Make your own 1x1 22 IO pin Ardunio Compatible

Tested ExtraCore boards and kits are now available for sale from Rugged Circuits.

What is it?
This Instructable will give you all the files and information you need to make your own Arduino Compatible in small surface mount package.

It requires a board manufactured to about 9mil precision. I recommend having the board manufactured at BatchPCB.com, Sunstone.com or your favorite board house.

We will be using a hot plate reflow method. It's pretty easy and the components in this project tolerate the heat pretty well. I have not used a solder mask. Surface tension is your friend, but I did get some speckles on the boards and had to fix up one bridge. So feel free to make one if you know how. Solder masks won't be covered here. Note: The fine commentators over at Hack A Day noted that you can actually do this project with a regular soldering iron using a method called "Tack and Drag." So, if you don't want to get a hot plate and solder paste, you have choices. That's the magic of DIY.

Is this Instructable for you?
If you like Arduino and think you might like to learn how to do surface mount soldering, this is a great project to start with. If you don't know about Arduino, you should get a development board and try it out. This isn't a great beginner's Arduino Compatible. It needs an external voltage regulator and it's small form factor isn't as friendly as the full sized boards. If you ever built a breadboard Arduino you will feel right at home here.

Can I modify this Instructable to do something custom?
You could make an Arduino with an on board compass, or on board robot controls. If you know how to make something work with Atmega328 you can move it on board with these files as a jumping off place.

What good is an Arduino anyway?
Just search Instructables for "Arduino". This clone is really good for adding cores to existing projects or embedding in projects where space is at a premium. If there is enough interest this could be manufactured for $10-$15 (estimated retail) each. Consider liking the page on Facebook if you are interested in getting in on a "group buy" or just think this cool.

What should I already know?
You should know your way around the Arduino IDE well enough to "burn the blink program" and have some practice wiring up an Arduino with simple circuits. It helps if you can already solder some. If you know how to make PCB's or have ever build a "boarduino" you will be fine.

You will need the ability to open a command prompt in windows (or Linux), change directories and run programs as directed. The directions assume you are running Windows. If you run Linux I have faith you will figure it out.

Is this physically demanding at all?
You will need decent eye sight, a fair amount of hand eye co-ordination and good fine motor control. The griddle is also hot, so parts of this are sweaty work despite being physically easy

Open source goodies
The board is open source with a Creative Commons non-commercial license. You can get the eagle files from GitHub if you want to modify the board or use it as a jumping off point for your own clone.

https://github.com/dustinandrews/ExtraCore

This looks hard but I want one, can I just buy one?
Yep, for sale from Rugged Circuits. Follow @dustin1970

Step 1 Tools you will need

Physical Tools

• Electric skillet or griddle
• Good ventilation
• Fine tweezers that are not even a little magnetized. Plastic is OK.
• Fine tweezers that can take 250 degrees F. Magetized is OK, clearly plastic is not.
• Magnifying glass. Depending on your eyes, higher magnification might be helpful.
• Solder paste
• Syringe or heavy duty zip top bag with a needle hole in the corner for applying paste
• Sewing needle
• Soldering Iron (Adjustable if at all possible)
• Fine solder wick
• Solderless breadboard and jumpers.
• 1-3 spare LEDs and 220-1k ohm resistors. (Tools since you can re-use them after this project)
• Any arduino compatible or ISP known to work with Atmega chips. These instructions assume an Arduino loaded with ArduinoISP
• A PC, these instructions assume windows. Linux will also work for sure.
• 5v FTDI breakout or cable or know how to do without.

Software

• WinAvr
• Arduino IDE
• Optiboot boot loader.

Note: You can use another bootloader if you wish, but you are on your own for burning the fuzes correctly. Messing up the fuzes can brick a chip, and the on board resonator will make it impossible to recover with even a high voltage programmer.

Comments

[zen.webb]

What is the reason for the low-pass filter for the AVCC? I haven't seen one before, and I'm wondering if its strictly necessary for my project :)

[dustinandrews]

It's recommended in the data sheet. If you aren't doing a lot of analog work it's safe to skip. They Pro-mini doesn't have it. The parts are super cheap though, so I added it.

[dustinandrews]

Please share your thoughts on the form factor. Is 1 inch square a good idea? Would it be better to elongate the board so all the IO pins can reach a breadboard? Please share your thoughts here or on the Facebook page.

