Making more arduino projects without buying new arduino boards?

TanHadron:
Shrimp Parts kits 

I'm not sure which part of that constitutes the 'shrimp' but it looks like a standalone Arduino chip in a breadboard with a separate USB/serial adapter. That's hardly novel and hardly seems to justify being given a special name.

I prototype my projects on the Arduino, then I move them to stripboard or PCB using either an atmega328p or attiny microcontroller depending on the application. You don't need to buy atmega chips with the bootloader programmed, you can program the chips using ICSP. You don't even need the crystal unless the project needs accurate timekeeping. See Prototyping small embedded projects with Arduino | David Crocker's Solutions blog.

stripboard ... foul stuff ...

CrossRoads:
stripboard ... foul stuff ...

Why? I use it for prototypes and 1-off designs, although it doesn't permit the component density of a PCB. For hybrid analog/digital designs, I sometimes supplement the stripboard with VeroWire for the digital signals to get higher density.

I tried it to make a breakout board for fiftysix 7 segment displays. Each connector needed a unique common cathode, all the anode would have been connected on patrallel
The amount of cutting to seperate for the 1 signal in each signal was such a pain in the ass, I quit on it after putting in a couple of headers and the current limit resistors.
Wirewrapped it up instead on a "island of hole" board and finished the incoming signals and 56 connectors worth of breakout in just a few hours.
I will not use point to point soldering for anything anymore.

CrossRoads:
I tried it to make a breakout board for fiftysix 7 segment displays. Each connector needed a unique common cathode, all the anode would have been connected on patrallel
The amount of cutting to seperate for the 1 signal in each signal was such a pain in the ass, I quit on it after putting in a couple of headers and the current limit resistors.
Wirewrapped it up instead on a "island of hole" board and finished the incoming signals and 56 connectors worth of breakout in just a few hours.
I will not use point to point soldering for anything anymore.

Stripboard is good when you have a lot of discrete components, but Verowire is better when you are mostly just connecting ICs or displays etc. together as in the system you describe. It's quick and easy, and you end up with a nice shallow board that can be put in an enclosure.

Wirewrap, I'll stick with that. I have the tools, I have rolls of wire, and sockets and headers are inexpensive. No soldering required at all after the wiring is done - and better, no Unsoldering if any changes are needed.

CrossRoads:
The amount of cutting to seperate for the 1 signal in each signal was such a pain in the ass

If you use a small drill bit in a pin vise, you can cut traces in under 2 seconds per trace without any real effort. just 3 or 4 twiddles of the pin vice betwixt thumb and forefinger. I use a dual ended pin vice with a cutting bit on one end and on the other end I have a small bit to drill out the holes for slightly larger pins. This form of prototyping is not so bad, really. Just a matter of technique.

I too like WW, but it became almost impossible to find supplies a while back so I drifted away from it. Now there are some places catering to WW fans, but it does tend to be a bit pricey. It also requires good technique to produce reliable results and no less so that using strip board. The one real drawback to WW though, is the height of the boards caused by the WW pins.

VAlexander:
That's the thing. I feel that no matter what we do we're still looking at over $20. The breadboard is around $10 alone, and ATmega328 is $5. A couple of dollars for the 16MHz crystal, wires, shipping, etc.

You can make your own board at home, for very little money. If you already have a blank PCB and ferric chloride, we are talking about ZERO investment. Both of the previous items are very cheap.

The only real expensive part is the Atmega328P-PU chip, but you can buy them for $2.95 from Amazon.com. There is one seller (Baligna) there selling the non-P version of the 328-PU for $1 each.

I have 5 Arduino boards I built at home. None of them have built-in USB port, but I expose both the serial port header for a FTDI USB adapter and the ICSP header (for using with ArduinoISP, USBasp or avrisp).

Below are 2 examples of Arduino clones I built at home. The first is a specialized arduino board, with a buzzer, header for bluetooth, FTDI Basic header plus a few other connectors I need. I don't need to make all the arduino pins available in this board.

The other is a general purpose Arduino, also dependant on an external FTDI adapter.

Both feature an Atmega328-PU (of the non-P type), but flashed with the regular UNO bootloader. I used an Arduino as ISP and breadboard to flash the bootloader on these 2 chips.

For embedding into a project it's hard to beat the cost of the clone NANO boards on E-bay. These include a FTDI and USB connector and built in voltage regulator if you want to use external DC power. Does anyone think they could duplicate this board for less costs?

Lefty

retrolefty:
Does anyone think they could duplicate this board for less costs?

While the price on those is truly awesome, they may not fit everyone's needs the way they sit. There is a lot to be said for the custom approach for meeting a person's needs and it may be worth a penny or two.

This board below uses a shield PCB as the main PCB, it works well either way. This one is going to be a custom board and there are additional parts to add. But as you see it there, my cost is less than $9.00. These are the main parts from my favorite store:
http://www.aztecmcu.com/catalog/i139.html
http://www.aztecmcu.com/catalog/i125.html

I've also built up a few of these with female headers for friends getting into Ardunio (actually, I got them to build them. All part of the fun). With a regulator and female headers they work out to about $12.00 and are basically a full featured Arduino that can accept shields and all.

HMArd.jpg

cwhummel:
how about this:
Virtuabotix is under construction
a breadboard arduino with 5v regulator for $9 plus $2 shipping.

How about this one:

http://www.aztecmcu.com/catalog/i136.html

A buck more and you get the breadboard, the wires and the right sized capacitors to boot. No regulator though, but they are only $0.50.

There are lots of small arduino choices. This is one the first that caught my eye 2+ years ago.

I never actually got any tho. I used promini's for a while to start, then made my own as needed, some examples:

standalone_minimal_uc.jpg

See this?

Spend some extra on a socket and header pins to lengthen the socket pins then build onto those, then plug your AVR in.

I'm all for using extra sockets to plug things into as cheap breadboards. The body keeps the parts together.

If there's a whole lot of parts and connections then sure, make boards is better by far. But automatically "there must be a board" is like
for ( long i = 0; i < 3; i++ ) { ...... };

I picked up 7 pro mini's from ebay for about 15 bucks with free shipping. I have been using them for my projects, and just using my UNO board to program the mini's. Doing a breadboard config with a chip, crystal, and basic components would be the best way I think, but if you are really new to electronics, go with buying some mini's and using them for your projects. Later on down the road you can get into PCB design and how to home brew your own circuit boards for really cheap as well. (FYI) Just be warned. If you do hop up on ebay and order from china, be sure to contact the seller first with a question asking if they have them in stock and ready to ship, otherwise you might end up waiting 2 months to get your stuff. I know a guy in china I get all my stuff from, and he is a SUPER FAST shipper. If you are interested pm me and I will shoot you over his ebay store.

Good luck.

Oh, I am waaay past that!
http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/BobuinoRev17/

CrossRoads:
There are lots of small arduino choices. This is one the first that caught my eye 2+ years ago.
Solarbotics Ardweeny - Solarbotics Ltd.

That is very slick! I may have to give these a try.

On a side note.

American living in New Zealand, flying the US Flag high for Boston.

We're at half mast for the marathon bombing victims.