Best products from r/electronics

First, this isn't a "get off my lawn post" :D

This is a neat example of the generational gap on electronics. As assembly techniques progress, it's fun to see what the latest generation of hobbyists/professionals are familiar with, it seems like there's probably a curve with a hump extending back about 2 generations of technique. So it's really cool to see folks posting here that haven't seen this sort of thing, whereas folks that came into electronics as late as say, the 80s are reasonably likely to be familiar with it.

Of course there are niches that delve back farther. There are people just now starting to dig into guitar amplifiers for example, to whom this is par for the course.

If any of you are newer to electronics, and are interested in this sort of thing, it's a really fun journey to see how earlier stuff was made, and how design and assembly techniques revolved around the devices available at the time. For example, BGA packages today push us into 4+ layer PCBs, you pretty much see that as a default with those types of devices. Rewind 50 years, and big ol' tubes suggested their own construction techniques like the sort of point-to-point stuff you see in the image attached to this post. Nowadays we of course use PCBs with tubes, but back then the hardware was so big, labor was less expensive, and production numbers were so much lower that hand assembly of this sort of thing made a lot of sense!

And don't get me started on tubes themselves. There are more complete ways to describe this, and I'm sure others will add to my post here, but think of a triode like the 12ax7 as a voltage-controlled-transistor-thingy. It's not really that mysterious! In fact, if you're familiar with basic transistor circuits it's a hop, skip, and a jump to doing all sorts of fun things with tubes. Yes the voltages are higher (and read up on HV safety before you start messing around with this stuff!) but a lot of stuff is very similar. Biasing up things, impedance matching, all that stuff can reasonably be said to be the same from a fundamental perspective. Electrons are still electrons!

<We interrupt this thread for the obligatory car analogy>


You can think of this stuff like looking under the hood of a 1963 split-window Corvette. Yeah, there's no ECU. No forced induction. Timing is completely mechanical. But same as today, the fundamental concept of internal combustion is the same.

If you're interested in tube stuff, I would highly HIGHLY recommend Morgan Jones's "Valve Amplifiers". It contains a great overview of how these glass envelopes control the flow of charge and shows a lot of great circuits courtesy of a real-deal BBC broadcast engineer from back in the day: https://smile.amazon.com/Valve-Amplifiers-Morgan-Jones/dp/0080966403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542172758&sr=8-1&keywords=morgan+jones+valve+amplifiers (not an affiliate link, also check your local library). There are also some great YouTube videos as others have mentioned, including some neat ones showing how they're made.

Also, if you choose to partake, don't get put off when you Google for tubes and see a bunch of boutique/NOS stuff catering to the musician/audio crowd! That stuff is expensive, but there are some really decently-priced tubes available from overseas. The former Soviets in particular continue to produce new glass, some of which is a direct cross-reference to parts you'll find in classic schematics as well as surplus stuff that is pretty decent in its own right.

Have fun! Be safe!

From what you are saying, the TI Launchpad may be just what you want. Here is a rundown of the pros and cons of the LaunchPad and the MSP430:

Pros:

• Cost. This is the most obvious one, and it is huge. $4.30 with free shipping is an insanely good deal. When you order, just get three of them.
  
  
• Functionality. The LaunchPad is not just a dev board, but a full-fledged in-circuit programmer and debugger. Even the cheapest G2 chips have remarkably powerful on-chip hardware debug capabilities. The LaunchPad can be use to program/debug quite a large number of chips in the MSP430 line on a remote board.
  
  
• Architecture. The MSP430 is an absolutely wonderful architecture. The instruction set is very reminiscent of the PDP-11, often regarded as one of the best of all time. In fact, if you take the PDP-11 instruction set, eliminate the two advanced addressing modes, and use those bits to support 16 registers instead of 8, you have the MSP430 instruction set. Unlike many MCUs, the MSP430 uses a Von Neumann (rather than Harvard) architecture and memory-mapped I/O, just like most desktop microprocessors. In order to support low power operation, a very powerful clock system, multiple sleep modes, and multiple interrupt levels are available. The peripherals are all very well thought out and work very will with the interrupt and sleep systems.
  
  
• Documentation. The TI datasheets are great. They are more readable than the datasheets from Atmel and far more readable than the datasheets from MicroChip.
  
  
• Samples. TI has a very generous sample policy. If you order a LaunchPad, be sure to sample some G2553 chips at the same time. (The G2553 is the all-singing, all-dancing chip in the Value Line.)
  
  
• Dev tools. TI provides free (code limited) tools that are rather good if you like GUI-based IDEs. If you are not a fan of IDEs, there is a gcc port for the MSP430, as as well as an open source, cross-platform debugging tool, mspdebug. I use mspgcc and mspdebug under OS/X and it works very well.
  
  
• Low Power. If you want to design a truly low-power application, the MSP430 is still the way to go.
  
  Cons:
  
  
• Lack of community support. You will find far less information on the web about the MSP430 than you will about the AVR or PIC MCUs.
  
  
• Lack of third-party published documentation.
  
  
• Lack of official or 3rd party libraries.
  
  
• Lack of availability of DIP packaging. Very few chips in the MSP430 line are available in DIP format. All of the G2/Value Line chips are available in DIP, but very few of the chips beyond that. Only PDIP-14 and PDIP-20 packages are available, nothing larger.
  
  
• Cost and availability. MSP430 chips are much more expensive that comparable AVRs and PICs. TI only discounts in large volume. It is often difficult to find specific chips, even by hunting around to multiple vendors.
  
