Move Over Arduino, There's a Cheaper Microcontroller Option in Town

I saw this post the other day about programming a MSP430 with the Arduino IDE and was like "wait what?". My biggest problem with the MSP430 and Tiva C series microcontrollers (uCs) to date has been having to use code composer studio or IAR. Both are difficult to use, very bloated with features most of us never use, and have a very high learning curve. Pretty much every maker has used or is currently using an Arduino in a project because they are so simple to learn how to use. So if the post was right and you could code in the Arduino IDE-esque Energia IDE and then upload it to the more powerful Tiva C or far cheaper MSP430, I am totally on board.

Here is a cost breakdown

uC	Cost
Arduino UNO	$22
Tiva C launchpad	$12.99
MSP430 launchpad	$4.30
MSP430 IC	$1.85

The best part is that once you buy the MSP launchpad you can use it to program a chip then remove that chip and use it in your project! So for every project after the initial it will only cost you $1.85. Now mind you the MSP430 does have some drawbacks compared to the Arduino UNO, however there are a few flavors of the MSP430 with vary levels of performance. See this post for more a more detailed comparison.

So what is the main take away here? If a MSP430 series uC will work for your project why wouldn't you use it? You save money, can use it in your own PCB or breadboard, and if you break it, no biggy just swap another one in. Now some of you may note that you can bootload your Arduino ICs and move them to a breadboard or bootload them directly in the breadboard. Well you aren't wrong, but you will need a programmer, which is an added cost. Conversely you just need the launchpad board for the MSP430.

A final word of warning. It took me about an hour to realize that the latest version of the Energia IDE no longer supported the MSP430G2231 IC, so I had to download version 17 which still did. After that it only took about 2 minutes to upload blinky to both my MSP430G2231 and my TM4C123G.

All I Want for Christmas is a CNC Machine

I love having a 3D printer. It allows me to make so many things that would just be impossible otherwise. However, there are limitations. 3D printers are slow, the plastic can be brittle, and lets face it sometimes the prints have a look that only a maker could love. So with that I decided it was time to build a CNC machine. A CNC machine is the opposite of a 3D printer, instead of extruding material to build an object it mills away material to create an object. A CNC comes with its own set of limitations, but the fact that you can mill wood, plastic, aluminum just to name a few materials will seriously up my maker game. Not to mention you can make custom PCBs.

Putting my mind to making a CNC turned out to be a fairly complicated task, so I looked for a way that I could leverage my 3D printer. A quick search on thingiverse and bingo!

Meet Mostly Printed CNC 525 "C-23.5mm OD" by Allted. This is quite the design IMHO. Basically all the red and black pieces in the above picture are 3D printed. The total print time is >100 hours. You can buy kits from his website, but I am going to print all my own parts and maybe buy the electronics/hardware from him. We will see how cheap I am feeling. I have around 95% of the parts currently printed so it is just about time to order all the other hardware/electronics.

Printing the last large piece!

My box of parts