cub scout electronic activity

[MrDEB]

you might be right

as far as the goal level.
thinking that the conductive glue might solve alot of problems
my thought is
etch my own boaRDS AND PRINT WHERE EACH PART GOES.
HAVE THE ic SOCKET, RESISTOR AND DIODES ALREADY SOLDERED INPLACE.
ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS INSERT THE SWITCHES AND MAYBE SOME LEDS, CONNECT A SPEAKER AND PLUG IN A BATTERY.
oups had the caps lock on - sorry

 

[Mikebits]

You may be liable for any kid that gets burned by a soldering iron. I would think about that.

 

[MrDEB]

thats another reason I am looking at

conductive glue
the accidental burn is #1 on my list of concerns.

 

[MrDEB]

Theremin principal oscillator

not sure if this will even work
plan is to breadboard and give it a whirl connecting an 8 ohm speaker to output w/ capacitor in series w/ speaker.
any comments??
this is from the theremin vision site

 

[MrDEB]

oups forgot to post schematics

here are two ideas I have
simple, cheap etc

 

[Thunderchild]

the crystal radio is not a bad idea especially if you couple it to an amplifier, I did this with a 200 in 1 kit once as I could make both the radio and the amplifier at the same time as no cmponents clashed, this will give much greater success, you can use a prebuilt audio amp to conect to each it to see how well the lads did or just knock up a design with an opamp

 

[audioguru]

The 555 might blow up when it tries to drive 300mA into an 8 ohm speaker. It is not a power amplifier so the current should be limited to 100mA with a series resistor. Then the loudness will be low.

 

[psecody]

why not build simple continuity testers and then explain their use and demonstrate their use by giving them a bunch of stuff to test and see if it will conduct electricity.
1 LED
470ohm resistor
9volt battery
two wires as test leads
pretty simple to build and has a use.

edit: you may also want to explain not to get anywhere close to ac outlets and such with that, as soon as I posted that in my mind I saw some little kid sticking the test leads into a 120 outlet

 

[MrDEB]

The test probe is one idea

I kinda wanted something that makes noise and lots of flash
boys this age eat that kinda stuff up.

 

[audioguru]

I kinda wanted something that makes noise and lots of flash
boys this age eat that kinda stuff up.

I know.
When I was that age I made my own gunpowder, bombs and rockets.
The bombs disappeared with a WHOOSH and a flame and the rockets blew up. Luckily me and my friends were not hurt.
There was a chemical compound that spontaneously ignited when it dried. It used iodine.

 

[Mr RB]

If you are going to make PCBs, why not make them as "modules" and use those terminal connectors with a sprung button - you just hold the button and push a wire in.

Then you can make a few little modules liek a 555 module, or a relay module, and things like flashing leds, switches, speaker, dc motor, battery packs etc all with leadwires.

Then the kids can just connect whatever to whatever and make stuff work. With a little attention to protecting the inputs and outputs on the PCB modules (with diodes, resistors etc) you could just let them at it and supervise with suggestions.

They will learn all the cool stuff like a LED won't light if it's the wrong way around and how a switch can be used to turn a 555 timer on and off etc etc. No soldering needed and reusable modules they can swap around to stop them getting bored.

 

[MrDEB]

Thats a great idea

the spring clips your refering to "fanstock" I think there called.
There's a reference to them on the first page of this post.
just locating a good source for them. at a good price.
I wonder if they make them to solder onto a pc board??
the ones I was looking at needed screws to mount them.

 

[gaspode42]

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?
**broken link removed**

 

[MrDEB]

Thats exactly what I need

will look into what and how many I need.
never knew they existed
thanks!

 

[Mr RB]

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?
**broken link removed**

Yep! Thanks for that. Fingers don't touch the electrical connection at all, no chance of static and no sweat to corrode the connections.

And if you tin the end of the wires they should last a bit. You can always snip the end off and re-dress the wires later anyway.

 

[garym]

just what Akela ordered!

Hello to my new e-friends. I stumbled here to see if there were ideas i could GET re: electronics projects for Cub Scouts, but I see I have something to GIVE to this thread.

I've been a Cub & Boy Scout Leader in my town for ~ 15 years. I've had many positions from Den LEader thru Cubmaster and Asst Scoutmaster and Asst District Commissioner, etc., etc.

In a not-totally-separate life, I've been an instructor for 5 seasons now in an intensive, hands-on 3-week session for Gifted & Talented Middle-School kids in 2 subjects: Basic Electronics, and Engineering Workshop. A nice dovetailing when it comes to project-building, y'know?

Anyway, and to the point: in the electronics course, we've had GREAT success using the kits and workbooks from Gibson Sales Systems, or GSS Tech Ed, in their TRON.IX line. THIS IS ALL BASED ON SOLDERLESS BREADBOARDS! here is the link: **broken link removed**
but poke around their site for other appropriate stuff.

Good Luck!