USB Freeform Arduino

This is a project in attempting to improve it predecessor "Freeform Arduino" by putting it in an enclosure and having it serve the similar purposes as "Palm Arduino Kit" and "Palm Arduino II" which I can carry it in my pocket and be available to use, and to connect to easy available power source specifically USB port.
.
I designed this "USB Freeform Arduino" with USB connector to be enclosed inside a 35mm film canister.

The biggest challenge is how I couid fasten the "none PCB Arduino" to it own enclosure, in this case cylinder shape canister?
The answer was not an easy one. But the solution I found was an easy thing to do, and it was an excellent solution that we quite familiar with.

"How about glue it in!", I said to myself.

Step 1: Parts and Tools

All the parts are about the same as used in it predecessor, "Freeform Arduino" except that I used film canister instead of the antistatic tube, with an addition USB type A connector.

Schematic shown below is comprised of the minimum components and could be used FTDI cable to upload the sketch.
On the actual USB Freeform Arduino did not  included the 1K resistor and 3mm LED that connected to pin D13 as in the schematic.

Parts

These are the minimum components to get Arduino up and running.
(1x)  ATmega168/328 preloaded with Arduino Bootloader
(1x) 16 Mhz Resonator
(2x) 0.1uF Ceramic Capacitors 
(1x) 3mm red LED (Only needed for testing purpose only)
(1x) 1K Resistor
(1x) 10K Resistor
(1x) 6-pin Male Header (as the connector to FTDI cable to upload the sketch)
(2x)  1x14 Female Receptacle

Additional Materials:
Hookup Wire
35mm Film Canister
USB Standard type A cable (Male Connector)


Tools

Solder iron and Solder station
Diagonal Cutter
Pliers
X-Acto Knife
Wire Stripper
SolderSucker

Miniature Files
Hand Drill
Micro drill bit for Hand drill
Masking tape
Super Glue

Comments

[Electronickid4314]

In step 5 why r there more connectors stacked on the pins

[sath02]

There are two 14-pin female connectors on each side, and they match the pins on ATmega168/328, which also have 14 pins on each side of the micro controller.

[lean04]

awesome! i´ll try to build one of these. It´s quite handy for small projects

[sath02]

Thanks.
Looking forward to see yours soon.
Yes, it is very handy!

[mohtaprashantrocks]

I intend to program my controller in an uno and then use it for final project like this , so what parts can be excluded ? I mean if I do not need to interface with a computer what is the bare minimum I need?

[sath02]

Thanks for your interest!

If you want to use Uno as the programmer to upload the sketch.
You could eliminate, (see schematic in Step 1)

3mm LED and 1K resistor (the debug LED),
6-pin FTDI male header,
0.1uF capacitor that connect between DTR pin on FTDI and RESET pin on Arduino

You probably need to add,
28-Pin DIP socket (http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_526248_-1)
So you could remove the micro-controller from the circuit, reload the sketch (using UNO) in case you want to change or add some more stuff in your circuit.
Then insert it back to the 28-pin DIP socket.

Hope to see you project appears on Instructables in the near future!

Good luck,

[suicidal.banana]

really cool :D now, think up some nice bent shields? :)

[sath02]

Thanks!
OK, I will. ;)

[duncan_a]

Where is 85rocco getting Nanos at $12.88 including shipping???

This is a neat project and a great diy idea - good one!!!

[85rocco]

I got mine on ebay., just search "arduino nano v3.0", you'll find lots of them. If you're interested, a couple of things to look for in addition to price, some of them come without header pins, others have the pins but you need to solder them in yourself, mine came with pins already installed and included a usb cable.

[diy_bloke]

There is even cheaper. how about 11.99?
http://dx.com/p/nano-v3-0-avr-atmega328-p-20au-module-board-usb-cable-for-arduino-118037?item=3

