Working with Arduino Mega2650. Because I can't reach pins 345-379 with the traces on the first shield, I'm going to build a second shield to make use of them, stacked over the first. That row of pins is all the the shield will use: do I need to add dummy pins elsewhere to support the shield, or is the single row enough?
The shield would be the width of the arduino and 40mm or so long.
If there is not enough room for all the traces on the PCB, then we can use some jumper wires to make the rest of the connections.
While I appreciate the input, my question was if a shield needs support beyond a single row of pins. (And also, if I intended to use jumpers, I wouldn't have bothered to design a PCB.)
On the Mega2560 Shields I design, I always have enough space. At the voltage/amperage of these boards, there is no reason to have the traces so thick.
NOTE: Make the VCC and GND pins thick as they supply a lot more power than the GPIO!! Better yet, a VCC plane on the top, GND plane on the bottom.
Take a look at the official Mega2560 board files, you'll notice the traces are VERY thin.
I use 0.25-0.4 mm, and never have a problem.
To answer your actual question....
Put a couple dummy pins and sockets on the opposite end of the board, that will give heaps of support. It shouldn't see much stress anyway once it is completed.
Was not aware that was even an option, digging a little deeper into the software I'm using (Fritzing) that appears to be possible!
That said, the PCBs are already here, so at this moment, a shield is my only option. Would a row of pins be enough or does it need additional support? Let us say the shield is only 40mm long.
Is that Fritzing?
If yes, do yourself a favour and use KiCAD, much better at designing quality PCBs
Also does not cost 1 cent!!
I also have a beginners tutorial on my website if you need it.
Will definitely give it a once- or twice-over, though it appears to be big-time overkill for my needs.
Can I be nosy and ask what you are designing?
NO
Sure! I'm building a ... inhale ... continuous loop pad dye machine. Imagine a wringer washer 36" wide and 60" tall: the fabric is in a loop being conveyed by a roller at the top with a trough of dye at the bottom. It works completely manually if it has to, just turn on the motor, but I have to babysit the thing because the fabric wanders and must be tugged into position.
In theory, the Arduino does several things, so I don't have to babysit:
Simply, I've run out of room for connectors and access to pins if I want to stay within the Mega's footprint.
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