  Addressing the cons:
  
  
• The following book is all you need to get started with the MSP430:
  http://www.amazon.com/MSP430-Microcontroller-Basics-John-Davies/dp/0750682760 From here, you can learn all the rest from the datasheets.
  
  
• You may be able to sample all the chips you need, particularly if you can solder SMD parts to a break-out board.
  
  
• The MSP430 community has gotten a huge bump in the wake of the Launchpad.
  
  Summary:
  
  If you just want to use something that has good libraries and newbie-friendly support, get an Arduino.
  
  If you really want to learn about microcontrollers and use them the way that professional developers use them, the MSP430 is an excellent place to start.
  
  

Dave from EEVblog recommends building power supplies. They're pretty simple, and it doesn't hurt to have a bunch of them. You can find kits, which will teach you how to solder parts onto a PCB, but it's not too hard to design a supply around an LM317 regulator, the data sheet will have the circuit you need right on it. This will also be a good chance to learn the non-electronics skills you'll need; instead of buying a plastic box, make one out of plywood and paint it up.

Once you have a power supply or three, start playing around with simple analog circuits. You should have a breadboard and jumper wires and at least one good multimeter, though the aforementioned EEVblog recommends two, and not cheaping out on them. He did a $50 multimeter shootout , if you don't want to watch an hourlong video this was the winner, but it's worth watching to see why it won. Anyhow, you can find kits and project ideas online, get some random parts and start playing around until you have a good feel for old school analog circuits. Try to make up your own project and build it, even if it's completely useless.

At some point, preferably after you have a good grasp of analog circuits, you're going to have to move up to digital. Arduinos are a good start, they're popular enough that you can't look at a single page of Instructables without tripping over an Arduino project. You're going to have to learn some programming to make it go, but there's a million tutorials online. To make the pinball machine go, you're going to have to learn how to use the Arduino (or something like it) to control analog components, probably while giving them their own external power source. You'll also need to know how to drive a display for the scoreboard, and of course you'll have to program the logic for keeping track of the number of balls left, current score, and what inputs translate to what increase in score. The programming alone is a big undertaking, so if you go forward on this, be prepared to spend years on it.

A good project to do would also be to make a MAME cabinet. It's much simpler on the electronics side, you either hack the buttons and joysticks into a USB keyboard controller, or buy one of these which does the same thing, and then use an old PC and monitor. The hard part is building an arcade cabinet, which is still a lot simpler than building a pinball table. You'd be looking at a couple hundred dollars in parts, but that's not too bad compared to what you want to end up doing.

This is a really good question and I'm not sure why exactly you were downvoted. I suspect the elephant in the room is that it's a question but it needs some in depth thinking rather than shitposted to the bottom in two minutes.

As for reading material, I'd go for paper every time myself.

Practical Electronics for Inventors 3e has a lot of nice analog material that's easy to get into and well explained: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071771336/

It doesn't hit digital at all until about 70% of the way into the book and is in very small chunks of information you can read and think about for a bit. It's huge and cheap for what it is.

You will come out of it with "yay I managed to design a common emitter RF amplifier and filter" rather than "yay I connected to an LED to an arduino and it's flashing!"

Well worth the investment IMHO as one comprehensive and well written text.

After a dive into analog, the best thing is experimenting. Nothing quite works exactly how the textbooks say it does.

Arduino is a great learning tool and to go from idea to finished project is quite fast. I definitely recommend starting with arduino and see if you like it. If you continue, you'll find that you have to purchase an arduino for each project you start, which can get quite expensive, or you'll be ripping apart old projects to get the arduino.


I purchased arduino and a few shields, but I felt like I really didn't know how everything was working electronically. I really enjoy programming, learning about electronics and making devices, so I decided to stop using arduino and just use the atmega microcontroller, which is the MCU that arduino is based on.


If you wanted to go this route then I would suggest buying an AVR ISP mkii programmer and downloading atmel studio. It's much easier to program the chips than any other method I've tried. Less fiddling. If you have experience in C programming then it will be really easy.


This is the best beginners tutorial I've found for atmel AVR:
https://www.newbiehack.com/


This book is an excellent follow up to that tutorial:
http://www.amazon.ca/Make-Programming-Learning-Software-Hardware/dp/1449355781/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398472387&sr=8-1&keywords=make+avr+programming


A good book on electronics - 1000 pages:
http://www.amazon.ca/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Third-Edition/dp/0071771336

digikey.ca or .com has lots of parts and next day shipping for $8.


how to make an arduino on a bread board:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone


Breadboard, Schematic and PCB layout software
http://fritzing.org

Soon you'll be etching PCBs at home

• I can't recommend a better book than this one.
  
• Get this resistor kit. Seriously, I bought one of these a year ago and I've never once had to buy more resistors.
  
• You're going to need a capacitor set like this one.
  
• You're also going to need a breadboard.
  
• Make a trip to Maplin and get an assortment pack of LEDs and a few switches. Trust me, this will make your life a tons easier when it comes to making proof of concept or test circuits. And they make circuitry more interactive and fun!
  
• Lastly, get a cheap multimeter. You can get one at Maplin or somewhere similar for like <15 pounds.
  
  Sorry about the links, I'm in the US so the prices will be in USD but that shouldn't be a problem. I really hope you find this hobby as intriguing as I do, I started a year ago making little flashlights and what-not and now I'm making motion detectors and all kinds of cool gadgets. If you'd like some guidance or help, don't think twice about PMing me! Best of luck.
  

