Learning electronics & circuitry building

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Mike Gayner

Mike Gayner

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2007
6,175
3
0
When I was around 8 or 9 years old I was given a project kit that consisted of a book with about 15 basic electrical circuits to build (PCB's, resistors, caps etc) and a book with detailed instructions on how to build the circuits, and how the circuits worked (in detail). In the end I made heaps of circuits, buying new books and kits and expanding a basic level of knowledge on circuit building - though I paid a lot more attention to the practical side of building the circuits and less on how they worked.

Sixteen years on I would love to get back into electrical circuitry. Does anyone know if any basic kit sets are available with books that have detailed instructions and guides on how the circuits work? Preferably mail-order order stuff obviously. Mostly I'm looking for kits rather than build-from-scratch books because I don't really want to get into PCB design just yet.
 
Locut0s

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
I too would love to get into this. Thanks for bringing up the topic MikeG! Unlike you I would benefit from the kit Dan mentions as I know little to nothing of circuit beyond the simple circuits I built in a high-school electronics class and the little you pick up in high school physics classes. I owned a much simpler but similar type of kit to the one that Dan posted many years ago as a kid.
 
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DanDaManJC

Senior member
Oct 31, 2004
776
0
76
How about this?

http://www.amb.org/audio/beta22/

It's a DIY headphone amp, using discrete components. You can find the pcb layout files on the site and so on.. I havent really dug too deep into the project -- but ive heard this is one of the best DIY kits around.

while the site doesnt give you a conceptual overview of the amp, it'd probably be a nice place to start to get yourself familiar with the circuits.. id suggest going through the forums, there may be stickies on transistor fundamentals and so on
 
Ricemarine

Ricemarine

Lifer
Sep 10, 2004
10,507
0
0
Adding on to the guy above me, CMOY's, Mini3's... anything that's DIY @head-fi may do you some good.
 
Analog

Analog

Lifer
Jan 7, 2002
12,755
3
0
I would suggest buying kits of parts of projects you are interested in. Be sure they have an etched and drilled PC board too. So had a good suggestion with sparkfun.
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Start small and work your way up.
I love this site, especially for beginners because it covers a lot of stuff and it doesn't cost much at all to make some useful projects. Not just stuff you make and throw away.
http://www.talkingelectronics.com/te_interactive_index.html

I am not a big fan of the kit projects. They are usually very expensive compared to buying just the parts yourself. Get a breadboard and jumper wires and parts .

I use sparkfun for some things but for components you are better going to the source. I like mouser, they will send you a catalog with your first order and what a catalog it is. The last one I got from them was 2200 pages and 4.5 inches thick. They also have no minimum order and if they don't have something you can call and they WILL find it if it is for sale. Just a great group of people.
http://www.mouser.com/


What I would buy:

Resistors - 100, 330, 1k, 4.7k, 10k, 100k
Capacitors - 10uf, 100uf, 220uf electrolytic all 16VDC or better, .01uf ceramic disc
Transistors - 2n3904, 2n3906 covers most circuits
Breadboard - to build circuits
LED - any colors you want


Get an arduino board . I can't stress this enough. If you really want to learn electronics and have fun doing it then get one of these boards. They were designed with easy use in mind and can help you learn electronics by learning how to interface circuits with the boards. The software is all free and you simply write your program on the pc, connect the board to the usb port and upload it to the board which will run the program. After you get the program running like you want you can power the board off batteries and have it do useful things . I use mine for microwave timer for one that broke, security alarm replacement with better features than the original , pc fan controller, lcd display for RSS feeds and more.

http://arduino.cc/

It will be the best money you can spend to get started.
Seedstudio is probably the cheapest place to get it all.

arduino board:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/seeeduino-v22-atmega-328p-p-669.html?cPath=79_80

Jumper wires:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/1-pin-dualfemale-jumper-wire-100mm-50pcs-pack-p-260.html?cPath=111

Basic components pack:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/20-in-1basic-components-mixed-pack-p-304.html?cPath=104_105

Breadboard:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/mini-bread-board-45x35cmwhite-p-309.html?cPath=104_105

About $35 for everything you need.

LCD display if you are interested in that is another $16:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/lcd-204-characters-white-back-light-p-350.html?cPath=93_98


Making pc boards is an entire topic of its own. All sorts of methods from photographic to toner transfer. Toner transfer would be my choice. You can print out the board design on paper pulled from a magazine, the slick kind of paper, and then place that on a copper clad board. With a clothes iron you can heat the paper and cause the toner to transfer to the board. Put the board in water and the paper will dissolve leaving the toner intact. Drop the board in etchant ( I like hydrogen peroxide & muriatic acid because it is sold everywhere), and wait then drill. Drilling is the most tedious part and the bits will break easily so get a lot of them.
 
Kirby

Kirby

Lifer
Apr 10, 2006
12,028
2
0
i'd love to make a tube headphone amp and a dac.

unfortunately, the only thing i know about electronics/electricity is not to stick forks in the socket. :(
 
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dwell

pics?
Oct 9, 1999
5,185
2
0
I am going for the same hobby as the OP. My dad was an electrical engineer, so growing up I was exposed to a lot of this stuff. When I was 10 I would go into Rad Shack and buy resistors and caps and the guys at the counter thought I was going to grow up to be a rocket scientist, lol :awe:

I never really learned the proper way to do things, so I am going to learn now. I am going to start by modding the electronics of my guitar, then start building my own pedals. Should be a fun hobby (until I burn the house down).
 
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DanDaManJC

Senior member
Oct 31, 2004
776
0
76
At some point you'd probably need some level of theory -- maybe not the deep down physics/mathy stuff, but you'll at least want to know the op amp fundamentals and using Ohm's Law + Kirchoff Current/Voltage Laws. Frankly im not sure where to start from a hobbyist perspective since I started theoretically at school :-/... but could probably get away with googling "op amp fundamentals"

on the topic of resistors and caps -- id suggest looking at ebay for resistors. I know a couple guys who got resistor packs off ebay, direct from china, and they got ~100 resistors each of values ranging from 1 ohm to a couple megaohms @ 1% tolerance and .25W power dissipation. Basically covers the entire, typical, resistor range. Pretty cheap too -- only $10-$20 or so after shipping. you can do the same for caps.

edit:
the arduino idea is great too, it's a very easy way to really dive in and start doing pretty cool projects early on. id consider the diy headphone amps a bit more complex -- you could just build them following the instructions, but actually diving down and analyzing the circuit would be pretty complex
 
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disappoint

disappoint

Lifer
Dec 7, 2009
10,132
382
126
http://www.c-stamp.com/

lol at the basketball playing robot built using the c-stamp:
bball1_l.jpg


Don't let that scare you though, your projects can be as simple or as complex as you want.
 
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