Poor Arduino Uno Build Quality – Updated

Well I don’t know if they ran out of time, picked the wrong PCB fab house or got monkeys to make these new boards but it looks like something went wrong…

Massimo Banzi has since commented on these issues on the Arduino Blog.

Anyone who receives an Arduino board with a poor build quality can get a refund/replacement with no questions asked. Sounds like this problem should be resolved soon.

Unfortuunately they PCB design for both the Uno and Mega2560 are still not up to scratch. Maybe this is one of the first things that needs to get fixed up soon for the next board revision.

Moogle’s ideas on the board design and issues.

Pics found of the Arduino Mega 2560:

 

It appears the header spacing isn’t correct (on the Mega at least):

It has been confirmed that the headers on the mega are approximately 0.01″ out from what they should be but apparently the old Mega board also had this issue. This is an issue in the PCB design rather than the boards themselves.

Arduino Uno:

 

From these pictures I know I will have to be convinced that build quality has majorly improved before I go and spend my money on one of these boards in the future.

From the blog post by Massimo Banzi, as a refund/replacement will be given to anyone with a bad board, maybe I will get one but I might wait a bit for everything to die down first and perhaps the second revision to arrive.

Arduino: the good, the bad, the ugly – robint91

The Arduino Uno Disappointing Failure – Moogle

Arduino Forum Thread – Various

Arduino Manufacturing Problems – ChemicalOliver

New Arduino hardware

The new arduino boards are now available.

The Arduino Uno (to replace the duemilanove) and the Mega 2560 (to replace the mega).

Both are running the ATmega8U2 instead of the FTDI chip common to arduino USB boards up to now. This allows you to perform more fancy things (like making the arduino appear as USB input devices) and all also allows the arduino boards to use their own vendor ID and appear in the new IDE as an arduino device.

The Uno also now has more space available due to the use of the optiboot bootloader (saving ~1.5K)

Video from Adafuit’s website of the announcements:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/15310753

(Sorry for the lateness of the post)

Cheap Serial 24×8 LCD

[WanaGo] on the arduino forum mentioned this. He’s found some nice cheap 24×8 serial LCDs that are perfect for using with the arduino when you’re running out of space on a 20×4 display.

Currently (03/09/2010) they are available for $15 from an ebay seller. He has a few in stock now but I understand that he will be continuing to sell them for a while yet.

Available here

When that link dies, you can see if this seller has any more on his store

Original forum thread

MegaMini (Atmega1280) & Competition

The MegaMini is a new arduino compatible ‘mega’ type board from JKDevices (http://www.jkdevices.com/arduino-megamini)

Features:

• Atmel Atmega 1280 processor
• 5 Volt LDO regulator provides up to 1 amp of current
• Accepts input voltage up to 16 volts
• Onboard USB to serial adapter for programming via bootloader
  • 100% Arduino compatible
• Pre-loaded with Arduino compatible bootloader
  • 100% Arduino Compatible
• Access to all ports of the Atmega1280
  • Accessing additional ports from the Arduino environment may require using direct port access
• 0.1″ spacing allows the use of standard size headers
• USB TX/RX LED

The best thing about it is that you can win one here.

Just think of a good idea and post it up and you might win one of these boards for your next project.

They will be shipped out on Tuesday 31st August so as a guess, I would say you only have this weekend to submit your ideas.