Having returned from providence, I am finally looking to gear up for the workshops again. I would like to meet this sunday April 25th at 4pm. Hopefully the slightly later time works for everybody, if there is a conflict let me know.
This meet will be a review for several reasons. Several people who were unable to make it to previous workshops have wanted participate and seeing as we have not progressed too far, I want to give them an opportunity to be brought up to speed. Many people didn't make it to our last meet and i forgot to have someone take the notes to post on here so hopefully a review of weeks 1 and 2 will remedy all these problems.
We will cover voltage, resistance, and current properties from week 1 briefly for those who are just getting started. Then we will get into op amps and the fun stuff they can do as well as soldering technique and a few other odds and ends. If you will be joining us for the first time on sunday I strongly encourage you to look over the week 1 notes posted here. Hopefully they will help keep you from being totally confused on sunday.
See you soon!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Get yer shit here!!!
Hello all,
I am sorry to have kept you all waiting for the past couple of couple of weeks but i have literally been in two places at once and haven't had a lot of time to get things together. I have attempted to compile a list of resources for all of you out there. Originally I was going to try to make a single list for everyone that had everything you would need and was under 100 dollars. I soon realized that was not realistic. If you are serious about getting into this stuff you are going to want the following tools at a minimum and in total they will set you back between $100 to $200:
Wire strippers and/or cutters - automatic wire strippers are better
Needlenose pliers
A decent breadboard for prototyping stuff
An adjustable power supply - Preferably one with split supplies
A multimeter of some sort
A soldering iron or soldering station if you are planning to build stuff permanently
Hook up wire
Components
Now, i got most of my tools from when i was in school, and they were all purchased here:
http://www.elenco.com -click on electronics division
The site has a lot of stuff which is not the creme de la creme but it will get you up and running. If you buy nothing else here consider one of their breadboards, such as model #9440. I have used mine for probably five years and it still works great. I have also seen these sold elsewhere with power supplies built in although i don't know whether this ends up being more convenient or more of a nuisance....Similar boards are available through other sites as well, so if you find a better price elsewhere i am not gonna stop you.
I buy my protoboards and lots of other odds and ends here:
http://www.futurlec.com
The down side is that their stuff ships from thailand, so sometimes things can take a while, but the prices are hard to beat, for example this $15 dollar multimeter that measures capacitance too. (http://www.futurlec.com/Multimeters.shtml -$14.90 third from bottom) I would buy this even if it didn't work for that price. Most other 1/2 way decent meters cost in the $50 to $200 range. If you want the same one i have it is the elenco M-1700 and it is $59.95. Still not a bad price for all it does.
If you want to move past breadboarding stuff and actually soldering up some circuits you will need a soldering iron. These can be got for as cheap as 10 dollars, although as time goes on you may long for a soldering station, which really can make life much easier when you are working on more advanced projects. A decent iron is a worthwhile investment for this stuff. Elenco offers a soldering station (the one i had in school is the SL-5-40) for pretty cheap, about 35 bucks. Now if you have money to burn and want the Cadillac of soldering stations consider a hako or a nice weller soldering station with a grounded tip for esd protection and temperature regulation (expect to pay over 100) BTW: higher wattage means you can solder bigger parts and wires more quickly and easily.
Now as far as an adjustable power supply goes..... I built my own because i didn't really need a super high current bench supply, and there are lots of kits on the web that can be bought to make these too. This could potentially be a future project for everybody in the workshop who is interested. You can also look at what elenco, and other suppliers have, or look for a used one on ebay. The bottom line is you want a split supply (gives both positive and negative supply voltages) because it saves you a lot of work from having to bias all your stuff for a single supply.
Finally here is a list of some other places where you can look for the things i have mentioned above as well as other components and electronics junk:
Digikey -From soup to nuts
Mouser -From nuts to soup
Newark electronics -All but the kitchen sink
Future Electronics -Etc.
Allied Electronics -Etc.
Arrow Electronics -Etc.
Farnell -Etc.