[putyn]

i really like the idea of the 1inch board, are they for sale? any chance you ship internationally ?
only one thing i would change use bigger components like 0805 (which can be soldered easy by hand with a soldering iron) and add a voltage regulator and maybe an ISP header

[dustinandrews]

http://t.co/rNdndMM ExtraCore 0805 version gerber files up. Untested. If you want to add on board voltage regulation it would need to go on the back. Anyone know how to DIY two sided SMT boards?

[putyn]

can you maybe post the eagle files ?:D about 2 side smt boards you could try toner transfer but i don't think youll get a a good result - you could try something like this http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-PCBs-with-an-easy-UV-methode/

[dustinandrews]

The eagle .brd and .sch file is there too. I haven't tried toner transfer on this design. I think with parchment paper you might just make it work. I just get them made. I do toner transfer for 10 mil clearance stuff all the time.

[putyn]

i don't think i can't make that board in hause cause of the vias under the atmega but ill get it made at http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order - really cheap service for small boards

[scottinnh]

Is what you are referring to (vias under the atmega ) considered to be a "blind or buried via"?

The page for DorkbotPDX says " No blind/buried vias.".

I'll admit I don't know what I am talking about, so I'm genuinely asking for confirmation. I've only etched a few single sided boards, and was looking for a cool small board to send to DorkBotPDX, and quantity 3 for $5 would be a super deal indeed!

[dustinandrews]

blind and buried vias are ones that are inside multi-layer boards or covered on 2 layer boards. This board doesn't have any of these so you should be fine with about any service. Let me know how it comes out. There are still kits with boards available at RuggedCircuits.com as well.

[scottinnh]

Thanks Dustin for the clarification.

RuggedCircuits has a good price, good looking product, and I follow the feed on Facebook. If I need to buy a third Arduino (or permanently install one somewhere) I'd buy one.

The only reason for me to want to DorkBotPDX an ExtraCore is simply to get some experience ordering PCBs from them, and the SMT assembly. This looks hand-solderable, but I'm going to build a reflow setup soon.

[dustinandrews]

I encourage you to go the DorkBotPDX route, but only so I can see how the boards come out. :)

The crystal is pretty hard to hand solder. Otherwise it's not too difficult. I've removed and repaired crystals with my hand iron, so it's doable if you have good coordination.

[dustinandrews]

I'd love to see some photos when you are done!

[putyn]

sure ill keep you posted

[dustinandrews]

If you hurry you can buy some before the 9th of September 2011 on Kickstarter. I might design an off-board regulator and ISP header shield or daughter board. The flexibility to choose a cheap regulator for general duty or a big one for running lots of LEDs or whatever is one of the things I like about this design.

[putyn]

yeah ive seen the kickstarter page but i can't find the FAQ to see the cost of the shipping (cause im not from US) , anyway i posted your link on google plus so other people can see it
any thoughts on making the board using bigger components ?

[dustinandrews]

The FAQ is at the bottom of the main kickstarter page. Postal rates are $10 to Canada, Australia, UK and Germany. It's probably $10 to your country unless you have reason to believe it is hard to ship stuff to you from the USA.

[djmanning]

I tried using an Uno with the following sketch loaded:

https://github.com/WestfW/OptiLoader

connect d11-13, d10->RST, GND, 5v -> VCC as explained in the instructable.

It worked first time. No need for avrdude. I just tested the blink sketch on my soldered Extracore and it's happily blinking away.

Cheers,

Don

[dustinandrews]

Glad to hear it works!

[djmanning]

I've checked my solder joints and make it through all the steps in programming using a Nano 2.3 as my arduino helper. instead of 0x1e9514, i get 0x1e950f. All programming steps complete without errors. When I move over to programming, the board doesn't respond and no flashing LED. check connections but I'm stuck. Anyone else seen 0x1e950f and know what it might be pointing toward?
Thanks,

[dustinandrews]

0x1e950f is the m328p atmega chip. It's not exactly the same one I used, but it's supported out of the box by WinAVR and should be virtually identical (I think it's just differs in some low voltage features).

In the last command Avrdude should spend some time reading the program back out of the chip. Is that successful?

Are you using an FTDI chip or cable? Hook it up and check for +5v on both of the VCC pins.

Try putting your chip in a breadboard and powering it with +5v and briefly ground the reset pin. The LED should flash as the chip boots up.

You can also try the stock Arduino bootloader. The Ardunio IDE should be able to flash the chip since it has a 0x1e950f signature.

Failing that, can you describe where you got your board and how you made it? Maybe post some photos of your connections?

