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beginners kit?

B

binary digit

Jan 1, 1970
0
Can anyone out there recommend a set or parts someone who is getting into
circuit design should get? I was thinking if I can find a kit I would buy a
breadboard from radio shack , some small wires, and a power supply but I was
hoping there was many a starter kit that came with a bunch of
capacitors,resistors,transistors,etc.. and a board and power supply. thanks
 
P

Paul Burke

Jan 1, 1970
0
binary said:
Can anyone out there recommend a set or parts someone who is getting into
circuit design should get? I was thinking if I can find a kit I would
buy a
breadboard from radio shack , some small wires, and a power supply but
I was
hoping there was many a starter kit that came with a bunch of
capacitors,resistors,transistors,etc.. and a board and power supply.
thanks


A breadboard is a good idea, but electronics is such a huge field that
you can't have a general purpose kit. You'll need a PSU, preferably with
3-6V and plus/minus 5 to 20V or so. A reel of rigid wire and wire
strippers. Miniature cutters. Then a selection of whatever field you
want to design for, say a few opamps that you can afford to destroy. Buy
little components as you need them, unless you are a long way from the
shop, in which case get in a set of E12 values of resistors and a range
of capacitors. If you want to do microcontrollers, think about
programming- the easiest ones are those with serial download, say the
Philips 89C51RD2. They have no trouble running on a braedboard too, but
you'll need a crystal or two (easiest if it's 11.0952MHz for Baud rate).

Could go on a long time, but it all depends on what you want to do...

Paul Burke
 
L

Luhan Monat

Jan 1, 1970
0
binary said:
Can anyone out there recommend a set or parts someone who is getting into
circuit design should get? I was thinking if I can find a kit I would buy a
breadboard from radio shack , some small wires, and a power supply but I was
hoping there was many a starter kit that came with a bunch of
capacitors,resistors,transistors,etc.. and a board and power supply. thanks
I remember when 'science kits' were sold that you could build several
projects with. The parts and a kind of protoboard were included along
with complete instructions.

If such things are not to be found today, get a 'protoboard' from Radio
Shack. It lets you plug parts together without soldering or messing up
the parts.

From there, find some simple circuits from magazines or the internet,
and find a local parts store that sells to the local repair shops (most
towns have one somewhere) to get the necessary parts.

You may want to run your first attempts on batteries - its much safer.

Anyway, thats what I did when I was 10. I just have never quite doing
it 40 years later. (see website below)
 
P

pkh

Jan 1, 1970
0
I think it's best to make up your own "kit", so you'll have what you
need to build the circuits that are of interest to you...

First, I'd recommend getting a book with some simple schematics for
experimental circuits. Radio Shack used to have some, and I'd bet they
still do. Forrest Mims has some good books that Rat Shack carried, if
not, look for them at http://www.amazon.com. Some simple 555 timer
circuits are quick to build, and they can do some interesting things.
Next, get a breadboard (http://www.jameco.com has some large one's at a
good price), some precut breadboard wire (or buy some thin, solid (i.e.
not stranded) wire and wire cutters/strippers and make your own), and
whatever components you need for your circuit(s) of choice.

If you get one or two books with some simple circuit schematics, you'll
find that several different circuits can be built with just a few types
of ICs (555 timer, common op-amps, etc.). Then you can go to your local
Rat Shack and buy a few of these multipurpose ICs, an assortment pack of
resistors, a few different cap values (or maybe even an assortment pack
of caps), some LEDs, etc. and you'll have your own beginner's kit!

Oh, and I'd definitely go with a battery holder and some batts for your
supply initially.

Regards,

Paul
 
R

Roy J. Tellason

Jan 1, 1970
0
Paul said:
Buy little components as you need them, unless you are a long way from the
shop, in which case get in a set of E12 values of resistors

What's this?
 
J

John Woodgate

Jan 1, 1970
0
I read in sci.electronics.design that Roy J. Tellason <rtellason@DONTSPA
M.MEblazenet.net> wrote (in said:
What's this?
E12 is the '5%' series, but these days you get 1% tolerance resistors in
this series:

1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2, 10

... and so on for each decade, at least 1 ohm to 10 Mohm.

