Having watched too many Big Clive videos I decided to have a go at a simple digital clock kit from eBay.
The result was fairly decent and I enjoyed all the soldering so I?m keen to have a go at a few more cheap kits for soldering practice.
Of course these kits aren?t actually teaching me anything (other than soldering skills) and I?d like to progress to understanding a bit more about the design and function of components/circuits.
So, any recommendations for basic and more advanced kits that won?t break the bank? At the moment looking at a cheap Tesla coil kit on eBay.
The problem today is that by and large there is not much you can build.
Its all 'put some chips on a PCB and that?s it'
Back in the day I built radios and tuners and designed amps.
I have just finished today?s equivalent: A raspberry Pi Zero W and some C and PHP code to allow me to listen to (internet) radio stations and play my (ripped to server) CD collection.
Using a smart phone as remote control !!
Just as challenging BUT no soldering involved other than making up new audio leads as the old plugs didn?t fit...
I believe there are some HiFi amp and preamp kits out there.
Those might be worth a go. Its about the only place discrete transistors still have the edge.
I'd suggest getting an electronic projects book on a topic that interests you, either from the library - if you've still got one of those round your way - or a second-hand bookshop - if you've still got any of them. Otherwise try abebooks.com.
Then buy a miscellany of cheap components from somewhere like bitsbox.co.uk and play!
If you want something you can pick up and start right away, Haynes, the workshop manual people, do a Retro Radio kit which can be got for around £15 - sometimes a little less, sometimes a lot more. Before you build the final FM radio, the instructions take you through building different modules on the supplied breadboard so you find out for yourself how the different stages work.
Not advanced and not particularly educational but something we typically used every day since our daughter assembled it when she was a kid ... and she's 28 now! ;-)
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It's a simple led countdown timer so lots of LED's to solder in the right way round (and not damaging them) and is controlled by just one button. Unfortunately, it worked the first time so we couldn't do any faultfinding.
Press multiple times to increment the led's up in time (1-10,15,20,25 mins etc) and then once run-down, it starts to beep with increasing volume / tone once triggered (it ramps up in stages). I can hear it on the first level in the kitchen when I'm watching TV in the lounge a room away (but noting stopping you taking it with you etc). When I'm cooking round my Mums I miss it to the point that I might get daughter to oversee her niece building one (or two) more. ;-)
Press the button again to cancel the alarm or leave it and it will eventually cancel itself (probably after 30 seconds). Press and hold to cancel the time set (of up make a mistake etc).
The 3 AAA's seem to last for ever and my only criticism is that some of the numbers aren't that easy to see (with my eyes anyway). It could probably be enhanced with some paint in the moldings.
I have always enjoyed building / assembling things and the cherry on the cake is when you then carry on using it (and even relying on it) every day. ;-)
Maplin did a pretty good book called Electronic Circuits - written before everything was done on a chip. But does cover building block chips like op amps. No idea what is around today - likely more about how to do it with your phone. ;-)
The "Science Fair" projects sold by Tandy in the 80s may be simple compared to these days of digital this, microprocessor that, and IoT't'other, but they came with manuals that had a full circuit description. You won't get a digital clock, but you'll get an AM radio, simple intercom and maybe a siren oscillator!
And if you want to solder one up permanently the components will be cheaper than chips. They only had a small number of preferred value components (this one had 10 resistors) so you can buy 10 x 50-packs from cpc and have all the resistors you need to make 50 projects with no waste. Transistors may need an equivalent.
Well sadly one thing I did notice before I lost too much sight was that these kits were getting less and less technical as the chips concerned did most of the grunt work and nobody seemed to worry quite how they did so! I remember putting together the zX81 and that nearly gave me repetitive strain injury due to the number of diodes and resistors which had all the same values and alignments!
Yes when I was too young to be allowed access to a soldering iron. there was a system called radionics which used basically perspex pegboards with components fastened on bases that screwed in and connected with brass holed strips. This was extremely good for learning stuff, add a multimeter and a signal generator and you are more or less set. Even the old cheapo 741 op amps when I started to solder could be used as audio amps as long as noise was not the issue as they had zillions of transistors! Hall effect chips always fascinated me as well. to think you could get an electronic solid state switch that could detect a magnet seemed like magic at the time. Now we have phones with accelerometers and goodness knows what in them. Brian
Yes my dark sensor for the porch light lasted nearly 20 years before it eventually wore out its relay and all the capacitors needed to be changed. Too much work so bought one ready built but to me its not as adjustable. Brian
Tandy are still around, just not on the high street any more. I don't know if they are still into kits though. I did also build many moons back a kit for a stereo decoder for fm, that you could fit to almost any portable tuner by simply removing one capacitor. It was actually very good. A swine to align since it used aphase locked loop but fun nonetheless. Brian
For actual understanding, as opposed to soldering practice, I would go with a Software PCB Designer. There are free ones. I've not used one for a decade or more so I'm not sure which ones are best now, but they used to be really cool and I can't imagine they have got worse.
Design a circuit, put it together virtually, virtually measure values at points on the circuit with sophisticated virtual tools, see what happens when you switch it on.
Obviously if you really like the physical aspect this is not for you, but it worked for me.
You could look at "Snap Circuits". Components mounted on plastic strips with press studs on the end so they snap together onto a base board. Comes with small projects you can build or as you have the bits can easyly play and see what does what or not.
Trouble is a decent set probably breaks the bank.
Failing that get decent sized "bread board", set of prefered value resistors, mixed bags of capacitors, transistors/semiconductors and LED/displays a play.
The hard part will be deciding what you want to build/play with.
If it's kits you want then google Velleman quite a range with plenty of soldering. Maplin used to stock them but I think you can order directly off their website. Some of the component suppliers who specialise in the education market like Rapid Electronics stock them. However, the kits rarely educate you in electronics and you will have to resort to book learning if you want to gain any understanding. There are a few online sites which will get you started as well as online libraries of circuits.
If you want a good book with practical exercises then I can recommend Michael W Brimicombe, Introducing Electronic Systems ISBN 0-17-448068 but the most useful is the accompanying Introducing Electronic Sytems Practicals which is a ring binder of worksheets that accompany the book ISBN 0-17-448161-6. Both these were published in 1987 and are probably out of print but if you can find them second hand I think you will find them . useful getting started. If you can find someone who has the worksheets they are easy to photocopy as they are all single sided sheets, try the DT dept. of some of your local schools. Failing that contact Nelson who were the publisher.
As Brain has said many of the kits now contain a PIC or other custom chip that does most of the grunt. If you want to get into Microcontrollers can I recommend the PICAXE system as a quick and easy way to get into them and how to program them, software and manuals are all FREE (I always like the sound of that word) and a helpful forum go to
Like anything else, the approach must be to achieve a definite goal. Software is the same, it's a dammned difficult thing to become proficient in writing code or a bit of ladder logic without a functioning goal at the end.
A good starting point for electronics used to be a signal injector. The two transistor multivibrator got a wee bit technical and too high a precision in components could end up with a none working device, but it could be adapted to almost any purpose. Radio signal tracing, fish bite alarm, doorbell/ buzzer, light flasher and could give an insight into the paths signals actually take.
With the addition of a simple class "A" amplifier a lot could be done with the harmonics. VHF might need a little thinking about, but a MW wireless acompaniment to the neighbours Sunday morning car wash could be screwed nicely with a multivibrator followed by a class A and a metre or two of wire for an aerial.
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