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Arduino Custom Case Mounting Issues

If you are an Arduino hobbiest like myself, you may have also come across the issue of wanting to mount the Uno or Mega boards in something other than the drab grey plastic boxes, like you can buy from RobotShop.

Don’t get me wrong, these are ideal enclosures for an Uno or Mega with none or one shield, even the Ethernet shield. But it’s not designed for the Ethernet shield with a PoE add-on, as it won’t fit. Or possibly even a single shield and then wires plugged into the shield’s headers. So a very basic and limiting case.

I have yet to come across any other cost effective Arduino enclosure that is available on the market. If they are out there, they are very hard to find. All I’ve found other than the case mentioned above, are expensive custom made cases that claim to be for the Arduino. And even so, how exactly will you mount them in your custom or generic case?

A larger issue with mounting an Arduino in custom case (regardless of cutting the openings) is the mounting hardware? There seems to be no one on selling standoffs and screws that will work in the limited space allowed for on the cramped circuit board, as actual Arduino mounting hardware. Common screw heads and mounting posts are typically too large for the Arduino boards, and will not fit or will make contact with circuit traces on the board.

So my post today is about the items I have sourced that seem to work well, to easily mount an Arduino board in a custom or generic enclosure. I have finally found screws with small enough heads to fit without grinding them down, and slightly smaller than typical standoffs mounts.

Here is what seems to work well for me, and were commonly in stock:

M2.5x5mm SS Pan Head Machine Screw #10079

4.5MM HEX FEMALE STANDOFF-AL; Overall Length:6mm; Thread Size – Metric:M2.5; Spacer Material:Aluminium; External Width:4.5mm; Overall Length:6mm Part# 27T7781

Plastic Washers 6mm x 1.5mm from Canadian Tire (Part# 61-8086-2)
*** In-store purchase only it seems, but either supplier above should have similar.

The plastic washers I find help insulate the aluminum standoff from the bottom circuit traces, as they are still rather close to the 4.5mm standoffs. But if you are careful when you tighten them up, you may be able to get away with no plastic washers, but it’s more risky.

Weber 300 BBQ Review

I ended up replacing a large stainless steel BBQ with side burner and rotisserie with a Weber 300 from Home Depot.

I looked again at the STOK Gridiron Portable that really interested me, and realized it had no tank rack, and only a small hand held tank style connection under the side table. So it looks like it’s only intended for a small cylinder to screw on vertically. You’d have to find or make an adapter hose to use a 20 lb tank with it.

The Weber 300 went together a little easier than a SS BBQ and is pretty sturdy, though the frame is almost all moulded plastic. So carting it any distance or over a lawn would require removing the tank, but once you do so it’s somewhat portable in nature. I’d only want to move it a short distance on a flat surface with a full tank. Thought it’s far lighter than your average SS BBQ, which is good.

On first use the 300 got really hot and cooked well, we were impressed using it. We realized we never use the rotisseries and side burners like is standard on large BBQ’s, or even need 2 larger side tables than what is on the Webber. So for us, I think we finally have found the right kind of BBQ.

It cooks your meat, doesn’t waste a lot of room, looks good, and you can move it without breaking off an overly small caster (which seems to be typical on most BBQ’s these days.)

Haywire (2011)

Haywire is an uncomplicated spy versus spy movie. With one noticeable exception; the lead character is a woman. A woman that would put the fighting skills of James Bond to shame, meaning she can’t be killed and can beat up and kill any man alive with barely a bruise to show for it. So it’s extremely realistic. Plus she’s a flat bitchy character, and when I say flat, I’m not talking about her boobs.

For an uncomplicated movie, the first few minutes come across the complete opposite with seemly overly complicated dialogue and plot. They want us to figure out on our own what the movie is about. Not a new concept in story telling, but for many reasons, the process they take here is extremely annoying.

Our movie makers also constantly change the techniques they use in portraying the film, by using different camera and editing styles in one scene than another, lacking sound effects in some scenes and having far too many in others. I got the impression it was a film student’s first attempt at making a movie, and thought that using every movie trick he/she learned in the same movie would be artsy. It’s not, it’s obvious and irritating.

Haywire is not fun to watch, it’s painful on several levels. Don’t watch this, you have better things to do.

4/10

Google Street View Disappointment

When has Google Street View gone too far?

You’ve all heard the stories of people offended by Google Street View, having invaded their privacy. The tales are amusing, and always about someone else. These people are shown walking down the street, pissing in their garden, doing something in their home windows, etc.

We recently purchased a lot in cottage country, and too my surprise, the out of the way lake road is on the frickin Street View with images of the lot entrance and lot numbers. It’s not exactly looking in my windows or catching me doing something embarrassing, but I still find it disturbing that our no-longer private country retreat is as open to the Internet as our house in the city.

This is hardly a major violation of privacy, but it is definitely sad, and brings to light how little privacy we all have these days, even simply getting away to the lake for the weekend.

BlackBerry Playbook Update 2.1.0.560

Last week RIM made available to developers and beta testers a new version of the OS for the Playbook tablet. To get the 2.1 beta download you have to request it via this link, and it will show up on the device soon after.