Sparkfun -Micro and DIY focused projects
BG Micro -All manner of stuff including surplus
Parts Express -They have a nice soldering station on sale for $12!!!!
Apex Jr -For amps, speakers and audio stuff
Ebay -Good deals for the savvy bidder
I am sorry to have kept you all waiting for the past couple of couple of weeks but i have literally been in two places at once and haven't had a lot of time to get things together. I have attempted to compile a list of resources for all of you out there. Originally I was going to try to make a single list for everyone that had everything you would need and was under 100 dollars. I soon realized that was not realistic. If you are serious about getting into this stuff you are going to want the following tools at a minimum and in total they will set you back between $100 to $200:
Wire strippers and/or cutters - automatic wire strippers are better
Needlenose pliers
A decent breadboard for prototyping stuff
An adjustable power supply - Preferably one with split supplies
A multimeter of some sort
A soldering iron or soldering station if you are planning to build stuff permanently
Hook up wire
Components
Now, i got most of my tools from when i was in school, and they were all purchased here:
http://www.elenco.com -click on electronics division
The site has a lot of stuff which is not the creme de la creme but it will get you up and running. If you buy nothing else here consider one of their breadboards, such as model #9440. I have used mine for probably five years and it still works great. I have also seen these sold elsewhere with power supplies built in although i don't know whether this ends up being more convenient or more of a nuisance....Similar boards are available through other sites as well, so if you find a better price elsewhere i am not gonna stop you.
I buy my protoboards and lots of other odds and ends here:
http://www.futurlec.com
The down side is that their stuff ships from thailand, so sometimes things can take a while, but the prices are hard to beat, for example this $15 dollar multimeter that measures capacitance too. (http://www.futurlec.com/Multimeters.shtml -$14.90 third from bottom) I would buy this even if it didn't work for that price. Most other 1/2 way decent meters cost in the $50 to $200 range. If you want the same one i have it is the elenco M-1700 and it is $59.95. Still not a bad price for all it does.
If you want to move past breadboarding stuff and actually soldering up some circuits you will need a soldering iron. These can be got for as cheap as 10 dollars, although as time goes on you may long for a soldering station, which really can make life much easier when you are working on more advanced projects. A decent iron is a worthwhile investment for this stuff. Elenco offers a soldering station (the one i had in school is the SL-5-40) for pretty cheap, about 35 bucks. Now if you have money to burn and want the Cadillac of soldering stations consider a hako or a nice weller soldering station with a grounded tip for esd protection and temperature regulation (expect to pay over 100) BTW: higher wattage means you can solder bigger parts and wires more quickly and easily.
Now as far as an adjustable power supply goes..... I built my own because i didn't really need a super high current bench supply, and there are lots of kits on the web that can be bought to make these too. This could potentially be a future project for everybody in the workshop who is interested. You can also look at what elenco, and other suppliers have, or look for a used one on ebay. The bottom line is you want a split supply (gives both positive and negative supply voltages) because it saves you a lot of work from having to bias all your stuff for a single supply.
Finally here is a list of some other places where you can look for the things i have mentioned above as well as other components and electronics junk:
Digikey -From soup to nuts
Mouser -From nuts to soup
Newark electronics -All but the kitchen sink
Future Electronics -Etc.
Allied Electronics -Etc.
Arrow Electronics -Etc.
Farnell -Etc.
Sparkfun -Micro and DIY focused projects
BG Micro -All manner of stuff including surplus
Parts Express -They have a nice soldering station on sale for $12!!!!
Apex Jr -For amps, speakers and audio stuff
Ebay -Good deals for the savvy bidder
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Week 1 notes and minutes....
Attendees: Mark L, Mark M, Ryan, Beth, Andy, Kim, Steve, Kevin, Emily, Robin, Lexi, Jacob
Workshops ideas:
Music Theory
Screenprinting
Video/Stop-motion film
Photography
Plastics
Puppetry
Welding
Cooking
Brewing
Cheese-Making
Guitar Set-Up
Sewing
Splints
Programming
Stained Glass
Electronics
Woodworking
Workshops meet every 2 to 4 weeks. With 2 to 3 workshops active at a time. Workshops are 1 to 2 hours long, or as long as people want to host. All workshop members will meet every 1 to 2 month to share their work, ideas, progress, and have fun.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Electronics 101
Okay.