[djmanning]

I posted the results of programming the bootloader here: http://shorttext.com/oDay0CX

Cheers,

Don

[djmanning]

That's strange. I was part of the Kickstarter group and got 5 kits. This was the first build of the 5 kits. The chip definitely has m328p stamped on it. I also have a Ruggedcircuits built Extracore that works fine and has m328p also stamped on it. I have the output of all the programming in a text file if you're interested.
Attached is an image of the soldered board. I followed the instructable for soldering and connecting the board to my Nano to load the bootloader. I soldered headers for only the minimum needed to program the board.

I do have an FTDI TTL-232R-3v3 that I've used to program other Arduinos, mostly pro minis. I attached it to the Ruggedcircuits one and loaded a basic sketch without issue. Is there a way to program the bootloader using FTDI cable and not use the Nano? I don't think so but I thought I would ask.

I can hook back up the Nano to the Extracore and shoot that picture if needed but the programming output might be more help. I couldn't get a good picture with all the connections between the EC and the Nano.

Is there a forum or support email that I'm missing? Let me know if this is the best place to post questions.

Cheers,

Don

[dustinandrews]

You probably just need to supply 5v to VCC. Be sure to disconnect the 5v pin to the FTDI so you don't overload it.

This is a great place for questions.

You could hack the fuses to run the chip at 8mhz and then 3.3v should work, but that's untested and unsupported. I have bricked chips messing up fuses.

[xl97]

nice!

like it alot!

I do feel it needs to come 'with' a vRegulator though.. (on board)

also bring elongating and bring all pins to edge is nice touch and helps end users for sure. (IMHO)

[dustinandrews]

I find power regulator choice is very project dependent. A cheap one is great for prototypes and things that plug in, but you might want a fancy buck-boost chip for a battery powered project.

lacking a good one-size fits all, I left it off for the Maker to decide.

[dustinandrews]

The version with 0805 sized components is complete and tested. It's easier for humans and robots to manufacture. This Instructable still lists the original smaller components, but has links to the new design files.

[32teeth]

hey there
downloaded the sch files from the git repo. produces an invalid data error. just a heads up

[dustinandrews]

Thanks for the notice. I will look into as soon as possible.

[dustinandrews]

I double checked the file and it worked just fine for me in Eagle. Do you have the latest version? I just right clicked the "raw" link on the github and "Save as..." to my eagle projects folder. Opened right up.

[cardinalflyer]

Have you tried iteadstudios? $9.90 for 10 boards. I just ordered 20 of a similar design, with additional grounds to make connecting things a little easier.
I also added a header to make connecting an ISP programmer easier once things are connected to the other pins.
http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/MiniFlatpackRev2.jpg

[dustinandrews]

I think you pasted the wrong URL.

[cardinalflyer]

Try again, I think I copied the file name and then forgot to do the actual upload.
http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/MiniFlatpackRev2.jpg

[cardinalflyer]

"2 more analog I/O pins than the Pro Mini"
How do you figure that? The Promini has all 6 Analog I/O pins; 2 of them are just not right at the card edge, but are located behind A2/A3. I use them often.

A6 & A7 are not brought out; they are analog input only.

[dustinandrews]

You have a point that might description might not be totally accurate. My board brings out A6 and A7. They are analog (input) but not PWM.

[dustinandrews]

You can get kits or completed boards on Kickstarter from now until Friday Sep 9, 2011 @ 2:02pm PDT. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/988159748/extracore-arduino-compatible

[dustinandrews]

I have 2 prototype boards that work, but the holes are a little to small for standard headers. I am giving them away. Like this photo of one compared to a quarter on Facebook by Friday August 12th if you want to be in the drawing.

[Scucci]

For PCB's I've always used Seeed Studio. For about $10 you'll get 10 boards that are 5cm x 5cm max (can do any size up to that though). That would let you elongate the board however you want to. The last batch of boards I ordered from them I got in about a month... so it ends up being a bit better of a deal.

Also, adding in a bridgeable/jumperable pad for D13's LED would be a nice touch as a lot of people go out of their way to disable or remove that LED as it steals a little juice from D13. It could be left off, of course, but I do use it every once and a while as a test to see if stuff in my code is triggering correctly.

Either way, nice project. :)

[dustinandrews]

You could also just leave the LED off when you make the kit. I see some people take them off so LEDs won't dim on 13. You could also use a shift register or add a transistor to a LED to get full power from the VCC rail. I like having them.

[doctek]

Nice contribution to DIY surface mount! Here are some other references you and your readers may find useful:

The surface mount soldering process using a hot plate was presented here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Extreme_Surface_Mount_Soldering/

A suitable feedback controller and method was added here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Closing-the-Loop-on-Surface-Mount-Soldering/

A great place to get solder boards is here
http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order

Surface mount technology is great fun and very doable with the hot plate method.