[hankenstien]

ive used www.dexstream.com / DX for a year or two now, and i must admit their prices are hard to beat, but their shipping times are about a month to usa,, the last item I ordered, they sent me wrong item, it was a charger for a camera! It didn't even have a standard us 110 plug I ordered a 4 channel RF remote control key chain & attachment to make a 4 channel remote relay with an arduino for my car. had to wait a month to find out tha tmy plans were ruined by them again!
THEN I had to fight to get my full refund they only wanted to give me a 3rd of what I paid, I finally got them to refund especially when i brought up an old order i made in January, according to their website everything shipped out, and it had been1.5 months, so i said whats going on they said sorry we for got to ship, I had ordered approx 5 things 2 came a month later, they said 1 was back ordered and the other they for got to ship again, in the end I never got full order waited 6 months for a partial order. I never used to have any issues with them, but, look around there forums, their is alot of it going on in fact after the first order mess up, i had to make a new account because i complained about thrii service they banned me from their forums, anything that I said negative about them was deleted or never showed up, then finally I made a new account. I now pay the extra 2 bucks to have better odds of actually getting it but quicker soon. I just had to chime in on this, and I do hope they get there stuff together, because there assortment is great. and unbeatable prices, but when you wait a month or 6 to get what you didn't order you lose faith. of course like I said i used them for a few years and they were fine then bad then fine, and seems they're in a bad spell again? Im not chancing my money.

[dwebb5]

Nice find! They even include a USB cable!

[diy_bloke]

yep, hard to beat and free shipping :-)

[sath02]

I saw some on eBay. Some are on sale for $10.38 with free shipping.

Thanks for the compliment.

[diy_bloke]

for some reason i can never find anything on eBay :-)
but if you really want cheap microcontrolers: TI is selling a board with a microcontroller+ one spare microcontroller for only a few bucks. I think it is called the 'Launchpad' with an MPS430 or something

[somnonaut]

I am trying to get a single channel of EEG derived from 2 inputs, and perform an FFT with some output via colored LEDs. Will the Nano provide enough power and/or breadboard to avail this setup of the possible other chips that may be required to do this. My specialty is Sleep, not electronics, though I understand them. I am at a slight disadvantage not knowing the capabilities of the Arduino models. Any help appreciated. www.z-eeg.com www.somnonaut.com

[85rocco]

That's pretty cool but I don't quite get the point.

If you want a small Arduino, why not just get an Arduino Nano, it's super cheap, I paid $12.88 for mine including shipping, it gives you all of the functionality of the regular sized Arduino Uno plus two extra analog inputs. Here's a picture of my Nano next to an Atmega328 chip.

[85rocco]

For some reason the picture didn't attach, here it is.

[sath02]

Thanks for the kind words. :)

I did this for fun!
I'm just a hobbyist who want to learn more about Arduino.
It is easy enough to pay $12.88 for Arduino Nano and put it in the film canister. Then you learned nothing about it.

What I learned from what i did was
the minimum amount of components that are needed to make Arduino
It's not necessary to put the micro controller on the PCB
And the best of all, I don't have to pay anything, all the parts I already have it laying around. Only if I run of of the ATmega328, I could spend about $6 plus $1 shipping.
but mainly it just for the FUN of it and may be I could win the prize from it too by submit it to the contest at instructables.

[diy_bloke]

i definitely like the idea (that is why i read the ibble)

but just for argument sake, about what you learned:
-the minimum amount of components that are needed to make an Arduino: That is info widely available Like 'Really barebone Arduino
-It is not necessary to put the micro controller on the PCB: You have made 2 Palm Arduino's and a Freeform Arduino and you still did not know?
-you dont have to pay anything as you had the parts laying around: wether that is really 'not paying anything' is a matter of interpretation :-) but you dont need to build anything for that knowledge :-)

Anyway, seriously nice project. I have a nano but build several arduino's myself. Use the nano for development and then put the program in another board. Considering the prices nowadays: selfbuilding can be a bit un-economic, but it is still nice to do. (I get a nano for 12 us dollars and build a basic arduino for about 7-8 euro including a PCB and a 7805 power supply

In this case though I kinda like the creativity of the enclosure :-)

[sath02]

diy_bloke,
Thanks for the kind words.

Your comments are all make sense!
My comments were meant to be for 85rocco, since he is the one who did not get the point of why I'm doing this! I should have address his name in the answers.

[diy_bloke]

:-) that was clear already. Nevertheless a nano for 12 bucks that then already has a usb connection, is kinda tempting :-) But still, building one, even for a dollar cheaper, gives satisfaction

[sath02]

That's right! Satisfaction! ;)

[amandaghassaei]

very cool idea! have you done any projects with it yet?

[sath02]

Hi Amanda,

Thanks,

This USB Freeform Arduino idea came out yesterday. And I did finished this instructables yesterday as well.

So, I have not done any projects with it yet!
But I do have a plan for this thing, and I will post instructables as it's done.

[amandaghassaei]

nice, excited to see what you do with it!

[Lectric Wizard]

Great idea ,Thanks for this !

[sath02]

Thank you.