I needed to program an Atmel chip for a project that I was working on. Instead of spending money and waiting for it to ship, I simply found some plans online to build my own programmer using parts I had laying around the house. It was a very simple project and ended up being a fun and rewarding experience. Parts for this build were under $5.00.
Homebrew Atmel programmer. I needed to be able to flash an image onto the chip and it was easier to build a programmer than purchase one online.
Closeup shot of the programmer and DB25 shell.
hot-glue to prevent shorts