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You remember those electronix kits where you connected components by sticking jumper wires into little coil-spring terminals. Where do I find those terminals on internets? Or do I have to buy a bunch of springs and make my own?

Actually, any kind of solderless terminal will do if it's:
-- small
-- single (not part of a block or strip)
-- has its own apartment
-- can handle a decent amount of the old volt-amp
-- requires little or no trimming/bending of component leads

I want to experiment with a bunch of leftover tubes I've accumulated, and I thought I'd set up some chunky little "breadboard" modules. Not those plastic breadboards with rows and columns of little holes. I want to lay things out so that they resemble the "standard" circuit diagram for a tube, to help me visualize things better.

I just need some sort of solderless terminal system that will let me swap components easily. I suppose I could do something with alligator clips, but I think all those clip ends would clutter things up and be too likely to short-circuit.

Anybody?

Could you not just use large turrets on a board?

Terminal Binding Posts. I keep meaning to grab some of these for prototyping.

Ha! I forgot all about those old kits. I checked and you can still get them online (30 odd dollars). I havn't seen the springs individually though. If your working with eight and nine pin stuff, you can get the turret boards with sockets mounted (at AES etc). Then you can just mount them above whatever your working on. Alligator clips are still pretty popular. The serious guys solder them at the very ends and snip it when they're done (not great for layout work though). The spring idea sounds cool, I just don't know how well they would be at 300-400 volts. I guess if the plating is good on the springs (no oxidation), and they provide good mechanical connection, they should work great.

Mike wrote:Could you not just use large turrets on a board?

It would look similar if I used turrets; same general idea. I need something that will grip wire ends firmly without solder, though, and I think turrets don't provide a firm connection until you add solder. However, I am definitely interested in using turrets on whatever gadgetry I end up with.

Those binding posts or similar speaker terminals may be the way to go. I've thought about those square speaker terminals with the spring-loaded levers, if I can use them as individual units and not pairs/quads stuck to a plate.

I may still take my multimeter up to the hardware store and see if a garden-variety spring makes a good conductor. I don't think the high voltage would bother a spring, as I won't be trying to drop mega voltage across the spring itself. It would be in series with much higher impedances. Good point about plating/coating/oxidation. Those kits' springs were made of nice shiny (plated?) metal, not that soapy-feeling gray stuff.