Arduino was there earlier than the Raspberry Pi and it democratized entry to electronics and {hardware} hacking lengthy earlier than everyone’s favourite SBC. The Arduino Uno, essentially the most well-known board within the vary is now over a decade outdated. In that point it has powered numerous initiatives, however we’ve by no means formally been in a position to make our personal. Till now.
Arduino’s $58 Make Your Uno package is way more than an Arduino Uno in a field of parts. Relatively, we’ve to assemble our personal Uno from the included elements. Which means we have to use one of many finest soldering irons to solder the parts into place. However this package doesn’t simply give us the elements to make an Arduino microcontroller; we additionally assemble our personal defend (the same idea to Raspberry Pi’s HAT add-ons) and an Audio Synth which we will use to make music / beeps / boops.
A fantastic studying instrument and an all-around good time to construct, the Arduino Make Your Uno package is a incredible reward for youths, established makers or for your self. Nevertheless, if all you need is a working microcontroller board, there are less expensive choices. An everyday Arduino Uno (with out audio synth and defend) prices $28, a fully-functional clone goes for $18 and a extra highly effective different just like the Raspberry Pi Pico W will be had for simply $6.
Arduino Make Your Uno Package Specs
| Arduino Make Your UNO | Arduino Uno PCB |
| USB C Serial adapter | |
| By means of gap parts | |
| ATmega 328p Microcontroller | |
| 16 MHz Clock | |
| 32KB Flash | |
| 2KB SRAM | |
| 14 x Digital IO pins | |
| 6 x PWM pins (shared with digital) | |
| 6 x Analog pins | |
| Arduino Audio Synth | Audio Synth PCB |
| By means of gap parts |
Assembling the Package
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Straight off the bat, this can be a pretty package to construct. The PCB is of a top quality, one thing we’ve skilled with Arduino boards up to now. As this package is geared toward these new to soldering, the primary process is to solder a debug circuit. That is primarily an LED with an inline 1 Kilo Ohm resistor. Two wires from the circuit are used to test that every of the Uno’s GPIO pins are working accurately. This can be a good contact. It allows us to get constructing with out worrying about making errors. With that constructed, we transfer on to the star of the present, the Arduino Uno.
Constructing the Uno is comparatively simple. The included parts are all by means of gap, making for simpler soldering. The one element to characteristic floor mount parts is a USB-C to Serial board. This board is pre-assembled and drops straight into the principle Uno PCB. Just some legs to solder and the USB-C and Uno are joined.
On-line directions information us by means of the soldering course of. Usually soldering decrease parts earlier than shifting on to taller. These directions should not simply mere diagrams and textual content. Relatively, they’re interactive 3D fashions which present the parts being positioned into the boards. This can be a good contact for these new to soldering. We will visualize how the elements are inserted, spin the board round for a greater angle and zoom in to identify precisely the place we have to be. Coming as somebody who has adopted numerous circuit diagrams, this can be a refreshing and most welcome change.
It ought to take a newbie about an hour to solder the package. Extra skilled makers will undoubtedly shave minutes from that point. However irrespective of your expertise, you should have enjoyable soldering this package. Our one criticism of the white PCB is that it exhibits all of the flux from our solder. That’s nothing a fast clear with isopropyl alcohol can’t repair.
As soon as the Arduino is constructed, it’s a factor of magnificence. The parts on the board could differ to the floor mount soldered variations on a typical Arduino Uno, however the pin structure and type issue is unmistakable. We moved ahead and soldered up the Audio Synth defend. This defend is a set of six potentiometers that are related to the six analog enter pins of the Arduino. The audio is routed to an LM386N energy amplifier after which performed through a speaker on the PCB. The Audio Synth defend matches atop the Arduino Uno and we then reuse the packaging to create a easy instrument. However how can we program it? For that we want an IDE.
Programming the Make Your Uno Package Audio Synth
As that is an Arduino, we have to use the Arduino IDE and we examined it with the newest Arduino IDE 2.0 launch and an older 1.8 sequence IDE. It labored flawlessly with each, a testomony to the longevity of the Uno vary which has labored with many iterations of the IDE. We related the Arduino Uno to our Home windows PC and the system was detected as an Arduno Make Your Uno Package, a pleasant contact that units it other than typical Unos.
The Audio Synth has a fundamental sketch (Arduino parlance for a challenge’s code) that can play beeps and boops, however there’s a complicated sketch which turns the package right into a synth instrument, of types. Sounding like a prop from a Nineteen Eighties sci-fi film, the Audio Synth defend is nice enjoyable.
Can we use different shields with the Make Your Uno? Why sure we will. We examined an official, however aged Ethernet defend and ran a fast net server instance sketch. It simply labored, with no drama or points. An Uno, soldered simply hours earlier than, was now serving content material to units on our community.
Who’s the Make Your Uno Package Geared toward, and Why?
Squarely, the package is geared toward newcomers to the Arduno and maker neighborhood. The simplicity of the package, the fantastic directions and the teachings discovered by constructing from uncooked parts makes this a syllabus somewhat than a lesson.
We study a lot by doing, and after all of the work we’re left with a tool which we will use to construct much more wondrous issues. That stated, within the age of IoT, it could’ve been good to have a mannequin with Wi-Fi baked into the board.
Backside Line
If you’re new to the Arduino or soldering then this can be a enjoyable package to make. You could possibly simply purchase a $6 Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller, which makes use of a extra highly effective RP2040 CPU and has built-in Wi-Fi, however you’ll be lacking out on the training that this package offers.
On the finish of all of your exhausting work you have got an Arduino Uno, able to go additional and turn out to be way more than only a assortment of parts. It appears that evidently Arduino has as soon as once more helped us to rediscover our love of creating.
