SparkFun À La Carte Block-Based Custom Board Service

2020-10-29 | By Nate_Larson

SparkFun knows a thing or two about boards after making them for nearly twenty years, and throughout this time, they’ve become accustomed to the common pitfalls. With their extensive knowledge on the topic, they have launched a new service to help startups, researchers, and those without intimate knowledge of PCB design. 

SparkFun’s À La Carte service, or ALC, allows users with a prototype or concept design to create the hardware required to realize their product. Similar to what Scratch has done for coding, ALC reduces the barrier to entry by taking a block-based approach to board design. This approach allows a user to select the blocks needed for their design while automation takes care of all the details behind the scenes, such as nets, classes, connection restrictions, and other electrical design rules. The customer is then free to focus on the final function of the design by selecting from an assortment of blocks, including controllers, inputs, outputs, transceivers, connectors, and power; SparkFun takes care of the heavy lifting and promises the customer an electrically-sound board. Even going so far as to ensure the design stays within the power budget of the selected supply.

ALC includes an innovative mix of block options:

• Varied controller options encompassing ESP32 WROOM, ATmega328P, ATtiny84, SparkFun Artemis and SAMD51
• Sensors from u-blox, Bosch, Microchip Technology, Sensirion, Texas Instruments, and more
• Joysticks, buttons, switches, trimpots, LEDs, buzzers, and motors
• Multiple connector options
• RFID, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LoRa, and other transceiver options
• Ability to integrate the Qwiic ® ecosystem of sensors, shields, LCDs, relays, and accessories

Once the design is finalized and submitted, SparkFun will get to work creating the PCB’s and populating the components along with flashing a bootloader onto the microcontroller so the user can get started programming as soon as their custom board assembly arrives. The user can even go back into their order history and order more of the same board without having to step through the design process again.

Along with every completed design, a user will also receive PDF schematics and Gerber files. If a user wants to make modifications to the design, Eagle design files are available for an additional fee.

Get started with ALC at https://alc.sparkfun.com/ and through the end of 2020 save 50% off the Design Fee by using promo code: ALCDIGIKEY50

Have questions or comments? Continue the conversation on TechForum, DigiKey's online community and technical resource.

Visit TechForum

Arduino | 3D Printing | Raspberry Pi