Build your own electronics at home!

Thimble is a subscription service that delivers DIY electronics kits to your door every month.
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How Thimble Works

Build Fun Devices

Subscribe to Thimble and receive a different electronics project every month.

Guided Instructions

Once you receive your kit, sign into our Learning Platform and follow simple video instructions and code lessons.

Get Creative

Customize your finished project to improve your skills and share with the community.




Questions? Check out our FAQ!

Frequently Asked Questions

Thimble teaches beginners a basic understanding of building electronics through a monthly kit with carefully curated and easy to follow instructions. We’ve designed engaging kits that allow you to create, learn and explore by combining hands on hardware and sometimes a little software accompanied by video tutorials. Examples of some of our first projects include a wifi-robot, LED cube, robotic arm, alarm clock, weather station, quadcopter, etc. Every month it’s a new project.
We’re a couple of guys who love to learn, tinker and share with electronics and control software. We hope to pass on that enthusiasm, passion, and knowledge to everyone who builds a Thimble kit.
Sign up to any one of our subscription tiers and receive a new project every month. When you receive your project, log into our Learning Platform and follow guided tutorials and coding lessons to build your project from start to finish. Once you’re done, prototype your own ideas by adding buttons and sensors to your projects so it can do even more.
Anyone - from beginners to experienced super makers - can have fun and learn new skills building electronics with our kits and step-by-step instructions. No electronics knowledge is needed. The assembly instructions are all presented step-by-step via written and video tools on our Learning Platform.
We offer four recurring plans: one, three, six, and twelve month subscription tiers depending on how often you’d like to build projects.
We recommend ages 13 and up. Since soldering is involved, we recommend parental or teacher supervision for anyone under 13 years of age. The instructions need to be followed in order and there can be many small parts. You know your learner better than we do – Thimble might be a great monthly project for a parent, grandparent, or older sibling to work with a younger learner... especially as they get used to building Thimble projects.
Yes - soldering is involved in every Thimble project. We believe in nitty-gritty hardware and feel that soldering is one of the most important skills every beginner should possess.
That’s okay. Our Learning Platform provides introductory lessons on how to solder. We’ll also point you to other online resources so you can continue to master your soldering technique.
Tools are not provided in your monthly kit. You need a soldering iron and solder wire; soldering is involved in all Thimble projects. We also recommend that you own screwdrivers and wire cutters. We do offer our own Thimble Toolkit with the most essential tools for building electronics.
Here are some additional tools that we recommend you have while building Thimble projects:

  • Soldering iron*
  • Solder stand
  • Solder sucker
  • Solder wire*
  • Diagonal cutters
  • Wire cutters
  • Glue gun
  • Glue sticks
  • Screwdriver set
  • Solder wick

We offer the Thimble toolkit which has all the essential tools you need for building Thimble projects.
*Soldering required for all Thimble projects
The list is constantly growing but here are a few projects that we plan to deliver in 2016 and 2017:

  • Wifi-robot (December 2016)
  • LED Cube
  • LED Compass
  • Wifi-lightswitch
  • Mini-piano synthesizer
  • Gyro target range
  • Mini-nerf launcher
  • Weather station
  • Quadcopter
  • Solar panel
  • Electronics game
  • Alarm clock

Not yet. That is our long-term plan though. Currently, the project you’ll receive is the project of the month.
No. One microcontroller (called an Uno board) comes in your very first kit only. The Arduino-compatible Uno board is reusable and can be used from project to project. However, if you don’t want to disassemble projects as you progress into your subscription, we strongly recommend that you purchase additional Uno boards available on our online store.
No worries! The Learning Platform takes you step-by-step through the building and programing processes. And additional help is available through our online community.
The type of computer does not matter so much. But you do need to have the latest version of the Arduino IDE installed on your computer. That will be covered in the Learning Platform.

/ˈthim.bəl/

noun
  1. a metal or plastic cap with a closed end, worn to protect the finger and push the needle in sewing.
  2. a short metal tube or ferrule.
  3. an icon for making. Once upon a time, we were presented with a challenge to sew a shirt onto a robot as part of a fun contest. We didn’t realize how difficult this would be and we kept injuring our fingers every time we passed the needle through the thread. Eventually, someone happened to find a thimble nearby and threw it at us to cover our fingers and the problem was solved. Months later, we were thinking about names for this project and Thimble came up as an inside joke. It was one of the first names we thought of and we’ve never looked back.
All Thimble projects are designed by our team in house, which include engineers and former educators. Every kit is tested with beginners, students, and hobbyists to ensure the projects are fun and introduce the necessary skills needed in building electronics projects. We go through the design process every month and create instructions from scratch so that you have a smooth experience.
Tinkering with electronics can be challenging. If you get stuck, you’re not alone. We encourage you to log into the Learning Platform and ask a question in the Thimble forums.

Share your projects, ideas, get support and learn best practices from the Thimble community. Between the community forum, chat, and weekly project webinars, you’ll get the support you need on every project.
Thimble kits ship anywhere in the world. Shipping for monthly subscriptions is free in the United States and an additional $10 per month to international orders. There are additional shipping charges for add-ons such as tools, boards, and sensors.
We hate to see you go. You can cancel a monthly subscription anytime after the first kit ships by using our online account management tool. Auto-renewing subscriptions (pay every 3, 6, 12 months) are only eligible for cancellation after the initial term has been completed.

Contest

Every month, our panel of judges reviews entries from our community and selects the most innovative projects based on creativity and technical skill. Customize your build any way you’d like and submit a one-minute video that showcases your project. Perfect for more seasoned makers or those looking for a challenge. Win cool hardware and subscriptions and get featured on our site.

Zak Homuth

Upverter

CEO

Shashi Jain

Intel

IoT Innovation Manager

Rishiraj Pravahan

AT&T

Principal Data Scientist

Taylor Stein

Autodesk

Fusion 360 Evangelist

Adam Benzion

Hackster

CEO

Jamie Sternlicht

ULC Robotics

Project Engineer

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Made in Buffalo