If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll be quite familiar with our use of the Othermill as an integrated tool for prototyping circuits. One of the biggest challenges in quickly prototyping electronics is the lack of available through-hole packages for use with solderless breadboards.

If the chip you want to use is only available in a surface-mount package, you’ll be in search of a compatible breakout board or hope that your design works as intended. Whether it comes to school engineering project or a startup with a tight deadline, neither of these options is all that attractive.

One of the great uses I’ve found for the Othermill is quickly breaking out surface-mount packages for use with a breadboard. With some quick work in EAGLE CAD, you can have your surface-mount package up and running in less than an hour!

Here’s a typical breakout board:

We made these little breakout boards to evaluate this high-side pMOSFET:

With a bit of careful soldering, you can break out some really exotic packages, like this one:

Solderless breadboards rock!

If you have any questions or want to share the cool ways you’re using your Othermill, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at [email protected].