Darwin/Arduino Breakout 1 4
Contents
Arduino Breakout Shield v1.4
Overview
The Arduino Breakout Shield is a shield that plugs into an Arduino and provides all the Arduino pins as screw terminals. It is perfect for semi-permanent Arduino projects, or just general prototyping. It provides access to all the Arduino pins, as well as providing extra GND, 3.3v, 5v, and Supply voltage pins for convenience.
Version 1.4 fixes a potential short problem, and adds additional female headers to allow shield stacking.
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- You'll need a soldering toolkit to do most of this.
- Read our Electronics Fabrication Guide if you're new.
Get It!
Full Kit
Raw Components
Files
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You can download the electronics files from Sourceforge.
This file contains the following:
- GERBER files for getting it manufactured
- PDF files of the schematic, copper layers, and silkscreen
- Eagle source files for modification
- 3D rendered image as well as POVRay scene file
- exerciser code to test your board.
Schematic
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Interface
The pins map exactly to the regular Arduino pins. See the reference on the Arduino site for more information.
It also provides multiple outputs for the power pins, which helps when hooking up multiple devices.
There is a reset button located on the shield which will reset your Arduino when pressed, as well as a power-on LED that indicates that your Arduino is powered up.
Build It
Board Bugs (listed by version)
- No bugs yet, please report any you find to the forums.
Printed Circuit Board
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You can either buy this PCB from the RepRap Research Foundation, or you can make your own. The image above shows the professionally manufactured PCB ready for soldering. Its also cheap, only $5.00 USD.
Components
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<iframe src="http://parts.reprap.org/embed/module/Arduino+Breakout+v1.4" width="600" height="400" frameborder="0">Visit http://parts.reprap.org/embed/module/Arduino+Breakout+v1.4</iframe>
Soldering Instructions
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Prepare Arduino Pins
Insert the long ends of the pins into the Arduino. This will allow us to make a perfectly-fitting Arduino shield. There will be a few left over - you get to keep them.
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Solder Arduino Pins
The Arduino is hiding underneath the breakout board, pins uppermost. Place the board so that the short end of the pins stick through all the holes. Put the pins through the smaller set of holes. The larger set of holes will be for the second set of headers. Solder it into place.
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R1 - 560 ohm - Green Blue Brown
Take the board off the Arduino to solder the resistor. It can be inserted in any orientation.
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Reset BUTTON
You can insert the button in any orientation. It snaps into place for easy soldering.
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POWER
LEDs have polarity and must be inserted in the right orientation. Line up the flat side of the LED with the flat part of the circle on the silkscreen. If your LED has no flat, the short leg goes into the hole nearest the flat.
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Female Headers
Insert the female headers in the corresponding holes. There are two 1x6 headers and two 1x8 headers. It should be obvious which goes where. If you have another Arduino shield, you could put the female headers on it to help with soldering. Otherwise, just be careful to solder the female headers in so that they are straight and vertical.
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Screw Terminals
All 4 sets of terminals are the same size. Make sure the bigger openings are facing outside.
Clip the protruding legs from the screw terminals next to the large legend "GND" close to the board. They will still contact the top of the Arduino's USB socket but this is also connected to GND anyway.
Test It
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Now that you have your Arduino shield tested, you'll want to test it. Plug your Arduino into a computer, and if the POWER LED comes on, then you're good!
Use it!
You can wire up anything you like to the breakout board and use it for semi-permanent things (like driving a RepRap machine)
Shield Stacking
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Thanks to the new, second row of headers, you can now stack another shield on top of this one. You might have problems with it overlapping over the screw holes but most shields should be okay. Pictured here is a Protoshield by Lady Ada plugged into a breakout shield. Woo!