Breadboards are great for quickly prototyping Arduino projects on the workbench, but they're really inconvenient if you want to make something a bit more permanent. The solution: a prototyping shield!
ProtoShields fit directly onto an Arduino compatible such as the Eleven and have a large general-purpose area in the middle where you can solder on your own parts for a durable, long-lasting project. The ProtoShield Basic is designed to be so cheap that you can keep a few around "just in case", and we even sell them in a 5-pack to save you even more money!
Don't be deceived by the price though. They may be cheap, but they're not cheap - if you know what we mean. The PCB surface is gold-plated for maximum durability, and it has connection markings on both the top and the bottom so you don't get RSI turning the PCB over every 3 seconds to see what connections go to which pins.
Features
- Gold plated PCB: solders easily and very resistant to corrosion.
- Top and bottom overlay.
- Mounting pads for "reset" button wired through to Arduino reset line.
- Mounting pads for "power on" LED and current-limiting resistor.
- Mounting pads for 2 x 100nF power supply smoothing capacitors.
- Clearly marked GND and 5V rails beside prototyping area.
- Sexy rounded corners.
Note that the ProtoShield Basic comes without any extra parts at all: no headers, no reset button, no LED, no resistor, no caps. Just a bare PCB, ready for you to fit whatever headers and other parts you happen to have handy.
Perfect.
Resources
- "Fitting ProtoShield Basic Parts" tutorial
- "Soldering Arduino Shield Headers" tutorial
- Schematic / Project Worksheet (PDF, 24K)
- ProtoShield Basic design files
