Putting the U in FUnicorn

The Alpenglow Industries FUnicorn is a fun way to share a special message, and the Full Kit adds to the fun with a big F’ing button, for remote detonation of your F bombs. But what if you want to make the FUnicorn your own – and create a more-than-one-trick pony? Also included in the Full Kit are user-solderable headers, so that you can add an Arduino shield and create the equine masterpiece of your dreams*! 
*provided that your dreams are compatible with 3v3 I/O

In order to not perforate the FUnicorn’s majestic form on the front of the board, we used surface mount headers rather than through-hole. This cosmetic decision means that you may find the headers harder to solder than other Arduinos you may have come across in the past, but, you can do it! If you believe in FUnicorns, we believe in you!

We recommend using any shield you may have handy to hold everything in place. Tack opposite corners to maintain alignment, then work your way along the rest of the outer pins. If everything is looking good, go ahead and carefully remove the shield. Remember at this point that the headers are only half-soldered, so if you yank it off with full Clydesdale strength, there's a chance that the headers – and even the pads that they are attached to – could come off with it, causing permanent damage. So please wiggle gently!  With the shield out of the way, you are now clear to complete the interior pins (below, left). You may experience some balling or other flow issues – feel free to reflow any problematic areas. At this point, your board should look like the below right:​

To confirm alignment, go ahead and reattach the shield, verifying that all of the pins are correctly seated and insertion/removal does not require an unreasonable amount of force. At this point, you are ready to put the U in FUnicorn, and give your idea wings (which would perhaps make it an FAlicorn?!)! If you want to be a nerd (don’t worry, we love nerds!) you can sneak ahead by completing Step 3 in our Hackaday instructions, or if you’d prefer to nerd out vicariously, stay tuned for the second part of this series: the making of the Wi-FUnicorn!