Simple question, I know, but can't seem to find anything on it.
Seems that once your Arduino does what you want it to, all the bits of the board that assist with development (USB inteface for example) just take up space.
Do ppl just buy the chip (say, ATmega328 or whatever) and make your own cut-down board for dedicated applications? Or is it simply not worth it?
If ppl make their own boards, are there some complete beginner guides for doing that? I have no idea about voltage regulations and suchlike.
Thanks. I know it's such a noob question, but I'm just starting out.
Most people here design their boards using the free version of Eagle, then get one of the Chinese PCB fab houses (e.g. Itead) to make the boards. It costs so little to get the boards made that it isn't worth doing it yourself. But there are some people who etch their own boards.
If you only want to make one unit, consider building it on stripboard or perfboard instead of using a pcb.
Sparkfun has a tutorial for designing PCBs using Eagle, and another member just posted a topic on making PCBs at home.
I find using eagle (or one of the many other design packages) to creat gerber files and then sending out to a PCB house (iteadstudio is just one of many China companies making PCBs) for 10 cards for $9.90 or $24.90 to far outweigh the hassle of rolling your own.
Or hire someone like me for a couple of hours to create the design & gerbers for you, including a parts list from Digikey or Mouser with parts you can buy that will fit the board.
Can use an onboard regulator; or bring in 5V from a wallwart and leave the regulator off and jumper across its input to output pins. http://www.dipmicro.com/store/DCA-0510
You can get Arduino clones for barely more than the cost of the components - I can't imagine how it makes economic sense but presumably somebody's making money somewhere. Some of the PCB houses also have schemes which let you share your PCB designs, so you can pick a ready-designed circuit and get the PCB house to make it for you. That could be handy if you want additional hardware included on the board and can find somebody else who needed something similar. If you just want a small/cheap Arduino compatible microcontroller in small volumes then a clone would be the best option.
What is Itead's turn around and shipping to the US like on boards? I'd been using SeeedStudio's Fusion PCB, which has very similar prices, and while its 5-7day lead time, shipping to the US takes a month unless you want to more than double the cost ($30 shipping on a $20 PCB for 1 week shipping last I checked). Are Itead's shipping prices similar?
Itead is $5 to $8 for US registered air mail, usually ~3 weeks to east coast US, for 50x50mm and 100x100mm cards.
Larger boards and/or bigger quantities go DHL for $26 last I looked, that goes quicker.
DHL an option for the small boards too, I've never needed them that bad tho to pay more.
Good advice. Thanks guys. Now I know what direction I need to be looking at heading in!
So is all the stuff on the development board (I have the Uno) is really unnecessary for standalone purposes. All you need is a wallwart supplying regulated power, a custom board, the chip and the extra components from the breadboard?