Using the MakerShield - Button | Make:

By Michael Castor
Time Required: 5 minutes.

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The MakerShield is a great prototyping shield but the button can be a little confusing to use. Since it connects to ground when pressed, it takes a little extra wiring and one change in the code to get to work with with the Arduino example sketch. Follow along!

Steps

Step #1:

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First, let's lay out our parts. You'll need a MakerShield (assembled), a mini breadboard, an Arduino, 3 male jumper wires, and a 10K Ohm (Brown, Black, Orange) resistor.
Next, take your MakerShield (with mini breadboard attached) and place it on top of the shield headers. Make sure the pins are lined up and press it into place.
Great Job! Let's continue.

Conclusion

Easy, huh?

Michael Castor

I am the Evangelist for the Maker Shed. It seems that there is no limit to my making interests. I'm a tinkerer at heart and have a passion for solving problems and figuring out how things work. When not working for Make I can be found falling off my unicycle, running in adverse weather conditions, skiing down the nearest hill, restoring vintage motorcycles, or working on my car.

39 Responses to Using the MakerShield – Button

Charles on April 27th, 2013 at 2:43 pm said:

Thank you so much…I’m new to arduino and just soldered the makershield together with my son…we were lost on how to verify that we set everything up correctly. This was exactly what we needed and will make our experience with the protoshield even better!
- Jason on June 5th, 2013 at 3:30 pm said:
  
  Me too! Success! It worked. Both LED’s light up (after moving the jumper wire.)
Tonto123 on October 13th, 2013 at 3:10 pm said:

mine didn’t come with the bread board to put on top. :(
- Michael Castor on October 14th, 2013 at 8:41 am said:
  
  It’s sold separately – http://www.makershed.com/Mini_Breadboards_p/mkkn1.htm
Martin Holguin on December 20th, 2013 at 5:52 am said:

hi i just put together the makershield and I wanted to say that it is very easy to solder, although
I have not experience and after testing it (thanks to this step by step guide) I realized that it works fantastically!!!
Ari on January 2nd, 2014 at 5:02 pm said:

I can not find the 10K Ohm resistor nor the pushbutton, could you please give me the links?
- Michael Castor on January 2nd, 2014 at 8:47 pm said:
  
  Hello,
  
  The button is included in the MakerShield Kit – http://www.makershed.com/MakerShield_Kit_p/msms01.htm
  
  We include the 10K resistor in our Getting Started with Arduino Kit, Ultimate Arduino Microcontroller Pack, and Mintronics: Survival Pack. You can also pick one up from your local RadioShack.
  
  Hope that helps!
mathly on November 23rd, 2014 at 6:16 am said:

The comments below are my personal opinions only. Your experience may vary.
‘Make’, ‘Maker Shed’, etc are basically blatant commercial money-making endeavors. I would caution anyone thinking of buying this ‘Maker Shield’ that it is NOT a ‘breadboard’, there is no ‘manual’ except brief blurbs online, in fact it is a waste of $17 if you have any circuits knowledge whatever.
Note that the ‘mini breadboard’ appears to be available ONLY from Maker Shed. Rat Shack breadboards will not fit, nor will any other breadboard I see available online.
The button, capacitors, LED’s resistors, wire jumpers, etc can be added to any ordinary breadboard, thus eliminating the totally unnecessary expense and effort involved in this ‘Maker Shield’ commercial product.
Did I mention that there is no easily available manual containing even any DESCRIPTION of the underlying CIRCUIT on the ‘Maker Shield’ board itself? And, one cannot easily see into the various levels of circuit to decipher whether one would, for example, simply BLOW OUT the Led’s? For that matter, how many levels are there in the PC board?
My opinion is that this is mainly a come-on to buy more gimmicks from ‘Make’, which is mostly just that – a store.