Any interest in a Boarduino/RBBB adapter shield?

[dataman]

I love developing on the arduino,
but really enjoy the form factor of my RBBB (ModernDevice.Com) and Boarduino (AdaFruit.Com).
Problem is, it's a real hassel to use a bread board arduino with a standard arduino shield.

Well, I jumpered a boarduino to one protoboard shield,
And that worked pretty well.
Lots of wires though.

So, I was thinking about a bread board shield,
bbshield for short.

Attaching my current silkscreen,
Still checking for errors.

What I'd really like to know is...
What's the deal on the .01 headers on arduino not lining up?
Exactly how far are they off.
I pulled the front left header back about .005 cm,
Too much or enough...

This is also probably going to require a double height female header.
Any ideas?

Would like to get production costs down to $10/kit,
That would make it a reasonable add on for a bread board kit.
Prototyping through ExpressPCB is probably going to run $20/board only.

Anyhow, some comments back on feasability, need for this project would be appreciated,
Otherwise, I'll just make some boards for myself.

[westfw]

IMNSHO, you'd be better off building/buying a "reduced" arduino form-factor board and moving the AVR chip from the RBBB to it as you move from breadboard to shield-based development. As you're finding out, PCB costs are per-board and per-area, so you don't save any $$ doing a "shield translator" like this over making a full Arduino-compatible, and you end up adding a layer of "things that can go wrong." You could do something with an RBBB-comapatible connector, or you could just partially-populate one of the existing freeduino designs that are available as bare boards.

I would GUESS that the reason for the odd spacing was to prevent random connectors from being plugged in, in favor of things "known" to be arduino compatible. This is very common (look at the multitude of power plugs on things like phones!), and is one of those things that by the time you realize that you made a mistake, it's too late to change.

Eagle says the X coordinates of the top connectors (the centers thereof) on 2009 are 1.29 2.15, so the spacing should be 0.16 inches... (4.064mm; not a "sensible" number in any unit

[dataman]

Just trying to guage interst in such an adapter.
Sounds like I'm on my own.
Well, I can get the cost down to $8.60 per board if I don't silk screen.
I'll have to check the spacing, and really appreciate the input.

Technically?
RBBBs are $10 ea,
Add an $8.60 board, and a couple of headers,
We're still way under a $35 arduino.

Boardunios are $20,
So still under the $35 mark.

Was also hoping to extend the usefullness of RBBBs/Boarduinos.
Frankly, I like the form factor of the smaller boards more.

And your measurements really helped, thank you so much.
I would have been about 1/10th of an inch off.
Greatly appreciated.

[mcu]

I love developing on the arduino,
but really enjoy the form factor of my RBBB (ModernDevices.Com) and Boarduino (AdaFruit.Com).

That should be RBBB (ModernDevice.Com)
ie. there's no 's' in the URL.
Confused me for a minute

[westfw]

Was also hoping to extend the usefullness of RBBBs/Boarduinos.
Frankly, I like the form factor of the smaller boards more.

If you're using shields, you're stuck with the arduino FF overall anyway. Compare the prices and "neatness" of RBBB+adaptor+shield with arduino-FF-runtime-board (still probably $8.60 + "a few parts" to have fabbed) + cpu-chip ($2 to $6, or removed from RBBB) + shield...

[dataman]

Now worries then,
It will be a rare oddity of 6 boards then.
Will post up some pics

[mtbf0]

have you looked at freeduino kits?

[dataman]

Yes I have.
Again, no worries, I'm happy.

[dataman]

First boards came back from manufacturing...

Bare boards, uncut...

DSCF3871 - Copy.JPG (155.99 KiB) Viewed 774 times

Test fitted...still uncut...

DSCF3880 - Copy.JPG (154.69 KiB) Viewed 771 times

Test fit with Ethernet Shield.

DSCF3881 - Copy.JPG (171.48 KiB) Viewed 771 times

Ok, so it will probably always be an oddity of nature.
But then I thought, if I drop the power lines,
(scale power connector back to 2 grounds only)
Maybe, this is a way that arduinos might be able to talk to each other.
Eh, grabbing for straws, but it's a thought at least.

And yes, I did have to cheat with 2x female risers.
Maybe there really is such a beast stock?

Gonna try to cut apart the boards tommorrow.
Today was just a test of spacing.
Happy to say, it all looks correct.

[oPossum]

And yes, I did have to cheat with 2x female risers.
Maybe there really is such a beast stock?

You can probably get it from Samtec

ESW or ESQ series. Click on "Build a part number" to specify # of pins and height.

[dataman]

Ok, should be my last post on this topic.
Project is done!

The completed shield. Optional 3.3v divisors left off.

DSCF3917.JPG (45.69 KiB) Viewed 729 times

With a Boarduino talking to a Wifi shield.

DSCF3915.JPG (176.85 KiB) Viewed 766 times

Popped out the Boarduino, now a RBBB talking to the same Wifi shield.

DSCF3916.JPG (164.62 KiB) Viewed 764 times

[adafruit]

great work!

[dataman]

Was bugging me that the Rbbb did not light up the Link status led on the wifi board.
Researching, appears there may not be enough power.
The stock rbbb at 300ma just doesn't have enough juice, or barely enough to run wifi.
Looks like the stock boarduino at 1a does!
Easy to fix, rbbb can be updated to 1a.
But that's why no link light in the pics.

[billbillt]

I think this is a great idea! Of course, there are always the usual "smarter than you" people that will try to shoot down your idea for jealousy or maybe more subtile reasons. Effort like yours is what keeps this hobby alive. If it was up to some negative people it would be: "Yeah, But...." forever.