After starting PK industries this year, and working through the entire process of teaching myself electronics, I want to share my tips and biggest finds of the year, to help you speed up your innovation, or even find some gift ideas.
I’ve used a lot of microcontrollers this year, and while I think it’s important to be able to use many different microcontrollers, there are definitely ones to use and ones to avoid. This year I’ve used: Arduino Uno, Arduino Nano, Raspberry Pi Pico 1 and 2, Raspberry Pi 02W, Pi 5, ESP32 Devboards, ESP32CYD, Xiao C6, and the Tang Nano 9k FPGA.
My top pick this year is the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. Both the pico 1 and 2 are a joy to program. They run very fast, support tons of libraries and multi core support is amazing. Having the choice of C++ and micropython make this a great option for any age and skill level. They are very small, fit into every project nicely, tons of IO and can solder directly onto a PCB, all for just $5.
My runner up is the ESP32 Xiao C6. This tiny board is able to power tons of beginner and intermediate projects. The integrated battery charger is amazing, the small size is useful, and while pins are limited, it still has great selection to use and I’ve never needed more out of it. The only reason this isn’t number one is because the PlatformIO extension I use to program it doesn’t technically support it so you need to use a little hack to make it work. Arduino IDE does support it and works perfectly fine.
There's a surprising amount of soldering equipment I’ve used this year. I started out with a basic corded soldering iron and 1.6mm pipe solder (I use 0.8mm now and even that feels big). I do about an equal amount of hand and wave soldering, but I do not use a hot air gun.
My top pick, by far, is the Pinecil soldering iron. This is a $25 USB C soldering iron that heats up in 6 seconds. On top of all that, it has a screen to tell you how hot it is, actually life saving, and replaceable tips.
Next to that is an SMD hot plate. I’m not going to point out specifics, they are all about the same and cost $30-$40, but getting one that can adjust heating curves is ideal. These are super useful for saving a ton of money on PCB assembly and also removing components from damage boards.
This one is going to be pretty open, and I’m mostly a hardware guy, but I’ve still used a lot of different programs to make hardware, so this will be more geared to that.
KiCad is my favorite all around to design circuit boards. Much better than EasyEDA and it’s free. There are tons of guides available. The default tools are pretty useful and there are lots of plugins to add in more features.
VSCode is my favorite code editor. Super lightweight and customizable. The PlatformIO and PIOArduino extensions make it a way better alternative to ArduinoIDE. Even without knowing all the keybinds it's a great next step to programming and makes organizing projects a breeze.
If you need some inspiration for a new project, or don’t want to write a lot of hard code, software libraries can make that a lot easier, here are two of my favorites to help out in your next project.
The Mozzi Audio library certainly has a learning curve to it, but it is also incredibly versatile and sophisticated. Over the last 10 years this library has expanded to support MIDI output and sound synthesis on a range of microcontrollers from all prices and power. My most recent project uses it to create a polyphonic synthesizer, but it can also be used to make effects pedals and filters.
Another great library is the rotary encoder library by Mathertel. Rotary encoders are a great way to simplify 3 buttons into 1 dial while taking up little space and being super simple to wire. This library makes them super useful, allowing for clicks, double clicks, and acceleration toggle.