Let’s get ready to circuit board desiiiiiiiiign!
We are now in the fourth part of the microcontroller tutorial. We have a microcontroller circuit diagram ready. It’s time to make a circuit board. I love this part. This is the “magical” step that takes the idea we started with and turns it into something real.
In this tutorial I will teach you how to build your own microcontroller circuit. This way, you can easily add microcontrollers to your own projects. We are now at part three of this tutorial.
In part one of the microcontroller tutorial, we looked at what a microcontroller is. We saw that a microcontroller is like a small computer, and that you can use it to build amazing things like cell phones or even your own handheld game-console.
Then in part two, we looked at different types of microcontrollers, and we chose one for our purpose. We chose the ATmega32U2 because we can program it through USB and it is reasonably easy to solder at home.
In this third part of the microcontroller tutorial, we are going to design our circuit from scratch. So we need to design a schematic diagram with all the components and connections necessary to make our circuit work.
Let’s build this thing!
In the previous part of the microcontroller tutorial series, we looked into the basics of microcontrollers.
Our goal is to build a microcontroller circuit that is as simple as possible. So that we can make it at home.
Next up in this tutorial is choosing a microcontroller. This can be hard! At least if you don’t know what you are doing. But after reading this second part, it will become easy ;)
This is my first of five posts in this microcontroller tutorial series. Throughout this tutorial, I will be building a microcontroller circuit while documenting the process. By following what I do, you can make your own at home.
My goal is to make a circuit that is as simple as possible, and which requires no external programmers or debuggers. You should be able to just plug it into a USB port on your computer and program it.
I have not planned this out in any way. I am just going to build it, and write about the process. Hopefully we’ll end up with a usable circuit.
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Elias Bakken. He is not only a true master of electronics, he also masters the skill of mechanics. And I have to say I am jealous of his mechanical skills.
He is a good friend of mine and my old partner, so I’ve seen many of the amazing things he has built during his lifetime. We’ve also built quite a few things together.
Some of the things he has built lately are
Current, voltage and resistance are three important concepts in electronics. I didn’t have a clue about these things when I started out. But I could still build fun things, by following the circuit diagrams I found. I just didn’t know what was going on.
When I started learning about basic electricity in school, many pieces started to fall into place. I started understanding some of the explanations from the circuit diagrams I built.
I like to focus on the practical parts of electronics. But learning some theory as you progress is also really useful. So in today’s article you will learn the basics of current, voltage and resistance.
Electronics for beginners is a topic I love. There are too many people out there trying to preach that electronics is hard. Of course it takes time to become an expert. But you can start having fun, and build useful things pretty much right away. And it’s easy!
Wouldn’t it be cool to make something like a remote control or an amplifier? Or maybe something more advanced like a quadcopter or a mobile phone?
Do these steps, and you will be well on your way to building whatever gadget you are dreaming about.
Throughout my electronics career I have used several different soldering techniques. In the beginning I only used my soldering iron. I was able to do almost everything with my iron. But there are situations where using a different technique is much simpler.
So let’s have a look at different soldering techniques. And at the end of the article, I’ll include a fun video with some techniques I call guerrilla soldering. I bet you’ll never see these in a class at the university, haha :)
How can you make a circuit design of any idea you have, from scratch?
How can you take that idea you have in your head – and turn it into a schematic diagram?
How do you choose the right components, and put them together in the right way?
A lot of people have asked me these questions. Yesterday I had a glimpse of inspiration, so today I am going to tell you exactly how you can do this.
When I started learning about electronics, I never cared about goal setting…
I had no clue about what it was. As soon as I had an idea, I brought out my soldering iron and started to put things together. Even though that was fun, it wasn’t very efficient. And a lot of the times I never finished what I started…
It wasn’t until several years later that I stumbled upon a technique called SMART goal setting. And it was really a game changer.
SMART goal setting is super useful when you want to build electronic projects. It helps you clarify what you are trying to do. And it makes it much easier to estimate project costs, tasks that need to be completed and time needed to finish the project.
Sometimes I find myself bubbling with ideas for amazing projects to build!
But unfortunately this is not always the case… Sometimes I just can’t come up with a single idea. I’m just totally stuck. But over the years, I have armed myself with a secret weapon against it. I’ve learned to use brainstorming techniques.
One of the most important steps of building electronic projects is not soldering. It is not drawing a schematic. And it is not debugging you circuit…
The most important step is the step that comes before all those steps. And it’s a step that is easy to skip, because you want to start building. At least I have on several occasions.
But you can drastically reduce the time you need to build electronic projects, if you invest a little bit of time in planning. It will also drastically increase your chances of finishing the circuit.
When I first started learning about microcontrollers, I found them really intriguing. The thought of being able to write code to control electronics was so cool! But what is a microcontroller?
At that time I had already started playing around with programming. And with the microcontroller, I saw that I would be able to interact with the real world through programming! I was intrigued indeed.
But even though I was very enthusiastic about the microcontroller, I didn’t start using it until years later. The thing was, it seemed so complicated to use. I realize now that if I had invested just a little bit of time to learn about it, I would have been able to work with it.
But instead I waited several years before I actually took the leap and started using it…
A sound card oscilloscope might be exactly what you need if you are stuck in the frustrating “I don’t know what’s wrong with my circuit!” state.
Oscilloscopes have helped me countless times when debugging both analog and digital circuits. But they tend to be expensive. So what to do?
A few years ago, I found myself at a Christmas party building electronic kits with the other guests.
We were all really focused.
Both men and women partaking in the fun.
My business partner at the time had taken the time to design a custom kit for our Christmas party.
We gave one to each guest.