I'm nowhere near pro, but I do have a couple of electronics tools I absolutely love. A large benchtop multimeter is nice, but it is sometimes very useful to have a pocket unit you can carry around in a shirt pocket. I love my AMprobe PM51A. For $30, you get a lot of functionality. As jotux said, a Panavise is very nice to have. I have a Panavise Jr that has been very useful. One thing I don't have that I have been eyeing to a while is a pocket sized Digital Storage Oscilloscope. Worth checking out.

I picked up Make: Electronics and so far it has been very insightful. It walks you through doing real world examples while introducing some basic theory. It is all hands on which I like a lot. One caveat is that you need to also purchase all the components and tools. They sell 2 ready made component kits from Makershed.com but you can get the components cheaper utilizing different sources like mouser, jameco, even radio shack.

I also picked up a nerdkit (www.nerdkits.com) and it has been a great intro into microcontrollers. The documentation and support those folks provide are truly second to none. AWESOME community. Once I complete the Make Electronics book, I will be going full steam ahead with seeing how far I can get with MCUs.

And then, it will be on to exploring some robotics for me. If you are like me, be careful that you don't get bogged down with theory only. Back in my teens, I really wanted to explore electronics and read all I could on theory. Which was great and all, but also very very dry. Yes, Ohm's law is critical to know. However, making the leap from theory to practice will be equally as critical and will ensure you see how to really apply the theory you are learning.

a) yes, it seems pretty much the same. For the most uses, most DMMs (Digital Multi Meter) will work just fine. Your basic needs are to have a couple of different ranges for both voltage and ampacity readings (i'm refering to the accuracy of the readings here... a DVM generally has 3 or 4 characters on the screen to describe the charactieristic. one range will cover, let's say up to 2 millivolts, and the next will cover up to 2 volts, the next up to 20... you'll figure it out). another major tool on the DVM is an audible continuity tester. these just make a tone when you have a clean circuit path between points a and b. Big help. That one you linked up seems pretty decent.... when you start wiring houses or something, then you can think about upgradign into a fluke handheld or a benchtop if you're doing big fancy circuits, but that'd be fine for quite a while.

I'll tell you, my Iron Experience is pretty dang limited. but this is what i know. As far as a soldering iron goes, one of the major considerations is the power rating, i.e. the wattage ratings... i think mine is about 30W, and it works just fine. If i had my druthers I'd go to one of those variable ones that can get up to ~800 degrees. I'd also definitely consider one that comes with a proper resting stand. An operating soldering iron is a pretty big safety issue, in that it is a burning hot iron tip hanging around on a surface that may or may not be covered in flammable material or human flesh.

As far as de-soldering irons go, at school i have access to those fancy powered vacuum ones... I just take any desoldering tasks i have over there because they are the cats meow. I've used those l'il non-powered vacuum tubes and i think they are going to take a lot of skill and training to get to use efficiently. i didn't like them. I've never used or seen this type

Glad to see you're approaching this from the correct angle. We get this sort of question here all the time, but it's usually "how do i electronics" and they get upset when they find out math is involved.

Definitely follow the math up through precalc, calculus, and differential equations. Learn Laplace transforms if you have time. You'll also want to explore physics pretty far, much of it will apply when you least expect it. Electronics is a mix of applied physics and chemistry. Finally you'll want to learn some thermodynamics. Understanding heat transfer and energy will be pretty useful. For all of these, I would just hunt down some college textbooks and some related Schaum's outlines.

While you're doing that, make sure to dabble in electronics to keep you focused. Build up some assembly, soldering, and possibly circuit layout skill. Definitely find this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957

I have programmed computers for a living for nearly twenty years. I have also done hobby electronics for longer than that. However, I don't know electronics remotely as much as I do programming. So I have a few things to say about this in terms of programming.

My recommendation would be to begin learning C right away. You'll have to know it to learn C++ later anyway, plus there are many C-like languages out there. Once you understand C, it will be much easier to learn different assembly languages for different devices. From my own experience with electronics and programming, C will be an incredibly useful tool to have at your disposal. Once you have C basics down, there are tons of books and online resources out there for learning to program AI. It will take a few years to get good at programming, so stick with it and be patient.

The great thing about learning programming is that you don't need an instructor or class. You can learn it all on your own, all the way to being a professional. When you get to college, if you wanted to stay with programming only, then computer science would be a wise choice. However, my own experience has shown that getting a degree in computer science isn't necessary if you teach yourself programming, and you work hard at it. Therefore you can focus on electrical engineering when you get there and continue to work on your programming skills yourself.

For electronics, I would start with the book, Make: Electronics. Once you learn C, I would get an Arduino starter kit and a book about it. That will definitely get your feet wet with robotics-like electronics and C programming. You'll be able to do some pretty powerful stuff at that point, and have a really good idea of where to go next with college.

Finally, I would strongly suggest studying as much mathematics as you can. I hated math so much when I was younger, but now I use it all the time and wish I had better skills. You won't need it in the early years, but I guarantee that you'll need it later when you get good at your craft. I know this from my own experience and wish I had studied more math in high school and college. In fact, if I had it to do over, knowing what I know now, twenty years later, I would have just gotten a degree in math. You will eventually be shocked by how many uses there are for even some of the seemingly most useless math stuff. Every little tidbit you learn now is another trick in your pocket to make good money with later on.

It depends what you are working on, but if you are working on through-hole and SMT in the under $40 price range I'd go with a Weller WLC100. It was my first iron and I used it for a long time before I finally upgraded (I still use it sometimes).

The stock tip was a little big for my taste so I bought a replacement (ST7) tip. The ST7 is a smaller conical tip. You can also find these on Amazon, but pay attention to the shipping if you order it off Amazon Marketplace, some 3rd party tool vendors will gouge you!

