ATmega breadboard header

Posted by on May 23, 2009 in Arduino, avr | 11 Comments

This is another breadboard compatible header board, that I am working on. This one is for all 28-pin AVR devices, ATmega48, ATmega88, ATmega168 and the latest ATmega328. Component count is low and there is no voltage regulator on board. That makes it easy to power it from various sources.

As a bonus, this board is a hybrid of through hole and SMT components. It has two SMD LEDs under the hood. Great to learn how to solder surface mounted devices.

It has also an FTDI-connector and runs with a 16 MHz resonator, which makes it Arduino compatible. The jumper is used to select between different power sources.

Yikes, SMD soldering. This is my first attempt at hand soldering 1206 SMT components. 1206 is only 3.2 mm × 1.6 mm! But these are about the largest SMT components available. Most commonly used are way smaller, 0805, 0603 or 0402. My soldering still looks ugly, but with a bit of practice I think I can do much better.

The space on the board is a bit limitted, so there is no room to mark all pins. That’s why I have a little cheat sheet around, while wiring things up.

11 Comments

  1. Tod E. Kurt
    23. May 2009

    This is great. I wonder if you could make a tiny pinout cheatsheet sticker that goes on top of the mega328?

  2. Alex
    23. May 2009

    Yeah, that would be cool. But I think, you would have to decide which you want, Arduino or ATmega pin naming.

  3. Tex
    23. May 2009

    When can we buy?

  4. Alex
    23. May 2009

    There was still a small bug in the PCB. So another proto run. I think maybe around end of next month.

  5. Tod E. Kurt
    24. May 2009

    Here’s my attempt at an Arduino sticker that could be used with the above:
    http://todbot.com/blog/2009/05/23/arduino-chip-sticker-label/

  6. Ed Davies
    24. May 2009

    The LEDs are under the processor? Do you look at them through the gaps between the pins?

  7. Alex
    24. May 2009

    Yes, they are. They shine thru the pins.

  8. Stefan*
    30. May 2009

    Don’t know, what you meen. Soldering loos very nice. You are not a robot ;)

  9. Jummington
    6. June 2009

    You should post your cheat sheets, I know I for one would find it very helpful.

  10. Num Nim
    2. December 2009

    Nice work!

  11. Gunnar Forsgren
    18. November 2010

    Cool solution for quickly testing out some logic !