Arduino Mega Prototyping Kit

thingiverse

This is a lasercut plate to hold a breadboard and an arduino mega or uno, plus some dials and switches. It allows for easy prototyping and demonstrations on the go. My idea with this is to lower the boundary to testing and prototyping my ideas as quickly as possible. If I have to make a circuit board, or start soldering to test something, I'll be much less likely to do it than if I can just plug everything in in a few seconds. Instructions Parts list: Arduino mega, Uno or similar. You can get these pretty much anywhere, and I'd reccomend the mega since it's got IO pins to spare. Qty 4 - 20mm M3 spacers. Altronics H1250, $5.10 for a pack of 8. http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=H1250 Qty Many - Some Misc M3 screws to fasten these in place. Qty 3 - 16mm linear 10K pot, with spline. R2225 from Altronics http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=R2225 Qty 3 - Stylish plastic knobs. For that touch of class H6109 from Altronics http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=H6109 Qty 3 - toggle switch S1315 from Altronics http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=S1315 Some long standard breadboard, is also needed. I found some that was 165mm long and 55mm tall. They usually come with adhesive backing, but if it doesn't, just use a few lines of double sided tape to secure it. An assortment of nice hookup wires are handy. Here's some short ones in Male-Male:http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/premium-jumper-wire-50-piece-rainbow-assortment-m-m-6 The plastic tub is a Fisher 1H-032 box, which has a nice snap fastener on the lid and is very robust. about $7 at 'Howard's Storage World', but a few places have them. Dimensions are rectangular and about 66H,136D & 195W outside, and 60H, 128D and 186W inside (mm). Cutting: Use the DXF file, and make sure to set up your power levels so that everything except the outline and the holes are engraving or scoring, not cutting. My laser software doesn't allow me to import different colours respectfully, so this isn't done yet. Assembly: Use the adhesive tape and secure the breadboard onto the scored cutout showing it's position. Use the spacers and some M3 nuts and bolts and secure the arduino to the table. Put the plate together with all the switches and knobs, and wire them up. I used 5V and 0V on ends of the pots, and had all the switches connect an input pin to ground when on, and float when off. If you use analog inputs to the left of the board, and get 5V and 0V from the digital connector, you can still mount a standard shield on the arduino, which is handy. Cut the holes to allow the USB & DC jack to pass through your box.