For the Fume extraction you should buy a fume extractor... heh. Pretty simple. I built my first fume extractor from an old PC power supply, an old exhaust fan, an articulating lamp base, some activated charcoal pads, and a length of dryer hose.

You can certainly go that route and build your own. It's nice if you already have the parts on hand, but eventually it became too unwieldy so I bought a Weller Fume Extractor. You can buy something similar for about half the price on Marlin P. Jones, but I was never able to catch them in stock.

Either way, look around, have fun, and good luck!

You have to "bootstrap" somewhere. At the VERY bottom is generally NOT a productive or practical way to do it. We used to have a joke in EE school: "If want a good laugh, ask a physicist to design a circuit for you". The reason it's funny is they'll start designing from quantum mechanics or Maxwell's equation as they usually don't ever learn all the tricks we have in EE to "short-circuit" the process.

Basically start with analog circuits (Ohm's law) for DC, advance to AC and then to circuits and systems. You can go deeper but at the start frankly most people will get wrapped around the axle and give up first.

Everything from Grand Unification up to your iPhone is built on approximate models with assumptions that are not strictly correct all of the time if ever. In electronics you have circuits bounded by Quantum Mechanics and Maxwell's Equations as "actual physics". You can't actually use these for 99% of anything practical so these are not the best starting points.

Instead you use approximate models like Lumped Equivalent Model (which is what resistors, capacitors and inductors are: that resistor in your hand - it's not real - just an approximation). But you don't really want to learn that up front.

However if you want a reference that goes into the physics of electronics I'd recommend The Physics of Information Technology. Not cheap so borrow it from a library first.

But ONLY use it when you get that itch to naively dig into the physics for a quick dip or overview or orientation. Otherwise use regular electrical engineering (EE) intro analog circuit textbooks or something like Horowitz' Art of Electronics

Unless you have a physics or engineering degree TPIT will still go straight over your head mostly (the author is an MIT professor and he relatively gentle by BSEE/BS Physics standards on the math but it's brutal if you haven't had several years of university math).

I would highly recommend Art of Electronics. I've read dozens of books on this category and it is by far my favorite; useful both for initial instruction as well as later reference. Yes, it is expensive, but IMHO is well worth it.

The other book I'd recommend is "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Scherz and Monk. Best breakdown of capacitor types and applications that I've seen. Link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071771336

Complete bill of materials (£250 though some you may have already, like camera and 20v power supply):

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Flyback transformer, 35kV, (£8)

ZVS Oscilator to drive flyback (£8) (both come as a pack here)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FTVOGUE-flyback-generator-Jacobladder-ignition/dp/B07NZ4XM2H/ref=sr_1_32?keywords=flyback&qid=1561950997&s=gateway&sr=8-32

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X-Ray phosphor screen (£20)

(Terbium-doped gadolinium oxysulfide (Gd2O2S:Tb) scintillator pixels which are embedded into a polyethylene substrate. Normal price £400)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AGFA-HD-MAMORAY-X-ray-Imaging-Cassette-Screen/222626977966

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X-Ray source - 2X2A USA MULTI OFFER 5 PIECES (£15)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X2A-USA-MULTI-OFFER-5-PIECES-NOS-TUBE-VALVE-HALF-WAVE-RECTIFIER/113786775508?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

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Geiger counter (£80)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IN8TJYY/ref

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A digital camera with a long exposure ability. (£100)

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A tripod (or table) for the camera. (£30)

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And a power supply - DON'T GO OVER 20 volts - the flyback WILL pop.

It will draw around .6 amps if working correctly.

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You NEED AT LEAST 500 µSv (Microsieverts) per hour - this will produce a glow on the screen BARELY visible in complete darkness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoC7_Xz6mu8

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WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

The X-Rays mostly come out from INSIDE the "dome" on the top of the vacuum tube, in the shape very similar to a half opened umbrella. Not much comes out the top - they're VERY soft X-Rays at 25kV, so VERY HARMFUL TO ORGANIC stuff because your body WILL absorb MOST of the X-Rays.

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THIS ENTIRE PROJECT IS DANGEROUS:

It will kill you from the 30,000 volt power source.

It will give you cancer from the X-Rays (ionising radiation tears DNA apart).

It can give you ionising radiation burns in the short term (ionising radiation tears cells apart).

It can damage DNA in your family jewels, producing deformed babies/sterility.

​

If you don't have a Geiger counter and lead shielding, as well as high voltage experience, you're best bet is learn about radiation and HV and do little experiments weeks before you try something like this. If you don't know what the "one hand rule" is, or what ionising radiation does, it's best to stay well clear!

​

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Hard X-Rays mostly pass through your body, but you'll need a voltage of 75kV for that.

I have had MOST success with the following (NOT SHOWN: the results.)

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Canon 7D Mk 2, ISO 5000, F1.8, 20 second exposure using the 50mm £50 prime lens AT FULLY OPEN APERTURE.

Pre focus it on the screen using some newspaper or something laying ON the phosphor sheet to focus on.

Turn on "Manual focusing", set up the camera to those settings, turn off all the lights HIDE all your LED's in the room, they WILL light up the screen. (I left an orange power LED on and my screen looks pink!)

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Turn on the X-Ray machine! Press the shutter, exit the room. Run back in and turn off X-Rays.

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BOOM! Picture.

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X-Rays make CUMULATIVE DNA damage - all the doses are added together even days apart, so be careful!

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Here's two exposures UNEDITED - in Photoshop the noise can be reduced, and the green phosphor turned to blue, like the standard X-Ray sheets.

https://imgur.com/a/tQ4VV7v

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The X-Ray sheets online are black and clear - and the plastic sheet they're on is tinted blue because back then they thought the blue increased contrast to the eye - it doesn't.

