Arduino L298 Motor Shield

This is my version of a cheap and diy arduino motor shield. It is very simple and rugged. Credit goes to Ascas for the design.

Specs:
Voltage = 5 - 50 V
Current = 2 - 3 A
Maximum two motors
Speed and direction control for both
Arduino compatible

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You will need:

1 x L298 Motor Driver
1 x Veroboard
1 x Male Header Strip
1 x Female Header Strip
8 x 1N4007 Diodes
3 x Block connectors
2 x Indicator Led
2 x Led Resistor
2 x 1 Ohm Resistor
Jumper Wire

You will also need basic soldering tools and some soldering skills

This is the schematic and again credit to Ascas. Pin out for the motor driver is also given

You will start off by cutting your vero board to the arduino size. Sand down the sides for a neat finish. Start off by soldering the female headers, the L298 and the block connectors as shown 

Next step is to solder the male headers below the female ones to make it a shield type thing. You could buy the arduino headers to make the project prettier and more sturdy but i found them to be expensive. The best way is to insert the male header in the arduino I/O pins and align the shield on top of it. Use tape to secure it and then solder away. 

Next is to make the power and other connections along with adding the diodes. Follow the schematic and add the two resistors as well. 

Next is to add the led and resistors along with it. Here one option is to add a LM7805 so that you could power the arduino with the the power only to the shield but for my application i didnt need that so i went with separate power supply. I also made connections to the arduino PWM pins. 

You are all done and next is to test it out. 

Use the following code 

int outPin = 5;
int outPin2 = 6;
int outPin4 = 10;
int outPin3 = 11;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600); // setup serial
pinMode(outPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outPin3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outPin4, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin, 50);
digitalWrite(outPin2, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin3, 50);
digitalWrite(outPin4, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("slow");
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin, 150);
digitalWrite(outPin2, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin3, 150);
digitalWrite(outPin4, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("med");
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin, 255);
digitalWrite(outPin2, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin3, 255);
digitalWrite(outPin4, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("fast");
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin, 0);
digitalWrite(outPin2, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin3, 0);
digitalWrite(outPin4, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("stop");
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin2, 100);
digitalWrite(outPin, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin4, 100);
digitalWrite(outPin3, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("backwards");
delay(3000);
analogWrite(outPin, 0);
digitalWrite(outPin2, LOW);
analogWrite(outPin3, 0);
digitalWrite(outPin4, LOW);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("stop");
}

I used this shield to make LINUS my line following robot which i will upload soon and it worked great. I put it through endurance and it stood up to the challenge although a good heat sink is essential. Thank you for viewing and i hope i effectively communicated my build. 

Th schematic is very simple but still if you have issues, double check your connections. Using a multimeter always helps :P