Arduinos are great, but if you’ve ever tried to mount one on a baseplate or inside an enclosure, you know it can be a pain. While there are some great enclosuresspecifically designed for an Arduino, if you just have a regular box that you want to use, you have to measure and mark out the holes yourself. If all you have is a ruler and a pencil, this isn’t the easiest thing to do.
In the process of working on a robot project, I needed to draw up an Arduino hole pattern and outline in CAD as part of the design. I figured others could use a similar drawing — after some polishing up, I had this Arduino hole dimension drawing (PDF).
You can use it as a reference to the dimensions or as a drilling guide. It is drawn at a scale of 1:1 on a standard 8.5×11 sheet, so you can print it out, lay the drawing down on your mounting surface, and use a pre-drill punch directly on the paper. I’d recommend you use the punch rather than just drilling through the paper, to avoid a “walking” drill bit. If you don’t have a proper punch, you can just use a sharpened nail (we’re not fancy here).
In order to get it to print 1:1, you have to turn off print scaling in Adobe Acrobat. Somewhere in the Acrobat print dialog there’s going to be a “Page Scaling” option. Set it to “None”. There’s a 1-inch scale mark next to the title block in case you want to verify that it printed correctly.
The drawing has dimensions for both the regular Arduino and the Arduino MEGA, and the hole pattern is good for all Arduinos going back to the NG (though the diameter of the holes might be different). The new UNO boards added a fourth mounting hole, which is indicated. It should also work with most “full-size” Arduino clones, such as the EMSL Diavolino and the Seeed Studios Seeeduino, as well as the Netduino boards.
Here’s an interview that appeared on “Ask an Engineer” with Chris Walker from netduino – CHOCK FULL OF INFO!
NEW PRODUCT! netduino (.NET-programmable microcontroller) – Netduino is an open source electronics platform using the .NET Micro Framework. Featuring a 32-bit microcontroller and a rich development environment. Suitable for engineers and hobbyists alike.
Input! Output! Interface with switches, sensors, LEDs, serial devices, and more. Netduino offers 20 GPIOs combined with SPI, I2C, 2 UARTs (1 RTS/CTS), 4 PWM channels and 6 ADC channels. Code! Debug! Repeat! .NET Micro Framework combines the ease of high-level coding and the raw features of microcontrollers. Enjoy event-based programming, multi-threading, line-by-line debugging, breakpoints and more.
And its very expandable just like the Arduino! 3rd-party accessories offer pre-built functionality like GPS location, servo control and battery power. Netduino is also pin-compatible with shields. 3rd-party drivers are required for some Arduino shields. Design files included. Netduino is an open source electronics platform. All design files and source code are included. Learn from the designs. Remix, and enjoy the
freedom of open source. Comes with a free microUSB cable and 4 rubber bumpers.
We love these! Waterproof OtterBox cases! Make your project stand up to serious abuse with an otterbox, a true waterproof drybox that is also tough enough to get run over. Made of clear polycarbonate, you’ll be able to keep an eye on any indicator LEDs.
We have these in 3 sizes: small (#1000), medium (#2000) and large (#3000). They’re ideal for projects with wireless components like GPS loggers, GPRS/GSM cellular or xbee but can also act as a portable “pack & hack” project box.
Comes with a lanyard and there are slots on the side for strapping the box onto something. Its a tough box so it will be hard to drill into it.
Waterproof, crushproof & watertight
Perfect for protecting your electronic project indoors and outdoors
Patented drybox, designed to handle full submersions—up to 100 ft
NEW PRODUCT – Wii controller (Nunchuck / Wiichuck). This is a generic Wii Nunchuck controller, we haven’t tried it with a Wii but it does work great with the Video Game shield, and all the microcontroller code we tried. There’s a 3-axis accelerometer inside as well as a resistive 2-axis joystick and two buttons. You can grab the data over two i2c data lines. There’s tons of example code for all sorts of microcontrollers for these guys!
Whoops! We missed our mail bag post last week, so here’s the one that we were going to post!
Really appreciate the tutorials. Having a blast playing with them. Blinky things are fun. Our kids are getting into them too. We’ll have another order ready for payday. thanx – doug
BBC News – The modders bending tech to their will, 6 minute long documentary-style short on the Kinect hackers (and they mention Sony a little too at the end for suing makers, hackers and innovators)…
When you buy a new piece of technology – like a phone, or a games console – you most likely unpack it, plug it in, and use it according to the instructions. But there is a particular type of tech-head who would prefer to take it apart, see how it works, and then make it do something else. Scores of enthusiasts did exactly that to Microsoft’s new motion sensing games controller, Kinect, back in November. Marc Cieslak looks at the “modders” pushing devices far beyond their intended capabilities.
To make the maze I used a box of MDF 25cm x 25cm and lid of another box in MDF 20cm x 20cm, which was mounted to the maze itself with bits and pieces of a handle sticks “giant” (5mm in diameter), a abandoned toy from my 3-year-old daughter. Four pieces of plywood served to make the middle frame. In this framework has been set the first servo axis that has stuck in the middle of one side of the cover 20×20 and is responsible for movement in the Y axis. The second servo, which is responsible for movement in X axis, is attached to the larger box and has its axis stuck on one side of the intermediate frame so as to be perpendicular to the first servo.
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The code, which can be seen below, was adapted from code found on this site: http://www.windmeadow.com/node/42
I replaced the piece of code that prints the values on the screen for control of the servos. To improve the stability of the code make an average of the last 20 readings, adjust the scale and apply the results to the servos.
What is “Ask an engineer”? From the electronics enthusiast to the professional community – “Ask an Engineer” has a little bit of everything for everyone. If you’re a beginner, or a seasoned engineer – stop in and see what we’re up to! We have demos of projects and products we’re working on, we answer your engineering and electronics questions and we have a trivia question + give away each week. Mosfet the cat stops by too. Previous chats can be viewed at http://www.adafruit.com/ask
We’ve been overwhelmed with the response (over 45 logos submitted!) and many of you have asked for an more time. So we are extending the OSHW Logo Submission Deadline till MARCH 3rd!
With the Open Hardware Definition, we would like to release a logo for Open Hardware to be attached to the definition, and used to brand Open Hardware. Please propose your logos, or comment on the below ones at the Definition Forum under the thread OSHW LOGO.
Criteria:
The logo for the Open Hardware Definition must:
Be easy to print/see on a PCB
Be easy to print/see on a Schematic document
Signify Open-ness
Submission
Submit your logo in jpg or png format to the Definition Forum under the thread OSHW Logo. Please include the following information:
Title:
Designer:
Submitted by: (if different than Designer)
Date:
Description:
To look at the logos submitted to date, check the logo page
Selection: The selection process will be a combination of a committe pre-selection and then a public vote of the community. More details to come soon.
Prize: Getting to be the person who designed the OSHW LOGO!
When we designed the wave shield we needed a way to generate a fairly clear audio signal. One way to do that is to PWM a pin and then filter it, but you need to have a good filter, and a fast PWM. Another way to do it is to use a R2R resistor DAC which works well but takes a lot of space. In the end we found this nice 12-bit DAC in a through-hole DIP package. It takes 3-5V and has a easy serial interface. If you ever need a DAC but can’t use a R2R or PWM, this is very easy to breadboard.
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
FEED