So in the last couple of weeks i have spoken with many of you, and managed to get in touch with some of you that are harder to find on the internet and there is a lot of interest and excitement and i am getting psyched for our first meet. I figured at this point it would be good to just let everybody know what i plan to cover for the first week, what you might want to bring, what time to come, what to expect, etc.
The time and day we are scheduled for is Sunday January 31st at 2:00 pm. I plan to spend the first 1/2 hour discussing things about the overall idea: How often we want different workshops to meet, how often we want all the workshops to meet together, what other resources we might be able to tap into for meetings, what other workshops have been suggested that people are interested in and anything else that seems pertinent.
The first workshop will then begin for basic electronics. This workshop assumes you have no prior knowledge of electronics, but does assume a basic knowledge of algebra. A scientific calculator will not be required for this but definitely might help when we start to get into some of the uglier stuff in subsequent workshops. A notebook or graph paper and pencil is a very good idea. I promise I will try and keep things as painless as possible for you all.
For the first workshop I plan to cover:
Basic Soldering
DC Circuit Basics
We will make a Lamp and an LED light up!
We will learn about OHM's Law and why it is so great
Engineering Notation
The wonders of the Multimeter
I think that is about all. If you have any questions send them here. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there and i think it is going to be a lot of fun!
So in the last couple of weeks i have spoken with many of you, and managed to get in touch with some of you that are harder to find on the internet and there is a lot of interest and excitement and i am getting psyched for our first meet. I figured at this point it would be good to just let everybody know what i plan to cover for the first week, what you might want to bring, what time to come, what to expect, etc.
The time and day we are scheduled for is Sunday January 31st at 2:00 pm. I plan to spend the first 1/2 hour discussing things about the overall idea: How often we want different workshops to meet, how often we want all the workshops to meet together, what other resources we might be able to tap into for meetings, what other workshops have been suggested that people are interested in and anything else that seems pertinent.
The first workshop will then begin for basic electronics. This workshop assumes you have no prior knowledge of electronics, but does assume a basic knowledge of algebra. A scientific calculator will not be required for this but definitely might help when we start to get into some of the uglier stuff in subsequent workshops. A notebook or graph paper and pencil is a very good idea. I promise I will try and keep things as painless as possible for you all.
For the first workshop I plan to cover:
Basic Soldering
DC Circuit Basics
We will make a Lamp and an LED light up!
We will learn about OHM's Law and why it is so great
Engineering Notation
The wonders of the Multimeter
I think that is about all. If you have any questions send them here. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there and i think it is going to be a lot of fun!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Electronics Workshops
In recent days i have talked to several people about starting up an electronics workshop on a bi-weekly or so basis in new haven. I have received a lot of interest and so i am setting up this blog as a way to have a central location online for additional discussion of the topics, a way to find out what peoples areas of interest are, when they are available to meet and what kinds of knowledge they would benefit most from.
It has also occurred to me in the past couple of weeks that what i would really like to do is expand the concept of this from just me showing people electronics stuff, to other people doing lessons/workshops on their areas of interest and expertise. So perhaps a series of workshops for electronics first and then music or carpentry or poetry or whatever other people might have experience and interest in?
I am envisioning that this thing could be a kind of free learning workshop of sorts for anyone who wants to learn, teach, and do. The idea being to have the benefits of a learning community with the advantages of being able to collaborate and share knowledge face to face instead of only on the internet. To do this with more flexibility and freedom than a learning institution and without the associated costs of typical schools or workshops. So please do tell. What sort of things you would like to learn about electronically or otherwise? I for one have always really wanted to learn some basic music theory but somehow have never found the time. And let me know when is best for you to meet. I am thinking the last weekend of january on saturday or sunday for the first meet.
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