While protoyping designs using a solderless breadboard you can often find yourself with many buttons and pull-down resistors jammed into a web of wires that not only take up precious board space but also introduce a level of complexity that's frankly unnecessary. To solve this problem, self-proclaimed "geek extraordinaire" Kevin Rye has created a simple but very useful board that contains six buttons and LEDs that are ready for connection to an Arduino or other board - and by keeping the wires to the top and bottom of the board the breadboard mess can be reduced, for example:
This is a great ideas, as it not only saves space but also increases the reliability of breadboarded projects - and no more buttons "popping out" of the board. Kevin has provided the EAGLE design files so you can make your own as well - so visit his interesting website to get started. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you don't have the time or inclination to make your own PCBs, consider adding your own external circuitry to protoype with an Arduino or compatible board, pm one or more of our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega range, we offer a complete range for you to work with.
