Stocking a new hobby electronics workbench

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hanakj
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Stocking a new hobby electronics workbench

Post by hanakj »

I am just starting to get interested in Hobby electronics. Trying to get back to something i did briefly as a kid(I am 50). I spent 20+ years as a computer programmer, and now am a HS Math teacher. Having summers off, I need a hobby, so, back to electronics.

I've got the Forrest Mims book, the Dummies book, I subscribe to Make, N&V of course. One thing I cant seem to find is what I should start out with as stock.

I don't want to be making 10 trips a day to Radio shack, so what should I start out with as a kit of stock parts(resistors, caps, diodes, IC's, etc.)? I've got a bread board and jumper wires. Any advice?
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philba
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Post by philba »

There was a thread on this recently but search didn't turn up anything.

You can get resistor and capacitor kits. the surplus places have them pretty often. ebay sometimes has them as well.

You can also get experimenter kits on ebay. there were quite a few last time I looked.

A lot depends on what you want to do. Digital? Linear? Transistors? Microcontrollers? I'd make a selection of the schematics from 20 projects you'd want to do and make a list of all the parts from them. then go to Mouser and order from there. You can look at the surplus places (all electronics, electronic goldmine and so on) but I've found Mouser is often the cheapest and has a great selection. It does pay to shop around but I prefer one-stop shopping since shipping costs can add up fast.
Robert Reed
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Post by Robert Reed »

Hanak
The parts you will always need are the ones you don't have in stock :grin: . Rather than buying parts kits, that may have a lot of never used items, I would start with this:
Diodes: (10) 1N914
(10) 1N4003
Transistors: (10) 2N3904
(10) 2N3906
Regulator chips: (3) 7805
(2) 7815
(2) 7915
Logic ICs: (4) AND gates
(4) NAND gates
(4) OR gates
(4) Nor gates
(2) Dual MONOSTABLE IC
(2) Dual "D" BISTABLE ICs
All of the 74HC family
Analog ICs: (6) OP-AMPs type TLO84

Electrolytic capacitors: (5) 10 mfd
(5) 100 mfd
(5) 1000 mfd
Capacitors (ceramic-50 volt): (10) 0.1 mfd
(10) 0.01 mfd
(10) 0.001 mfd
Resistors: This is the one area I would buy in kit form and get at a minimum of 1000 peices ( 1/4 watt - 5%). These can be had for a penny apiece from some dealers.

These parts will cover most of your beginning projects and will be quite cheap for the batch. As you order parts down the road for future projects, always order a little more to build up your stock and you will know at those times other values of components that you seem to have a steady call for. You will also need a good breadboard and a cheap power supply for starters ( the first major project you build should be a good regulated variable supply). After 30 years of building up my personal inventory, I still ffel that I never have enough, so parts procurement becomes a regular thing.The trick here is to project in advance of what you might need for each order so that you minmize postage.
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dacflyer
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Post by dacflyer »

collect all the scrap circuit boards you can, out of old radios , tv's , test equipment etc..
they usually have a ton of parts you will commonally need..and you might get them often for free..

you can easily find lots of regulators , resistors . caps and so much more.
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philba
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Post by philba »

robert, that's a decent list though it does somewhat depend on what he's planning.

I'd add comparators as they seem to come up all the time in projects. LM393 or 339. they are pretty cheap. I'd also add a bunch of 555s (plus the cmos version) and lm386 audio amps.

On the discreets, I'd toss in a bunch of LEDs. A collection of pots is very usefull - I'd get 1K, 5k, 20k, 50k and maybe 500k (or 1M)

I still think a ceramic capacitor kit makes sense as .47, .047s come up a lot and you often see pF valued caps in projects as well.

On digitals, I'd add the 4017 and 4060 (or the 74HC variants) as those are very usefull for lots of projects.

Now, with a programming background, I suspect microcontrollers are in his future as well but that's the subject of a different topic.

Maybe this should be a sticky post as the issue comes up a lot.

edit: I'm an invenerate scrounger so I like messing with scrap but since the poster clearly doesn't have to pinch pennies, I'd recommend he not as it's pretty easy to damage parts when reomving them.
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jwax
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Post by jwax »

Stock up on coffee and aspirin, but only if you're serious. :grin:
Robert Reed
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Post by Robert Reed »

Good one J-wax. How in the world did I ever omit that from my list :grin: .
hanakj
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Thanks!!

Post by hanakj »

Thanks, all! You have given me a lot of ideas. I'll probably start with the stuff in the Mimms book, then move on. I've been reading the "impovershed radio experimenters" books from Lindsey publishing, and the whole radio thing really appeals to me.

Thanks for the advice and you'll be getting more questions as i proceed. It sure looks like there are some real experienced folks here.
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haklesup
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Post by haklesup »

I prefer a more top down approach and that is to decide on a project first then buy all the components at once which allows you to overstock some that seem generic enough to use again. Eventually you end up with a decent stock after a few projects. In most cases you need a min order to minimize shipping cost's impact and Radio Shack won't have most of what you want anyway, so use catalogs and websites.