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If you turn the image black and white, fiddle with the contrast, and then colorise the image to Cyan..... you'll get the same X-Ray result!

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The sheets from X-Ray cassettes are AWESOME. Plastic phosphor layer, and a BLACK back layer - the light you see isn't leaking from the blue light of the tube, it's only from the phosphor lighting from X-Rays.

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(I used a paper card version for those first images, so they didn't benefit from this contrast increase)

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Good luck!

I highly recommend the Hakko 936 soldering iron Hakko 888 soldering iron, which is still actually available. It's hard to fathom how a $100 soldering iron could be that much better than a $20 one, but once you start doing anything more serious than just sticking some wires together, it's worth it.

As for other tools,

• Standard needle nose, dikes, and pliers set
  
• Tweezers - Additionally plastic ones if you're going to do PCB etching.
  
• Dental Picks - for positioning surface mount parts and pushing wires into molten solder.
  
• Wire strippers - You'll often see people using the combo wire stripper / crimpers. They're not as nice as a real pair of strippers.
  
• +/-12V power supply for basic analog electronics, 5V for digital work
  
• Breadboard
  
• Solder sucker - Copper braid is useful for the same thing, but given the choice of the two, I prefer the sucker to undo soldered joints.
  
• 30x Jewelers Loupe - Mostly useful for surface mount work, but pretty much all soldering is easier when you're able to look at it.
  
  As for components, I've been buying them piece-meal for years, so other's will probably be able to yield you a better recommendation for kits than anything I can find just from a quick search. I do mostly digital work, so as far as passives, my main stock is:
  
  
• 0.1uF and 100uF capacitors, 25V
  
• 100, 330, 1k, 4.7k, 10k, 100k, 1M resistors
  
  If I need any other resistor for a specific project, I'll tend to just buy an extra 10 and keep them in labeled coin envelopes.
  
  Random other pieces:
  
  
• Precut Breadboard jumper wires
  
• 7805 - 1A 5V linear regulators
  
• 1N4007 diodes
  
• 1N4148 small signal diodes
  
• 3V linear regulators if you do low power work (MSP430, etc)
  
• An Arduino - If not for real projects, I use this a lot to hack together crude digital signal generators to test other chips.
  
• LEDs - I found a good deal on bright red ones, but any will do
  
• push buttons, power switches, DIP switches (4 in a tiny package that fits in breadboards)
  
• Copper clad perf board - To make through-hole projects permanent. Be careful because this also comes without the copper pads, which is just more of a pain in the ass to use.
  
• Copper Solder braid
  
  Edit: Fixed the soldering iron model.
  
  Disclaimer: I'm using my Amazon Associate links for all of these, which always feel a little amoral and a conflict of interest, but really, if my apartment were to go up in flames and I could afford it, I'd buy every link on this list right now. Does anyone have strong opinions one way or the other on using them?

Funny that everyone is admonishing your misfortune without answering your question.

I have one of these little amprobe guys:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L4E9Z6

The size is great, I keep it in my laptop bag. Have used to to rewire 220 mains, work on 12v cars, and 3v3 circuits.

The size and portability make this the most used multimeter I've ever owned. It's great, the coin cell lasts a long time, and it's not given me different readings than any other meter within a couple of %.

Because it's always with me in my laptop bag, there have been a few occasions where I've been able to bust it out to save a day here and there.

I would recommend this one (Aoyue 936, $45). I have it and am really happy with it. Heats up nice and quick, and adjustable, it's all steel and durable plastic, looks and feels nice. And you can buy 10 tips for like 5 bucks if you want.

No problem, glad it was helpful! This book seems like what you're looking for, but it's a bit pricey. Right the First Time is another great resource, and volume 1 is available as a free .pdf online somewhere (and some HDI and flex circuit books, but that's a bit less relevant. Got them all at the same site when I downloaded them).

Practical Electronics for Inventors is an amazing book which covers the basics of essentially every aspect of electronics a beginner would need to know. Seems to have had a problem with poor editing but it's cheap (under $30) and still far better than anything else out there.

The Art of Electronics is twenty years old and is still pretty much the standard reference for practical electrical engineering topics. Some sections show their age but still incredibly useful. A new edition is supposed to be coming out eventually.

If youre thinking of buying that, dont waste your money, its a POS. I would recommend this station, good quality brand, relatively cheap and has some heat settings, doesnt give temperature, but its better than no control at all. Also the tips are pretty easily found.

As an electronics engingeer, purchase a copy of "The art of electronics"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0521370957/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1321710457&sr=8-1

This book, although expensive, covers almost everything you would learn pursuing a degree in electrical or electronics engineering. Its a great bench reference book when you need it.

The trick is find an area of electronics that interest you. The Arduino is a great place to start.

Fluke makes great equipment, of course, but I would also consider Extech. While they don't cater to the professional market as much as Fluke, they make great meters and you can find a full featured one new for well under $100. Extech also manufactures Sears Craftsman branded meters. The one I use is similar to this one

The guys over at www.circuitlab.com are building a really awesome, free, in-browser schematic drawing tool and simulator.

Practical Electronics for Inventors is also a good mix of theory and telling you what you need to know to make things blink.

