CSEduinoWorld

CSEduinoWorld

CSEduino stands for Cheap, Small and Easy “Arduino” like board.

Introduction

The CSEduino was designed and created by me to address the problem of the Arduino Board cost and as a learning platform.

Arduino is a very nice prototyping platform but, Although not very expensive, costs at least € 20 (25 USD).
The CSEduino is the answer to a very low cost DIY Arduino like board.

This was a problem in 2014, now its not due to the chinese clones of Arduino boards.

With a very small budget of up to € 3.5 (5 USD) in parts it is possible to build this board with the required components.
To be small some optimizations were made to the stripboard to accomplish its reduced size. Version 1 and 2 of the board are 4.5cm x 5.5cm.
The circuit is adaptable to different requirements and it was made modular enough to be able remove the parts not needed and reduce its size even further.
To be simple and easy to build I’ve used only THT - Through-hole technology. Avoiding SMD - Surface Mount Devices - components - as they are harder to solder and prone to errors. I’ve used the most common microcontroller used in Arduino Boards with THT - the ATMega328P (in PDIP format).
In Version 1 and 2 the components where soldered to a stripboard to reduce extra wiring.
In the latest versions 3 and 4 it was created a custom PCB to simplify even further the assembling.

During the course of time I’ve evolved the board to address different requirements.

This is the history of CSEduino

CSEduino_history

Instructions to build the boards:

The original One - Concept to design to creation. It was presented at Arduino Day 2014 and in Lisbon Mini MakerFaire 2014.

Improved version with lower footprint and less components. The components where placed in a way to reduce the height of the board

First PCB version - 1-layer only - can be made at home with simple etching methods. Developed in altLab for single side PCB experiments.

Latest generation of the board. Made in a professional service it has a very good finish. Presented in 2016 at a workshop in altLab.

Disclaimer

Making electronic circuits can be dangerous if you don’t follow safety precautions.
The instructions presented here are produced using best effort knowledge found on the Internet and were not created by a professional.
It is up to you to verify and double check the information presented here.
The author cannot guarantee the validity of the information contained in this document.
This guides can be used at your own risk!

Limitations

By design it is not Shield compatible with Arduino and to keep the cost low it doesn’t include the USB interface for programming.

Additional Content