SparkFun Electronics
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 2002 Boulder, Colorado |
| Headquarters | Boulder, Colorado |
| Products | Port-o-Rotary, Giant NES Controller, Picture Frame Tetris |
Number of employees | 150 (2013)  |
| Website | sparkfun.com |
SparkFun Electronics is a company based in Colorado that sells microcontroller development boards that they have made. They make breakout boards for popular devices and sell them via their website.
History
SparkFun Electronics was created in 2002 when a group of students working on a project involving waterproof sports equipment, needed a cheap manufacturer of printed circuit boards. They settled on Olimex, in Bulgaria. They then started to sell their products on the website. The founding students graduated and now they run Sparkfun full time as a launching point for product development and consultating. [1]
Name
The name 'SparkFun' was made was because someone was making a board up, they tested it and sparks flew, hence the name 'SparkFun'. The 'Fun' bit in the name is because SparkFun aim to educate people about electronics.
SparkFun Now
SparkFun has a growing customer base located within 93 countries. Their products and designs are regularly used by the average hobbyist and professional electrical engineer as an easy way to buy items that would not usually be available or be difficult to make.
Projects
SparkFun embark on projects that use electronics in a unconventional way. Some of the projects that SparkFun have made are:
- The Port-o-Rotary phone An old-fashioned rotary phone put together with a cellular module and a PIC microchip.
- Picture Frame Tetris A Tetris game scaled up in size.
- Giant NES controller An NES Controller scaled up in size.
- Hotplate Reflow soldering SparkFun have improved the way that hotplate reflow soldering was performed. Sparkfun also perfected the way toaster reflow oven soldering was performed.
- Commercial Product Disassembly SparkFun were one of the first to dismantle the Wiimote and reveal its inside workings. SparkFun have also disassembled the Nike+iPod pedometer kit.