Dang... That's almost enough to make me go and splurge on a 3D printer!!!

I have three
It is very addictive.

Here is my Thingiverse stuff https://www.thingiverse.com/dendad51/designs
I have drawn a few Arduino options.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2533143
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2528477

A kit is quite cheap now and a good way to start. You can see my son's 3D printer there..
Thew Geeetech i3 as we have modded it. He is now getting quite good prints from it.

 

I just use 328 standalone and get rid of the uno all together. It can have a very minimul build.
to commuicate with it for programing you can use a chipless uno via rx/tx lines or a flash programmer. A 8pin header will cover both methods.

That sounds exactly what I want to do when I finish my projects, so I'm keen to learn exactly how. Sorry for the change of topic; should I have started a new thread?

I gather that the MCU (an ATA MEGA 328P in my case) when removed from the UNO R3 will only work (i.e. continue to run the sketch last uploaded to it) if some further work is done to it.

Could I do that from the UNO itself after insertng a new MEGA328. IOW, using the UNO as programmer, as per the second of your suggested methods?

 

That sounds exactly what I want to do when I finish my projects, so I'm keen to learn exactly how. Sorry for the change of topic; should I have started a new thread?

I gather that the MCU (an ATA MEGA 328P in my case) when removed from the UNO R3 will only work (i.e. continue to run the sketch last uploaded to it) if some further work is done to it.

Could I do that from the UNO itself after insertng a new MEGA328. IOW, using the UNO as programmer, as per the second of your suggested methods?

Yes, that sounds like a new topic from "Mounting UNO reliably on a Base"

But, why not do some background learning before starting a new topic that is so general. There is a great deal of information on programming the ATMEGA, including this article on the site.

BTW: If you did brick your clone (from an earlier thread) by damaging the GPIO on the ATMEGA, you could program a new chip and replace the bad one in the clone easily since it is socketed.

 

Its still easy to work with when off board as long as you add the header for it. It will act exactly the same as when installed on uno if you connect a chip-less uno device to the off board 328's GND, RST, VCC, RX, TX lines when you need to re-program it or make changes.


This is the simplest setup I use to run the 328 by itself. The chip has a internal 8mhz clock in it so you could do away with the crystal but I think it runs better with external one and can support up to 20mhz I believe.

I don't think its off-topic because its still in the realm of "mounting" to your project... But when your ready for more information about off board setup you may get much more feedback with another thread. There is a ton of info out there already out there just google "Off Board 328" .

 

Thanks both.

I have already made initial attempts to use the new UNO to repair (program) the broken one, with help from the Arduino forum. Unfortunately so far unsuccessfully. But I agree it would be OT to discuss that and ‘standalone’ 328 work in this thread.

 

use the new UNO to repair (program) the broken one

Just how did you break a UNO???

 

I've yet to kill the big dip package but I have killed outputs on the small MLF package a few times.

 

I have a SMT Uno clone with one pin DOA
It took me quote a while to figure out as I thought it was a code problem. You expect the new boards to be fine.
It is fairly easy to kill a pin or chip with over volts and no doubt quite a few are popped as new folk get going with Arduino.

 

Exterior 5+ V on a pin is not good. Got to be careful with exterior power and isolate it. Most everything else I've not had a problem with. Pulling too much current on the USB will cause a resetting breaker to pop on my computer and nasty messages from W10. Have one with a dead LED, but still work fine otherwise. I do have a clone with the ATmega328P-AU chip that the IDE doesn't like but still usable. I thought I had about 6 of them, but when I started counting it was 12+. Some were 3/$5 clone specials.