If you did stock beforehand, stick to the handfull of caps R Reed suggested plus some commor resistors. Stick to metal film 1% for the basics and buy specialties as you need them (they are only pennies more than 5%). YOu can also have a few voltage regulators handy. Your particualr interests will dictate what semiconductor devices are useful, just too many to guess at for a kit.

I would also recommend a wiring kit but last one I bought was expensive for 5 spools of #18 hookup wire so maybe you can get wire other ways.
Robert Reed
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Post by Robert Reed »

Just to add to Hackles up suggestion on wire - old telephone cable has a lot of twisted pairs with a multitude of color codes . It's usually 24 guage and solid conductor. This will work in the standard teflon breadboards or for project hookup wire. Unfortunately, it is not pretinned and makes it slightly more difficult to solder.
I look for wire any where I can find it and old scrap multiconductor cables can be a good source for a variety of wire types and gauges. Buying catolog wire can be ungodly expensive when you consider the variety that's needed.
smariotti
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Post by smariotti »

I'm in a similar situation, having just started Hobby Electronics. I'm a computer programmer as well and as someone suggested above I feel a pull towards microcontrollers.

I have two young daughters who have relatives who send them lots of plastic toys that take batteries and eventually get broken by being used in new and interesting ways by the girls. I take these things apart and collect all kinds of useful items from inside:

1. Switches (dpdt, spdt, spst)
2. Female power connectors for wall warts.
3. Battery compartments / battery housings.
4. LED's
5. Buttons (momentary and push/push)
6. Speakers
7. Rare earth magnets (who knew?)
8. Microphones
9. Capacitors (usually SMD stuff, but the more complicated toys have power circuits with ceramic or tantalum caps sometimes).

I've also started pulling apart and desoldering other grown-up consumer electronics devices too and gotten a bunch of interesting bits out of old cell phones and portable video screens and the like. I've become quite the scavenger, and it's frankly been a revelation how much useful stuff is hidden just behind a few screws and maybe some plastic cutting.

Other things I'd recommend to you that have proven extremely helpful for me:

1. "Third Hand Device" with magnifier. It's a heavy base with a vertical rod that has a bunch of alligator clips and a magnifier attached to it like poseable robotic arms. This is absolutely INVALUABLE to me now that I have one. I never really thought to get one but now I can't do without. Here's a link to what I mean.

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... 1cU5cLbCkX

2. A desoldering pump. You need this if you're doing any scrounging, as it works wonders. With the board gripped by the above third hand thing, you get the old solder all melty and then POP, the connection is mostly clean. A little desoldering wick and the parts come right out.
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Joseph
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Post by Joseph »

Alas, Radio Shack (Web-site) and Jameco used to stock 1/8w leaded (through-hole) 5% carbon film resistors. I see them as perfect for design and general work. I still found some kits for 1/6 watt ones at Digikey, but am not sure how they compare.

I had picked about 35 values, 100 of each from Radio Shack. My stock of 1/8w leaded resistors from all sources includes values like 1, 2.2, 4.7, 10, 27, 47, 75, 100, 150, 220, 330, 470, 1k, 1.3k, 2k, 2.2k, 2.7k, 3.3k, 3.9k, 4.7k, 5.6k, 7.5k, 10k, 13k, 22k, 33k, 47k, 75k, 100k, 150k, 220k, 330k, 470k, 620k, 1M, 1.2M, 2.2M, 4.7M, 10M, 20M. The high values are helpful for paralleling with lower values for tweaking. The low values are good for fusible links and power supply decoupling, as well as MOSFET gate series resistance.

I have a lot of values of ceramic disc capacitors, too. In pF (picofarads): 10, 22, 33, 47, 68, 100, 220, 330, 470, 680, 1000, 2200, 3300, 4700. In uF: .01, .022, .047

Monolithic ceramic, uF: .1, .22, .47, 1.

In electrolytic, in uF: 1, 2.2, 4.7, 10, 22, 47, 100, 220, 1000, 2200, 4700. Bigger ones are for power supply filtering needs.

The 74c14 (CD40106) CMOS is my favorite IC. Easy to use and very versatile. It makes a robust oscillator with only an added resistor connected from the output of one gate back to its input with a capacitor going from that input to ground. Remember to specify through-hole.

My favorite MOSFET driver is the IR211x (IR2110, IR2112, IR2113) in through-hole package.

Be sure to get through-hole components, not surface mount (SMD). As you can see, I do not have a good view of SMT. I feel it is killing the art of good analogue circuit design. That in turn, is going to be bad for electronics and society in the long run.
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Joseph
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Post by Joseph »

Maybe keep an eye open for 1/8w through-hole resistor kits from this seller.

http://stores.ebay.com/Electronic-Components-and-Parts
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Joseph
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Post by Joseph »

I am pleased to mention that Jameco has select values of through-hole 1/8w 5% resistors for something like $.69 per 100 quantity. They are visible on line, but not in the catalog.
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jwax
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Post by jwax »

As for reading/reference, nothing beats the ARRL Handbook. (American Radio Relay League) Any good electronics shop sells it. Precious info! :grin:
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