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[on:]

i like that, but in need of one with 4 buttons straight across.. instead of diamond shaped

[Reply #1 on:]

you can get blank PCB from radio shack, from there you have to mask them and etch them

masking can be anything from hand drawing crap with a sharpie, transferring laser printer toner via heat, to photo reactive chemicals.

once you have it masked you etch away anything not covered, radio shack sells ferric chloride echant, or you can mix your own using available chemicals varing from pool acid and hydrogen peroxide to drain cleaner. drill holes (dremel bits) and your good to go (second image)

otherwise you send off to have a board made(first image) , which can be expensive or sloooow

[Reply #2 on:]

hmm.. ty for that..

i'm not good at that kind of thing..


i think the arduino is cool, pretty impressive actually.. however, i want to make things.. but spending over and over on arduino's for every project is gonna hurt my pockets.. lol

i currently have 3 projects and my son currently has 4 that we want to do.. but i certainly don't want to go out and buy 7 arduinos.. there's got to be a better way of making things..

[Reply #3 on:]

you can get blank PCB from radio shack, from there you have to mask them and etch them

Or you can just use perf board...pick one that's about the right size.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=perf+board

[Reply #4 on:]

I do everything on boards like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Prototype-Universal-Perfboard-76x101mm-1200hole/dp/B0073XD90K

You don't need Arduinos to use the entire Arduino environment, but it does make it easier.  The processor on the Arduino is very inexpensive and you can use the Arduino as a programmer for a chip on a board.  This shows the setup on a breadboard but you can as easily solder it to a perfboard:

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATMEGA328P-PU/ATMEGA328P-PU-ND/1914589

Crystals, sockets, pullup resistors, decoupling caps, even cheaper breadboards, pushbuttons, etc can be had here:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/

Specifically:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/capacitors/ceramic-disc-capacitors.html
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/16-000-mhz-16-mhz-crystal-hc-49-s-low-profile.html
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/28-pin-dip-ic-socket-adaptor-solder-type.html
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/10-x-resistor-10k-ohm-1-2w-1-metal-film-pkg-of-10.html
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/electromechanical/switches-key-pad/tact-switch/tact-switch-6x6mm-5mm-through-hole-spst-no.html
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/prototyping-board-142x74mm.html

You can set yourself up real nice from these guys.  Get some LEDs, 200 ohm, 300 ohm, 1K ohm resistors too, they come in useful all the time.

Build the Arduino on the board with exactly the components you want, laid out exactly how you would like.   Make connections with 22-26 gauge solid wire and solder.  You might want some 5V voltage regulators too and a 7V or so external wall wart power supply.