I am admittedly inexperienced with digital electronics, but it seems that current methods are inadequate for holding circuit boards while wiring up -- consisting from what I've seen of multiple circuit boards connected to each other by wiring left to float around on an antistatic mat. This offends my
mechanical sensibilities: I am working on an Arduino project and I want the various boards and things (arduino, servo driver, power supply, servo, battery) to be securely held in place in an organized way, not left to move willy-nilly on the tabletop, resulting in a snarl of wires and concerns about pins on the bottom of the boards touching the table surface.
One solution would be a holder product consisting of, on one end, an ordinary electronics standoff with screw for secure connection onto the electronics board, and on the other end, a weight of at least a pound or so. Thus, the arduino board and each other piece of electronics could be given some weight, to stay where they are put. The standoff and weight would be electrically conductive, for grounding, best used on an anti-static mat.
A more elaborate fix would be a mechanical-electrical breadboard: a board designed to mechanically anchor a variety of circuit boards, electrical breadboards, and other components. A simple cork board with push-pins would be better than nothing, but lacks elegance.
What I propose is a mechanical breadboard consisting of a scaled-down optics table (i.e. a grid of #4-40 holes on half-inch centers rather than an optics table's grid of 1/4-20 holes on 1" centers), with optics-table-style pedestal posts with adjustable clamps to lock the pedestal posts in any desired position on the table. The pedestal posts would act as standoffs, being first screwed into the mounting holes on the electronics, then anchored with clamping forks (same as pedestal posts used on an optics table). This would enable elegant, precise support of circuit boards on a single little table or baseplate. A baseplate with a grid of small holes would also be convenient for fastening other items (batteries, etc.) using fork clips and small posts.
Something about a solid metal baseplate, properly grounded, with all the circuit boards and wiring neatly arranged on it, really speaks to me. The elegance of a scaled-down optics table and the possibility for securely and neatly anchoring everything seems great.
I see some people have 3D-printed holders for an arduino board, a breadboard, and related components. This is neat, but is limited to one layout, whereas a breadboard is reconfigurable.
I have also seen photos of setups where people simply leave the components resting on an antistatic mat, without attempting to anchor them. I don't like this, but this seems to be the standard approach. Perhaps the electrical people and the mechanical people don't talk enough to each other.
A simple 12" x 12" breadboard with a grid of #4-40 holes, and scaled-down fork clips and pedestal mounts, would work great for holding electronics for prototyping. Let's bring the elegance and precision of optical breadboarding to electronics.