you’re brave (and skilled enough), you could wire it “dead bug” style (i.e. sans-board). This is definitely not recommended for beginners. Follow the wiring […]

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Make: magazine, and the founder of the popular Boing Boing blog.

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