Arduino Part 5: Mounting

A few weeks ago, I picked up the Arduino Uno that I've had for a while, and started thinking about what I should build with it. I decided on modifying an old toy rover that I had, and making it wirelessly drivable... but with 2 way audio and a camera feed. single-frame camera-broadcast.


This is the fifth part of several posts. I will be explaining about how I mounted my Arduino and the breadboard to the rover.

Links:
Part 1: Initial Plan and Reverse-Engineering
Part 2: Preparing the Rover Chassis
Part 3: Motor Control
Part 4: Bluetooth!
Part 5: Mounting
Part 6: Batteries
Part 7: The Test

Almost all of the rover's circuitry and coding were done. I had to start thinking about how I would keep the delicate brains from falling out.

One thing was certain: I wouldn't be able to directly put the Arduino onto the rover: Not enough flat space, and I would be taking a chance of damaging it.

To minimize the damage risk, it would be a good idea to have something to mount the Arduino on, like a cushion in-between the rover pieces and the Arduino.

First, I looked at acrylic mounting boards. These were either expensive, or wouldn't get here very timely. I finally chose the totally-professional-looking recycled-cardboard and string approach.

Steps I took were:
Marked locations for holes with Ultra Fine sharpie through Arduino's.
Punched holes with some sharp screws I had lying around.
Found that the ink was conductive and had to repeat steps 1 and 2 on another piece.
Tied Arduino on with super thin threads.

Just under the top piece of plastic (supposedly designed to give the impression that it was a tinted windshield) was the battery cover. It was long enough that, with some modifications, the Arduino could fit on it sideways. There were two supporting triangles in the way, and I had to find a way to chop off the excess.

Sorry. This image was taken after I chopped it up.

Remember how I said that my soldering iron cut through the plastic way back in Part 2? (In between the first two images) That gave me an idea: I could melt through the plastic and remove just enough. Searching on the internet to see if anyone has found disadvantages, I found this Instructable. No need to get out the hammer, though. I have a small container with a variety of soldering tips... One of them is a fearsome looking knife blade.

Need I remind you not to break into my house?

Cutting through the plastic was very easy. I just held the blade on it, and pressed.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for fingers lost while waving hot knives around. Call a doctor, not a lawyer.

After the cutting was done, there was enough room for my Arduino with a little bit extra.

Picture was taken with the inky cardboard.

To mount the cardboard to the battery cover, I had a few options: Double-sided tape, sticky "Zots", and hot-glue. I chose sticky Zots as the best blend of reliability and non-permanence. After the Arduino and breadboard were secured, it looked like this.

The battery cover went right back on the rover body, and had no obstructions. Naturally, I won't be putting the original top piece back on.

Part 6 will be about how I decided to power the rover. This is made more difficult by the fact that by default, the rover carries only 3 AA batteries: 4.5 Volts.

More tips!

1. Don't wave hot knives around... I think you would be very disappointed with only nine fingers.

2. Try not to do things that will be irreversible. Later (Part 6), I found that I needed a bigger breadboard. Had I used hot glue to attach it, I would be trying to cut it off with the soldering iron.

3. Take time to do things right. While it probably wouldn't have been fatal, conductivity between leads would not have been healthy for Arduino. I'm glad I checked with a multimeter.

Edit: 8/25/16: Updated list of links

Edit: 7/6/17: Updated list of links