I received my arduino Uno today... :(

I received my arduino Uno today and I am very disappointed. The build quality is so very poor, I had to document it and share with the world my sadness.

Just to say I got mine today and I did not have these problems you had.

They wanted to make the arduino uno fcc approved? so they used octagonal pads for vias? If my knowledge is correct then these edges can make more noise then a standard round via.

Your knowledge on this is not correct, It is simply wrong.

Return it. Seems "defective" to me.
Where did you buy it?

I dare you to attempt to build a bare board without looking at the eagle files to see what pad goes to what.

What bare board? You can get an official Uno Bare Board ??
Where DID you get that bare board that you photographed? Are the PCB shops already leaking pirate boards?

The published design files have a different silkscreen, and it would be up to the person have boards made whether they names/values on there...

Yeah, it looked a little fishy to me... is this reseller on Arduino's approved vendor list?

The only agreement I have is that the edge routing on my board is rough like he shows. Outside of that, none of his issues are on my board.

The UNO I have here is fine, only cosmetic problem is some messy leftover flux on the bottom side. I'm not going to complain about rough edges because anyone who designs PCBs for production can tell this product was made in a V-scored panel, the crooked edge features are all nicely milled. The exact same V-score break edges are present on an older Duemilanove and the oldest Diecimila I have. It's just a hobby microcontroller, no need to expect a milled billet aluminum case or something, sheesh. The UNO is not THAT much different anyway, Massimo hardly talked about hardware changes at the State of Arduino talk, he spent more time on FCC and stickers.

Return it. Seems "defective" to me.
Where did you buy it?

From a reputable reseller on Arduino's approved vendor list (whose name I won't say as i like their products)

What bare board? You can get an official Uno Bare Board ??
Where DID you get that bare board that you photographed? Are the PCB shops already leaking pirate boards?

the bare board is of the previous arduino design

Your knowledge on this is not correct, It is simply wrong.

I am still looking for my text book on circuit board design and layout. But i do remember reading that at very high frequencies the traces on circuit board act like transmission lines and that sharp points on traces tend to act like an antenna the closer the point is to a right angle the higher the antenna effect.

From a reparable reseller on Arduino's approved vendor list (whose name I won't say as i like their products)

but you will bash the arduino team without even contacting them first, sounds like this "reparable" reseller did just that, sold a defect board as repaired

bad form from both you and them if I say so

personal note: invest in a sharp file

But i do remember reading that at very high frequencies the traces on circuit board act like transmission lines and that sharp points on traces tend to act like an antenna the closer the point is to a right angle the higher the antenna effect.

That's half right, but there is no way the frequencies on an arduino board begin to approach a value where you get transmission line effects like this. Even considering high order harmonics of the crystal. Think about it for a moment. If the via pad shape was known to give trouble why would it be in the PCB layout library. Part of my paying job is to consider FCC and other such approvals.

Up early GM ? :slight_smile:

Yes I do have to go to work over the boarder into Yorkshire. Passport control can be quite slow some mornings :wink:

I thought there might be a problem on the Uno with the shield spacing because in the same post I got an LCD shield from nuelectronics. But I have just checked and it is the spacing on the LCD shield that is 0.1" larger than the Uno and an ethernet shield (also from nuelectronics).

I have to agree on Hyperjer. That board is bad. You can see the copper throught the soldermask. This could happen if the boards aren't good clean after the etching process. First the pcbfabs quality control must check this. And take the board out if it is faulty. If such a board comes to the "arduino fab" they must also check the boards. How am I sure that other boards haven't these problems? Or even worst they have shorts.

I had a look to the board file and had some problems with it.

  1. Some components are placed optimal.
    -Look at the decoupling cap of the regulator
    -Whey are there 2 ground planes? 2 planes can cause circulation currects in the pcb.

  2. Poor routing
    -Non consisting trace witdh
    -Loops
    -Look at RN2 for example. Why are there those ugly loops?
    -Above U3 90° corner + nonconsistend witdh
    -Left of U3 idem
    -RN3 non 45° track angles. Eagle rubbisch. Com'n you can do better then that.
    -U2 make those connection nicer. You coud make acid traps that way.
    -PC1 unneccerary corners
    -Why is the track with of the connect between the dcjack ad the diode smaller then the witdh of the 5Volt track?
    -I can go on like this....

  3. Poor schematic
    -Not USB complain.
    -The power switching is that good.

http://imagebin.ca/img/MT59FEoa.png
http://imagebin.ca/img/0fVmmIe.png
http://imagebin.ca/img/4rOrjAYB.png
http://imagebin.ca/img/0gZwdR.png
http://imagebin.ca/img/VCGvMOw.png
http://imagebin.ca/img/moH13Jq.png

Com'n!!! Opensource projects can do better then that!!!

I'm afraid the build quality of my mega2560 isn't ideal too...

While I'm happy enough with the layout, it'll be fine for my purposes, and 99% of the target audience, what has got me are the headers, I get the impression they were soldered by hand without a jig.

I should imagine there was a deadline for the unveiling, and production may have been hurried. But something as simple as misaligned headers would have be so easy to avoid. Now, the blame here as far as I'm concerned doesn't lie directly with the Arduino team, but with the people who manufactured the boards, it seems most likely they skipped some steps to speed up delivery time.

I wont be returning my board, as electrically it functions perfectly, and 5 minutes reworking the headers is a lot quicker than the turnaround on a return.

It's also worth noting, I wasn't planning on saying a word, but more info might help if theres any disagreements later :slight_smile:

Beige,

I'm sure the Arduino team would want to know that this is happening. Maybe you should drop them a quick email in case they miss the forum topic.

Sounds like a good idea, but I must be being slow, I can't find an email address ::slight_smile:

Short of sending to admin@arduino.cc and hoping for the best of course

I suggest you PM Massimo or David about this.

Mowcius

I've sent a PM to Massimo :slight_smile:

Also, the plot thickens...

There is no way those are going to line up, something is in the wrong place...
That shield lines up perfectly with both my Diecimila and Duemilanove, I haven't got the old mega, but I believe shields should be compatible regardless.


With some creative bending and soldering mine now lines up, but surely this isn't right.

The holes are pretty much mis-aligned. :o

hat shield lines up perfectly with both my Diecimila and Duemilanove, I haven't got the old mega, but I believe shields should be compatible regardless.

Sounds like the monkeys messed up with the 'industry standard arduino pin spacing'.
The old mega was fine for header spacing.

Mowcius