Portable PIC development kit

Lately I’ve been moving between 3 different locations and have been trying to do contracting work related to PIC processors. It was really frustrating to have all my development tools and components only at my home office when I was away so much. The solution was to add what I needed to one portable kit to take from location to location. My first attempt was a small plastic toolbox, but that was quickly filled and always seemed to be a mess. Next I tried a plastic shoebox from home depot for $0.99. This worked well since I could see everything that was in it, however it was a pain to carry around since there was no handle and it didn’t fit into a bag nicely. The solution I came up with was a plastic parts bin with moveable seperator walls, like you can find a Harbor Freight or Home Depot. With the movable walls, you can really cram a lot of stuff into them, I was impressed with everything that I got into the bin.

  • 3 pencils
  • 1 pen
  • 6 DIP PIC micocontrollers
  • 1 DIP EEPROM
  • 1 character LCD
  • Double sided tape
  • Wire cutters
  • Spade cutters
  • Plyers
  • hobby knife
  • super glue
  • velcro squares
  • 23 row breadboard
  • Bus pirate
  • Bus pirate cable
  • Tweezers
  • 2 Antistatic bags
  • Electrical tape
  • Alligator clip wires
  • Jumper wires
  • 3×2 programming wire
  • Micro USB phone cable
  • A to B USB cable
  • Voltmeter
  • 5 PIC Microcontroller dev boards
  • 2 Prototype backboard
  • 1 9v packboard
  • 2 crystals
  • USB to serial adapter
  • Serial adapter cable
  • Serial adapter
  • 4G USB drive
  • Mini philips screwdriver
  • Mini flat blade screwdriver
  • Medium dual head screwdriver
  • PICkit3
  • 2 Mini USB cable
  • FTDI TTL serial cable
  • 4 port Mini USB hub
  • AC USB adapter
  • AC 12v adapter
  • USB to 5.5mm barrel jack connector
  • 9v battery to 5.5mm barrel jack
  • 2 Barrel jack breakout boards
Electrical parts

  • Jumper wire
  • Misc pots
  • Misc caps,
  • Buttons
  • LEDs
  • Misc resistors
  • Regulators
  • Header
  • N-chan FETs
  • Misc diodes
  • Solder
  • Barrel jacks

While the box does close and latch, I use two fabric hook and loop straps to make sure it stays closed.  The unit is really compact and fits in any backpack or side bag.  I do have a breadboard I take with me as well and I think I found a small plastic picture box that can hold that so I don’t crush components when it is in a bag.  Here are some pictures too

s1axter

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