Shield blocking pins, pushbutton, etc?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
#1

Part of what I want to use the Arduino for is to control a couple (maybe more) motors, so I bought a motor control shield kit (this one: Assembling the Freeduino (Arduino) Motor Shield « MCUKITS ) I got it assembled & put it on top of the Arduino board, only to discover that it blocks all the pins (except RX & TX) and everything else on the board, even though the motor control uses only 4 output pins (plus power).

Is there a standard way of getting around this (perhaps some external mounting hardware) or should I just mount the shield separately, and run a few wires to the needed pins?

#2

The headers on the shield can be replaced with these so that the pins are passed thru to the top of the shield.

#3

(Sigh) Would have been nice to know about those BEFORE I finished soldering :frowning:

Or even - dare I say it? - have had them included in the kit.

But even with those headers, the shield still blocks the pushbutton & LEDs.

#4

well you could get some perfboard and some female headers, plug the sheild onto that and run jumpers from the (now off to the side) sheild to the duino

this one is not as bad but…

I notice on everyone’s pcb, doesnt matter who, they use the tiniest pads ever, basicly giving you 9 copper atoms to solder onto, dont try and desolder these, you WILL vaporize the pad, its a pet peeve of mine, thats why my bare bones arduino has 5 jumpers on the bottom, I dared to change my mind :frowning:

#5