I actually just bought one of these multimeters that arrived today and I'm loving it, so much. It's only $30 and works amazingly well. It's full-featured and includes a helpful little socket with holes that you can put an electronic component (i.e a resistor) into so you don't have to wrestle with the test leads. I'd highly recommend it.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: http://smile.amazon.com/GP-High-Voltage-Alkaline-Batteries/dp/B004SK9P0O/


|Country|Link|Charity Links|
|:-----------|:------------|:------------|
|USA|smile.amazon.com|EFF|
|UK|www.amazon.co.uk|Macmillan|




To help add charity links, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

No, I don't, it was just the best ASIC textbook from when I was in grad school. It really helped me understand how transistors work. If you want a good book on discrete components I would recommend The art of electronics. It is written more as a practical guide, with part suggestions for op amps and filters. Like it compares and contrasts different discrete components and will give you suggestions for what op amp to use for different applications. 10/10, would buy again.

This page explains it fairly well, I think. So do Horowitz and Hill, if by chance you have their book handy.

I have used that basic design on a few different occasions, although my triangle wave generator looked more like this one. I believe I used an LM741 for the integrator (that's the amplifier with the capacitor in its feedback loop) and the two halves of an LM393 for the comparator in the triangle wave generator + the comparator used to make the PWM. Those exact parts aren't critical by any means, and I don't see anything wrong with Paul Hills' circuit (the first link) either except the part count is higher.


Edit: If you can find an MC33030, or if you care to trawl through catalogs looking for a modern (i.e. orderable) substitute, it will do do the PWM generation for you and it even includes the H-bridge to drive a motor (or in your case, coil) up to 1 amp.

Practical Electronics For Inventors shows you the basics of DC and AC analysis, how all the passive components work, how all the basic active components work (including BJTs, JFETs, and MOSFETs), and provides a TON of easy-to-build, practical projects.
I got this book when I took Circuits I, and because I read ahead in this book (which I found easy to understand even without any Circuits experience), I was one of three people in my Circuits I class (out of 40) to get an A. I still use this book today.

All About Circuits is very similar to the theory section of this book, but I do recommend this book since there are WAY more pictures, figures, and diagrams to help you along.

I dig it, good work. To help sort out some of the necessary fundamentals, I recommend you pick up a copy of The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - 3rd edition. This is a staple for anyone that does anything with electronics. A couple of reads through the first handful of chapters and you'll have a good understanding what a bipolar-junction or field-effect transistor is, what a capacitor is, and how a capacitor and frequency relate to one another - and a whole bunch of other stuff too.

Mostly YouTube videos and online articles. One book in particular I do recommend however is "Practical Electronics for Inventors". Tons of great information, but may be a bit too much if you're a complete noob.

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

These websites also have lots of great info:

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/

Can't use free eagle (too big) for this, but kicad or probably other things would work. With a few good books you can lay out a big board without advanced tools, although it can take longer. With cheap/free tools you'll usually have to use some finicky or kludgy methods to do really complex routing (blind/buried vias, free vias, heat transfer, trace length), but that usually isn't too big a deal. Here's a timelapse of a guy using Altium to route a high speed, large (a bit smaller than op's) data board for a high speed camera. The description has rough steps with timestamps- 38 hours total to lay out.

I'm hesitant to go against the grain on this one but I've had good luck with this. They also make an analog version.

You could always do the opposite and remove the battery, then power with something like a LM2596 DC-DC Module, something like:

http://www.amazon.com/RioRand-LM2596-Converter-1-23V-30V-1Pcs-LM2596/dp/B008BHAOQO

I did that on one of my 10 inch tablets, and mounted the tablet to a monitor swing arm, works perfect, just adjust the LM2596 DC-DC Module to what your battery was putting out.

On my 10 inch tablet I had the LM2596 DC-DC Module set to 5v, and ran another 5v+ wire from the LM2596 DC-DC converter to the USB connector, I ran this extra wire so the tablet believes the battery is charging, if not the tablet will try and shutdown because it thinks your battery is draining.

Sparkfun has some great tutorials, but they might be a little advanced for your level. I suggest trying to find a kit that does something interesting (adafruit and sparkfun have some of these). When you run into something you don't know, google it.

Also, BUY THIS BOOK!

All these comments are great, but the absolute beginning is here!

Next read the book suggested by ryzic. If you have the money, id buy the companion kits that Make sells for the book.

After reading those two books and doing all the projects, look into some "project kits." Check out sparkfun, The Evil Genius series of books, or my favorite the Nuts and Volts store.

After three or four "project kits" just find schematics and figure out how to buy all the parts yourself. Really the world is your oyester and with enough struggling you can build anything. Some ideas that always get people excited: a Tesla coil, cell phone jammers, tasers, ultrasonic range finders, a robotic arm, mechanized nerf gun, anything you think is cool and can find a schematic for.

From there you a going to find yourself really interested in microcontrollers. And well.. Thats a different comment lol!

For electronics I started with this book: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369542421&sr=8-1&keywords=Make%3A+electronics
It has lots of cool experiments to get you started with concepts.

Then there's this: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Third-Edition/dp/0071771336/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1369542421&sr=8-10&keywords=Make%3A+electronics
This will go much deeper into theory and give you a strong foundation.

Though if you want to delve right into the programming part: http://www.makershed.com/Getting_Started_with_Arduino_Kit_V3_0_p/msgsa.htm
and
http://www.makershed.com/Raspberry_Pi_Starter_Kit_Includes_Raspberry_Pi_p/msrpik.htm

MicroCenter will have the kits, and RadioShack should have the tinier parts, as well as the Raspberry Pi.

Read The Art of Electronics. It's a pretty great book.

This book is awesome and it's really easy to learn from: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740/ref=pd_sim_b_1

This is what we have around the house/lab. It works well, and offers variable heat control, which is handy. It comes with tips that are pre-tinned, which makes it much easier to keep them tinned.