The only new features I’ve noticed as a user, are being able to use the new apps from the v.2.0 update in portrait mode. So apps like Contacts and Messages for example, you can now turn the tablet and they rotate. Wow! Amazing! RIM is so on the cutting edge as usual. But the app rotation is really slow to occur. After rotating the Playbook you have to wait an annoyingly long moment to see it happen. And the other new feature is having Android apps display and run in their own window. Before they all ran inside an obvious emulator app window. Yes, once again, a profound new concept in modern app appearance, display an app in it’s own window.

So the only 2 features that are noticeable to the typical user were once again things that we would have expected by default in any modern tablet, and I know I was fully expecting in the long awaited 2.0 update a short while back. But at least they are finally here, so when I take my PlayBook off the shelf (which is rare) to use instead of my Android based Asus Transformer Prime (which I use daily) I can rotate the screen. Good job RIM! We were expecting those apps and the ability to rotate them I think over a year ago when you released the PlayBook.

Drive (2011)

The uncomplicated storey of a mysterious and skilled car enthusiast, and his relationships with the seedy characters he finds himself involved intertwined with.

At first glance this movie appears to be a snoozer. In fact it seems to go very slowly for the most part. But I think the audience would be divided in half, between the average impatient viewer, that sees only the the surface and is bored. And the more astute viewer that is impressed with the subtle nature of everything that happens.

Our lead, Ryan Gosling, is not an actor I personally have watched a lot in film. But in Drive there is no doubt he has mastered the nack for conveying emotions (and even dialogue) in subtle facial expressions and mannerisms, as well as minimal conversation. And that is the key to making this slow paced suspenseful show work. In this film he reminds me of the late Charles Bronson, who was famous in his movie career for playing many of his roles with this type of quiet strength.

Ryan Gossling is nothing if not impressive in Drive.

9/10

Limitless (2011)

Take an average loser, give him a stash of intelligence enhancing pills, and set him loose on a roller coaster of life’s adventures, and you have the plot for Limitless.

It’s a slightly less than typical Hollywood movie, unique enough to keep your attention for the duration. Neither a great movie nor bad, just good enough to enjoy. The lead is lone-wolf enough to want the typical movie watcher root for the underdog.

7/10

Leap Motion

I just heard about a new hands-free motion sensitive computer interactive device from Leap Motion. For those that need it dumbed down, it’s a thingy that allows you to move stuff on the computer screen like in a sci-fi show.

They are taking pre-orders, and I think I’ll jump onboard as the thing is only $70US plus delivery. Unfortunately they aren’t shipping till December 2012 or later, so it makes you wonder if the thing is for real. That’s the type of ridiculous lead times on new products as RIM generates, so it makes you question if it will actually come out or be outdated by the time it does. You know, like every product RIM has put out in the last number of years. But the promotional videos look great.

You can read all about it on their website, so get the details there.

John Carter (2012)

Take a rebel cowboy/soldier from the 1800’s, transport him against his will to a colonized Mars, and make him a rebel fighter of the resistance in a Martian war. And you have the plot for John Carter.

Several of the reviews I read when this movie was released complained about how confusing the plot was, and how no one can figure out what is going on, but it was fun to watch. Those reviewers were obviously watching some other movie. And if you are too freaking dumb to follow this movie, and the incredibly well defined story line, then you should go the way of Darwinian idiots. That means you are simply too dumb to live. That was the thought that went through my mind as I was watching John Carter, expecting a bizarre and confusing action movie. Not the case in the least.

John Carter is somewhat refreshing compared to the typical Sci-fi flic. However there are man similarities to the movie series known as Star Wars. Then again, any original Star Wars fan knows that George Lucas admitted early on in the original movies success, that he was simply incorporating the basic elements that make a good exciting story. And John Carter follows the exact same formula; the abandoned young hero with special skills, a hero on his own, a heroin that initially doesn’t like him, a war, a rebel alliance, proving yourself to others, yadda yadda, you get the picture.

I liked the show. It’s a bit campy, and often has the odd feel of 70’s bad Sci-Fi. The lead guy is hot yet not a pretty boy. It’s somewhat unique overall, well done and a lot of fun to watch. If you like Sci-Fi and action films it’s an easy sell.

8.5/10

Cuisinart Keurig Coffee Maker

I’ve purchased 2 of the Cuisinart Keurig single brew coffee makers in the past year. One for home and one for the office. They work very well, and for making one or a few cups of coffee or tea at a time, it’s a great convenience. Once you have one of these it’s like doing without a microwave in your kitchen, you simple fall in love with the convenience.

The first one I bought (July 2011) stopped working, the pump would run but little or no water would come out, and the display was acting up. I contacted the mother company (Conair Corporation) customer service and was told to simply send it back if it’s under the warranty period for repair or replacement. Warranty on the model SS-700 is 3 years. The manual insisted on the user sending a $10 money order for processing on all warranty returns, yet the woman on the phone said it’s no longer required and not to bother.

So I sent it back in the original box with a letter explaining the issues and my return address, and in about 2 weeks I received a brand new unit, delivery paid.

Time will tell if it was just a bad machine or if these coffee makers have a short lifespan, but regardless, this is excellent customer service, and I commend Conaire and Cuisinart on such fantasic customer care.

The Cuisinart brand is often a little more money than other brands, but you typically get what you pay for, and here is another example of that fact.

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