Beyond breadboards? Good ways to package simple GPIO-using project?

Question

I have a couple of simple projects that use a handful of GPIO pins, a few resistors, and some sensors and LEDs.

What's a good way to package up stuff like that? Is there a premade solderable HAT-like board design allowing some components to be soldered on? Is there a case tall enough to hold a RPi along with such a board?

How about accommodating connectors for external gadgets like temperature sensors?

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 18 '19 at 13:27

5

Is there a premade solderable HAT-like board

Yes, tons of these are on sale. A quick search using words like "prototype" and "DIY" revealed there's a board called "ModMyPi", and there are certainly others:

answered Nov 18 '19 at 13:27

Dmitry Grigoryev

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 18 '19 at 13:22

I find that strip-board or perf-board will fill the gap between bread-board and a PCB (although PCBs can be relatively cheap using pooled services).

Some stripboards will have a special area on one end where you can attach a suitable dual row GPIO header (note that if you're not stacking them then you may not need a full size header, only one big enough to cover the pins you need), like this one from Roth:

Going from breadboard to stripboard is easier but perfboard can be neater and more compact, in my opinion. Also, doing double-sided builds is a challenge which ever one you choose.

BCRobotics appear to have a Raspberry Pi specific board that might be of interest but I've not used it.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 19 '19 at 19:49

If you do not mind some soldering, this is an inexpensive approach:

long 40-pin stachable headers: 20 for $18 https://www.ebay.com/itm/281394575257

6x8cm plated souble-sided proto board 20 for $14 https://www.ebay.com/itm/123934353296

Works out to $1.60 per hat.

Beyond breadboards? Good ways to package simple GPIO-using project?

3 Answers3