If you are an Arduinoist, you need many tools, components when you do prototyping or experiments. In the list below, we have gathered the most important and commonly used tools and parts for Arduino projects.
Essential Tools for Arduino Projects
- Soldering iron- a soldering iron is a hand tool used in soldering. It supplies heat to melt solder so that it can flow into the joint between two components. A soldering iron is composed of a heated metal tip and an insulated handle.
- Solder and soldering paste (flux)- solder is a fusible metal alloy used to create a permanent bond between metal pieces.
- Flux is added to act as a temporary adhesive, holding the components until the soldering process melts the solder and fuses the parts together.
- Desoldering pump- When soldered point goes wrong, you need a desoldering pump before you fix the mess. To use it, heat up the point you want to desolder with the soldering iron, then simply put the tip of the desoldering pump to the point and press the switch. The point will then be desoldered.
- Voltmeter- You need a voltmeter to help you to check the voltage of a power source. It is necessary.
- Mini drill- a mini drill is used to make holes on the printed circuit board (PCB) for soldering components onto it.
Essential Experiment Tools
- A Breadboard- A breadboard is a solderless device for a temporary prototype with electronics and test circuit designs. Every five holes in a line are interconnected, it is very useful when doing an
experiment . - Jumper Wires- Jumper wires are used to connect lines together on a breadboard. Each jumper wire has a special plastic casing and a pin.
The Arduino Microcontrollers
- Arduino UNO- The Arduino UNO is the most commonly used microcontroller in Arduino family. It is ideal for experiments.
- Arduino Nano- An Arduino Nano is a micro-sized Arduino microcontroller. Very useful for a project developing and prototyping.
- Arduino Ethernet- If you are building a web-based project, you need an Arduino Ethernet microcontroller. It is a special version of Arduino microcontroller which includes an Ethernet connection.
Arduino Project Components and Sensors
- Resistor- I guess; you don’t need an introduction of what a resistor is! The resistors lower the voltage of a circuit. It comes with various size and range. You have to choose which particular resistor you need for your project.
- Potentiometer- A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider.
- Pushbuttons and switches
- LEDs
- DC Motor- For RC car and such kind of projects you need DC motors
- Servo motor- A servo motor is a rotary actuator that allows for precise control of certain degree angular position, consists of a motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback.
- LCD 16*2 characters display– you need some LCD displays for your project.
- PIR (Passive Infrared Ray) Motion Sensor- PIR sensors sense the movement of close objects, are mainly used in security systems.
- LM35 Temperature Sensor- The LM35 temperature sensor is a small precise temperature sensor and can be directly recorded by Arduino analog pins.
- Photoresistor- Photoresistor is a light-controlled variable resistor. Useful for Arduino projects.
- Infrared Ray Transceiver- IR transceiver used for commutation between two Arduinos or remote devices
Essential Softwares
You need Arduino IDE to run the program on your computer and Fritzing software for prototype PCB designing.
A Starter Kit walks you through the basics of using the Arduino in a hands-on way.
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