I am new to this Arduino thing and recently made a project using an Arduino Mega microcontroller. I have read and heard that Arduinos are great for prototyping but my not be a permanent solution for a final project. So I have a couple of questions regarding this. My project is just for my use only; it is a scoreboard that keeps track of a hockey game and plays lights and sounds whenever a goal is scored; you know like during a game. Nothing too fancy (- YouTube). I was wondering would I be able to use the arduino to permanently run my project (I am assuming yes)? Also, if I wanted to make my project more permanent how would I go about making my on PCB as I used quite a lot of stuff from adafruit like the LED backpacks and the MP3 shield? I imagine that this would take quite a bit of time and effort. Anyways thanks to all those on these forums that helped me in my project; I had a tournament to show it off a while back and it was great!!
I have read and heard that Arduinos are great for prototyping but my not be a permanent solution for a final project.
There are two major advantages to the Arduino, compared to using a random "microcontroller chip".
1. You get a complete working board that doubles as your hardware development system. You don't have to buy a separate development board/kit or build a final-board.
2. The pre-loaded bootloader and USB port means you don't need to buy a separate programmer.
You can use the Arduino as-supplied in permanent projects. I've done 3 Arduino projects and that's what I've done. And in fact, I've used plug-in breadboards for my permanent Arduino projects as well as some non-Arduino projects... A couple of those other projects are still working after about 20 years!
The most common reasons for not using it would be cost, or to build something physically smaller. In a one-off project you are unlikely to save any money re-building a custom version.
If you want to make custom PC boards, there are companies that will make them at "reasonable" prices* and there is some free or low-cost PCB design software. Personally, I wouldn't re-build the Arduino on my own PCB, but I might make a board (or Arduino "shield") for the other circuitry.
Some people etch their own boards. That's something I did many-many years ago and I don't plan on doing it again... I didn't get "professional" results, and I'm willing to pay for something better.
- The price can double or triple if you don't get it right the 1st time, so you've got to allow for that. I work in electronics, and I think I've only seen the 1st batch of boards come-out "perfect" once. Although, they can usually make the boards work with some cut & jump modifications. ...I remember once when the company I was working for was in a big rush and they paid extra for fast-turnaround... But somebody doing the board layout forgot the databus... The boards had to be scrapped and of course we missed the deadline.