Spot Island-style Copper Clad board prototyping

I can't claim to have invented this style of prototype board layout, I'm sure I've seen this somewhere before.  "Dead bug" style prototyping where there is no printed circuit board layout is available is also popular.  The components are glued to a copper clad board in "dead bug" style while the leads are thrust in the air above the board like legs of a dead insect.  This is a messy way to try to attach components.

I prefer this spot island style method, which is similar to Manhattan-style.  Copper clad board is great for prototyping with either through-hole components or even surface mount.  This method isn't appropriate for DIP packages, but for discrete components it works just fine.  A perf board for DIP packages can be used above the level of this method to transition the circuit into IC chips as needed.

We've all got broken drill bits laying around (unless you've thrown them away).  The broken drill bit is still a valuable commodity.  I turned a couple into hole saws for making spot islands on copper clad boards.  First put the bit in your drill or drill press and use a grinding wheel to flatten it back out past the broken point.  Then put it in the vice and cut the center out with a Dremel tool grinding disc leaving only the edges.  This creates two fly cutter blades to act as a hole saw.  Cutting through the thin layer of copper into the circuit board is all that is needed.

Don't try to hold the board in your hand.  The drill press WILL drag it out of your hand the slice up your precious work.  First drill mounting holes in the board and use some screws to hold it to a block of wood.  The wood can be fastened safely into the vice of the drill press allowing for precision machining.  Lower the bit into the board until the copper is machined away leaving an island of copper and a recessed circle of board substrate.  Don't go the whole way through the board.

Once the board is laid out with islands it can be populated using good radio frequency layout practices.  Component leads can be cut short.  In the example below the board is cut with a strip at the top to feed Vcc power to components, where the rest of the board is left for a ground plane.

Here we see the DIP package of an Op Amp floating above the copper clad.  This is done by making "stilts" of components leads.  Once the DIP part of the component is finished, it can be incorporated into the copper-clad board.

When working at VHF frequencies this construction method works very well to keep leads short.  Islands can be drilled and later bridged with short jumps of clipped leads.  I have created two islanding bits.  The larger one can accommodate a hole drilled in the center if needed, while the small bit is good for just a few component leads that must be joined together.

Don't be stifled by a lack of printed circuit boards while experimenting with electronics.  There are many useful circuits that can be manufactured in this way.  If additional RF shielding is required, card stock can be sprayed with contact cement to facilitate the adhesion of ordinary kitchen aluminum foil.  In the photo I sacrificed an old Dilbert comic strip printed on cardstock with Omega advertisements on the opposite side.

The card stock is easily folded up to provide the RF shielding that may be required.  In this project photo below, the entire circuit board is RF shielded leaving only the inductor adjustment slug exposed for alignment tuning.