I'm sure you've thought of it, but just in case, make sure your solder is lead-free. Also, the lower temp stuff works better for PCB work. If you do get the Weller iron I linked to, 50% heat should be more than enough for PCBs.

If your budget allows for it, this is what I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WESD51-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B000ARU9PO

I haven't done professional hardware development in 20 years, but back then this station was everywhere. With this one, you cannot go wrong.

Today there might be cheaper solutions that are usable. If you go through the episodes in this video blog http://www.eevblog.com/episodes/ you'll find many reviews of soldering stations and somewhere even recommendations for good starting tools.

I can recommend this $25 Mastech for hobby usage. I picked one up five years ago and it's still going great.

This is pretty great, especially for the price. It is sectioned off into multiple topics, but refers to the other sections as far as design is concerned. It does have some basics, but gets pretty complicated in some of the opamp sections.

I found the book "Practical Electronics for Inventors" to be very helpful explaining things when I was getting started. It starts from results and metaphors and then introduces theory. Sort of the opposite of a lot of textbooks that are theory oriented and light on practical uses and metaphorical explanations of components.

With that book and some Arduinos I have gone on to fame (well my mom thinks I am famous) and fortune (I am a hundred-aire!) selling electronics I design and program.

I read this book and found it quite interesting and easy to read. It includes many pictures and is quite hands on DIY.

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740

In addition to the per-IC decoupling cap already mentioned, I'd add a large electrolytic across VCC and GND near the connector on the right. You also might want to beef up the power and ground traces to reduce resistance to the individual ICs. Remember that your high-speed signal traces are going to induce the opposite current in parallel traces. A ground plane will help with this effect.

If you are really interested in digital PCB design, you might check out this book.

I know lead is bad for us, but is that why or does lead-free heat up/bond better?

I've got a solder sucker. I'm sure it's the same thing.

Consider Make Electronics.

It is a full color book with a magazine-like layout that he should find appealing. It walks you through projects from very basic in the beginning to more advanced toward the end. There are also a couple component kits you can buy from Radio Shack or online from makershed.com. Those kits will save a lot of hassle by providing all the parts needed to do the projects.

> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000JQ4O2U/afromods-20 I hear this one is good.

Of the one's you posted, this is the only one which is both auto-ranging and has a fused high-current port. It also has an audible warning when the probes are in the wrong jacks. For $25 it looks like a good value.

http://www.amazon.com/home-improvement/dp/B000ARU9PO

I have two, both work great.

I polled Reddit once, asking which books everyone would recommend. This one was by far the most suggested, followed by Practical Electronics for Inventors. I was gifted both last Christmas, but still haven't found the time to open them up. I'd like to go on a vacation somewhere cozy, and just power through this one.

The "... for Inventors" book is more something that you'd reference on an as-needed basis. Not as much teaching and instruction as this one.

Try Practical Electronics for Inventors. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's very task oriented. It doesn't exactly deal with projects, more the pieces you need to know to accomplish your own project.

That's because it is RF design. Have you read the handbook of black magic? Excellent book, I'm told.

A lot of the Mims books are a good start, such as this one: Getting Started In Electronics

Also in the same vein, the "MAKE:Electronics" book by Charles Platt

My suggestion is to get started building as quickly as possible. That's the key. Also, if you want to hear more about electronics, I can selfishly recommend my podcast, The Amp Hour

High Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic is supposed to be a great book on the subject but the frequencies you're working at don't really qualify as anything approaching "high speed". I really don't think you'll have any issues. The wavelength at 100 kHz is 3 kilometers so you're nowhere near having to worry about transmission line effects.

Make sure to adequately decouple every power pin at the chip to deal with the switching transients from the FETs otherwise you'll see a lot of ripple on your supply lines which can cause problems. ADI generally uses a 1 uF and 100 nF capacitor in parallel (IIRC) in their application circuits and I tend to think they know what they're doing.

Is your copper pour grounded? I wouldn't be very worried about coupling noise into your logic traces because 400 Hz is such a low frequency but I suppose it's possible.

ADI publishes a guide called "PCB Board Layout and Design Techniques" that goes through things like proper grounding but I didn't have any luck trying to find it on Google. The Circuit Designer's Companion is an excellent book that also covers the same material with a lot more depth.

If you are interested in buying the set,

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=14NGF7FFK7YMCE5X9HFC

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=14NGF7FFK7YMCE5X9HFC

about $170 for the set

would something like this or this be able to tell me?

Well, first your going to need to get a Solder Sucker of some variety, there are many out there, some cheap ones all the way up to very expensive vacuum powered rework stations. Recovery is going to be little more difficult, can I ask why you're trying to recover the solder?

Do you mean your going to attempt to reuse it?

Even if you do collect all the solder you "suck" that solder will be "dead". It won't have any flux in it, and you really won't be able to work with it again. Even doing little bits of rework or repair I usually completely clean the connection and go with new fluxcore solder else dope the area with flux before attempting any work.

There is a book called The Art of Electronics, 3rd Edition. Get that and also its separately sold Lab book.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266

The book might fulfill your needs.

This one is also good. I've gone through both of them.


https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

You'll need to know basic analog electronics first, and then apply it to learning about logic gates. Otherwise you'll have trouble understanding things like totem poll versus open collector or open drain, why you need pull-up resistors, why there are limits to fan outs, and why unconnected CMOS inputs can make the chip cook.

