Solderless Breadboard

Solderless Breadboard

Arduino - Assistance For The Novice

I've compiled a brief tutorial on getting started with Arduino for the absolute beginner. I'll cover where to learn, what to buy, and where to go for help.

Why should you crafters be interested in Arduino? The Arduino platform, more-so than any other way of incorporating electronics into your projects, is geared towards do-it-yourselfers. It's open source (both on a hardware and software level), so the community plays a large role in its development and improvement. Crafting is a community endeavor; individuals share tips, tricks, techniques, skills, and materials all the time.

Arduino comes out of the same spirit. On a more practical level, you may just want to make your crafts more fun, interesting, and interactive by introducing some lights, motion, sound, or simple sensors. Stuffed toys can become glowing night-lights or cat-chasing robots, fibers can carry currents to make smart clothes, accessories, you name it. There's also an overlap in materials between crafting and circuit building that can lead to some non-traditional works in either category: threads, fabrics, paints, and glues with conductive properties introduce subtle ways to incorporate electronics in your crafting practice. Read on to start learning about Arduino! Add your Arduino tips and resources in the comments.

Where to Learn

First and foremost is the Arduino website. It's a huge repository of helpful information, but it can be overwhelming at first. I recommend Massimo Banzi's "Arduino Booklet" PDF as a contained introduction to the Arduino and physical computing in general Link. Tod Kurt has run classes about Arduino before, and has put his class presentation PDFs online. They're very comprehensive and great for beginners.

What to Buy - The absolute basics for learning the platform

The Board: I recommend the USB Arduino board, pre-assembled, for first-timers. Make sure it comes with a USB A-B cable.

A Solderless Breadboard: For attaching other components to your board; you can pick this up at Radioshack or Sparkfun.

LEDs (light-emmiting diodes): Most of the basic tutorials involve lights. You can pick these up at Radioshack (in the component drawers, one should be clearly labeled "LEDs"); just grab an assorted pack to start with. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Wire: You'll need some 22 gauge solid (not stranded) hook-up wire to connect your board to your components. Different colors are a matter of preference. This is another Radioshack-available material.

Pushbuttons: Any switch will work, but I prefer small "normally open" buttons that can plug directly into your breadboard.

Needlnose pliers and wire strippers are both available at RadioShack, but check out Techni-Tool for some more options.

That's all you'll need to get started!

What to buy - next steps and general resources

General electronics resources for parts can sometimes be tough to navigate with their poor web interfaces, but you'll get used to the information overload. Tip: clicking on links to the "datasheet" will often get you a picture or drawing of the component, which helps a lot.

Parts and Supplies Retailers (besides Radioshack, which may phase out their components division fairly soon)

* Jameco
* Mouser
* Digikey
* Allelectronics
* Octopart
* Sparkfun
* Techni-Tool
* SuperBrightLEDs
* Reynolds Electronics

Conductive fabrics, paints, epoxies, threads: Less EMF

If you think you'll play with electronics more than once, I'd highly recommend purchasing a multi-meter. You don't need a super high-end one.

Where to go for Help

The Arduino User Community: It's full of guides, tutorials, sample code, circuit diagrams, and for more information on Arduino, Arduino community, Arduino forum and Arduino projects, you may visit: Arduino Project

About the Author

The author is a member of Arduino User Community having good experience in installing and repairing wide range of consumer electronic products. For more information on Arduino, Arduino community, Arduino forum and Arduino projects, you may visit: Arduino

How to extend leads on electronic components?

Basically, i'm poor and interested in electronics (anything to get me away from homework), and i've been desoldering components from broken gadgets around my place only to find their leads or whatever are waayy too short to put in this solderless breadboard i got off ebay. I tried soldering on little jumper wires but it's near impossible to hold the component without breaking it (using alligator clips, tape, charred fingers, whatever), hold the wire, hold the solder, and hold the first soldering iron ever made. Any pointers on how to make them longer? I'd much rather not buy these components with longer leads on them already, online shipping is awful and there aren't any stores around here that sell this type of thing. Thanks

>(using alligator clips, tape, charred fingers, what eve

My favorite tool is a small curved hemostat that I modified by grinding the tip to narrow it. A plus is that solder will not stick to stainless steel.

>online shipping is awful and there aren't any stores around he

Try stocking up on parts to minimize shipping costs. Of course it helps to know what country you are in!

Places:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/departments.asp?dept=1409

http://www.allelectronics.com

http://www.alltronics.com/

http://www.newark.com/?COM=element14_store

sometimes ebay

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=resistors&_sacat=See-All-Categories

http://stores.ebay.com/Chi-Wing-LED-product-shop?_trksid=p4340.l2563

Last place I ordered a bunch of resistors from:

http://stores.ebay.com/ResistorsPlus?_rdc=1