It's called 'E12', because it's loosely based on a ratio of the 12th
root of 10 between adjacent values.

You can also get some types of capacitors in the same range of values.
 
R

Roy J. Tellason

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
I read in sci.electronics.design that Roy J. Tellason <rtellason@DONTSPA

E12 is the '5%' series, but these days you get 1% tolerance resistors in
this series:

1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2, 10

.. and so on for each decade, at least 1 ohm to 10 Mohm.

Ok, I thought that was perhaps what you were referring to but have never seen
it referred to that way. Only I'd put those numbers above in the "10%
series", the 5% series including other values in between them, like 1.1,
1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 6.2, 7.5, and 9.1. Years ago when I
first started working with this stuff you never ran into those, these days
they seem to be relatively a lot more common.
It's called 'E12', because it's loosely based on a ratio of the 12th
root of 10 between adjacent values.

You can also get some types of capacitors in the same range of values.

Yes, much more so than what was out there way back when.

Do you know if there's a set of "standard values" of a similar nature for 1%
parts? Precision resistors, in particular. I wouldn't mind having a list of
those numbers, if there's one online somewhere.
 
R

Roger Hamlett

Jan 1, 1970
0
Roy J. Tellason said:
Ok, I thought that was perhaps what you were referring to but have never seen
it referred to that way. Only I'd put those numbers above in the "10%
series", the 5% series including other values in between them, like 1.1,
1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 6.2, 7.5, and 9.1. Years ago when I
first started working with this stuff you never ran into those, these days
they seem to be relatively a lot more common.


Yes, much more so than what was out there way back when.

Do you know if there's a set of "standard values" of a similar nature for 1%
parts? Precision resistors, in particular. I wouldn't mind having a list of
those numbers, if there's one online somewhere.
For the 1% parts, it is E96
1.02 1.05 1.07 1.1...
Have a look at:
http://www.omegaco.demon.co.uk/mectnpdf/mectn201.pdf
For a full description of the values.

Best Wishes
 
S

Si Ballenger

Jan 1, 1970
0
Can anyone out there recommend a set or parts someone who is getting into
circuit design should get? I was thinking if I can find a kit I would buy a
breadboard from radio shack , some small wires, and a power supply but I was
hoping there was many a starter kit that came with a bunch of
capacitors,resistors,transistors,etc.. and a board and power supply. thanks

I suggest you get a 15 watt soldering iron, solder, one of those
little holders with allagator clips, and order a couple of simple
(but interesting) kits to build to get a start. Once you get the
kits working, you should have some soldering experience. Some of
the simple kits can be modified to make some more interesting
gizmos. Below are two simple kits that can be tweeked for
computer/web control, the LED chaser becomming a webcam video
switcher by following the bottom link..

http://tinyurl.com/us9j
http://www.qkits.com/serv/qkits/diy/pages/QK74.asp
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/RSswitcher.htm
 
J

John Woodgate

Jan 1, 1970
0
I read in sci.electronics.design that Roy J. Tellason <rtellason@DONTSPA
Ok, I thought that was perhaps what you were referring to but have
never seen it referred to that way. Only I'd put those numbers above in
the "10% series", the 5% series including other values in between them,
like 1.1,1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 6.2, 7.5, and 9.1.
Years ago when I first started working with this stuff you never ran
into those, these days they seem to be relatively a lot more common.

You are right; the 5% series is 'E24'.
Yes, much more so than what was out there way back when.

Do you know if there's a set of "standard values" of a similar nature
for 1% parts? Precision resistors, in particular. I wouldn't mind
having a list of those numbers, if there's one online somewhere.

The series is called 'E96'. I don't know where you can find it on line
but *everything* is said to be on line somewhere!
 
N

N. Thornton

Jan 1, 1970
0
What do you want to design? Do you know? What is your skill level with
tronics? Age might also be relevant, depends. As ever we need the
relevant info to answer the q properly.


Regards, NT
 
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