The Art of Electronics will cover practically everything you need for your project including analog circuits, digital circuits, logic and even MCU's. I've yet to meet an electronics person that didn't have a copy. If your mathematics isn't strong you'll love it, and if your mathematics is strong it'll build your intuition.

would 12v batteries help?

http://www.amazon.com/GP-High-Voltage-Alkaline-Batteries/dp/B004SK9P0O/

this book.

OP's board is clearly not high speed so it doesn't matter.

http://www.amazon.com/RioRand-LM2596-Converter-1-23V-30V-1Pcs-LM2596/dp/B008BHAOQO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1459357250&sr=8-3&keywords=dc-dc+down

http://www.amazon.com/LM2577-Adjustable-Step-up-Converter-Module/dp/B008HMETBE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459357283&sr=8-1&keywords=dc-dc+up

these are the same design step up/down converters I used. some brands spec them to 2 amps, some say 3. the spec for the chips says 3 amps, but I would attatch a heat sink with thermal epoxy.

notice each of the boards has a small pot soldered to the board, this is to adjust the output voltage. the adjustment is so small its a pain to change so I removed those small pots and used the 3 panel mount pots you see (the dials). double check that the pot used on these boards is 10k. all mine were, but make sure. any 10k pot will work, but you should get one that is multi turn. the pots I used are 20 turn, its a little much to go from 1.2v to 19v. but will probably be just right going up to 30v.

http://www.banggood.com/DC-0-100V-0_36inch-LED-Car-Auto-Voltmeter-Gauge-Voltage-Display-Volt-Panel-Meter-Monitor-Voltmeter-p-992875.html
these are the volt meters I used. they are pretty decent. 2 were spot on, 1 was off by .2v. there is an adjustment on the board if you get any that are off.

http://www.banggood.com/3A-15W-DC-12V-To-DC-5V-Dual-USB-Power-Charger-Adapter-Converter-Module-p-930992.html

this is the usb power converter, I cut the usb ports off and connected the wires to a usb bracket that was made for adding usb ports to a computer connected to the usb header on a motherboard.


http://www.amazon.com/Bluecell-Plastic-Speaker-Terminal-Amplifier/dp/B00UHFF2ME?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

these are the banana plugs I used. If you mount them to metal, make sure you insulate the posts, there is no grommet. I used 2 layers of heat shrink on the threads and make sure the metal was not sharp.

the knobs I found at my local shop. I suggest getting pots that have a shaft larger than 4mm. its not that easy to find large knobs that are for 4mm shaft. I ended up shimming my 4mm shafts with some rubber.

I like to use The Art of Electronics as my basic reference book.

Some people like this book: Art of Electronics

I'd recommend getting a temp sensor; possibly one of these multimeter/temp sensor combos so you can calibrate. The FX-888D should be very reliable, provided you haven't received a knockoff.
https://www.amazon.com/Extech-EX330-Autoranging-Multimeter-Temperature/dp/B000EX0AE4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=extech+multimeter+thermometer&qid=1558588555&s=gateway&sr=8-2

It's a fantastic book. No need to get all of them though, this is a pic of the third edition (2015), the second edition (1989), and the first edition (1980). You can skip the first and second.

110 dollars on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427412717&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Art+of+Electronics

Amazon have April 30th 2015. http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/

I have this one and it's served me well for the last few years. There's also an analog version. The digital ones only read in Celsius, if that bothers you. They definitely aren't as nice as a Hakko or a Weller, but it has never let me down.

As far as the fumes go, it isn't the lead that's the problem, it's the flux inside the solder. Lead doesn't vaporize until ~1700C, which your iron is never going to reach. I mention this so you know that lead free solder doesn't solve the problem.

You should either solder in a well ventilated area, or use a fume extractor. Commercial fume extractors are expensive, and you can make your own with fan and a carbon filter (you can get them for normal air filters and cut to size).

The Art of Electronics
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957

The Art of Electronics

The Art of Electronics Student Manual

The Arcade Manual Archive

PINBALL MACHINE MANUALS

This book?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521370957/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_ehsUzb9K25VCF

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957

The Art of Electronics.

​

Years ago I got my 2 year degree in electronics. Afterwards I ran across this book and it filled in ALOT of blanks with more layman explanations.

$108 Pre-Order at Amazon.

Getting Started in Electronics by Forest Mims
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0945053282/

Make: Electronics
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596153740/

Lab Manuals for Electronics
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471386952/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0135046858/


Videos
Make videos by Collin Cunningham on youtube.com

Edit: Changed Chris to Collin (I got mixed up)... one guy does Aphex Twin videos and the other does Make videos

This book helped me a lot: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414321028&sr=8-1&keywords=make+electronics

You absolutely must get the book "Make: Electronics".

PEI is excellent... https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I would stay away from really cheap meters if you are going to be measuring mains voltages. I have one of these in my portable tool bag. It's small and the non-contact voltage checker is handy.

Aoyue makes a lot of decent cheap stations that can take standard Hakko tips.

I haven't picked up a copy, but I've heard nothing but good things about The Art of Electronics. Apparently it's very design-oriented and light on the math rape.

Pretty expensive, but finding a pdf may be possible.

Alligator clips are recommended by Charles Platt in his book Make: Electronics. And he's no amateur. Just because you've discovered micro clips doesn't mean that alligator clips are all of a sudden the worst idea ever.

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1419029216&sr=8-3&keywords=charles+platt

There are tons of books for learning basic Electronics. Any one of them will give you the basics, but you won't be able to get your EE degree in 2 weeks.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Basic-Electronics-Softcover-arrl/dp/0872590828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460522&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460522&sr=8-7

This book will show you all the stuff you don't know yet (because I seriously doubt you could read this book in 2 weeks and have an understanding of what is in it):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460573&sr=8-1