Do you have abandoned projects?

[schmitt trigger]

During my over 50 years of electronics both as a profession and as a hobby, I have designed and built countless projects. With very limited occasions, where the project's budget has spiraled out of control or is taking way too long, I always complete my projects. Even if my original estimations proved to be too optimistic, or if the actual performance doesn't meet expectations, I complete the projects. After all, one gains more experience from difficult projects than the ones that work on the first attempt.

Nowadays however, I am on my third abandoned project on this year. After struggling with the troubleshooting or the assembly, I simply lose interest. Since this is a hobby, which is supposed to be a pleasurable endeavor, I don't pressure myself to complete it.
This doesn't mean that ideas don't keep coming, they do and plenty. I look at datasheets, search on the internet, fill my booklet with sketches. But right now I have imposed on myself a "project freeze" until I come out of this lethargy.

Have you suffered such a syndrome?
PLEASE NOTE: I have also posted this question on another forum.

 

[alec_t]

Have you suffered such a syndrome?

Not quite. I'm a bit of a hoarder and tend to acquire components and materials which 'might come in useful one day'. The problem is that despite coming up with project ideas, real life intervenes and projects never get off the drawing board.

 

[adrian-smith31]

I used to be a hoarder when I was younger and learning electronics and made lots of projects, most of which were pretty pointless. More of a learning exercise than anything else. I made a lot of test equipment projects which I didn't need abandoning an 8 digit frequency counter as I had no use for it. That was in the early 1990's - I still have some of this junk and when I was bored during lockdown I considered finishing the frequency counter. But now that cheap Chinese kits and modules are available for peanuts I didn't see the point.

I changed career for 20 years or so and returned back to electronics 6 years ago finding it's changed a lot. I try and see projects through now as a hobbyist but as my day job most projects get abandoned. Not many get finished even the one that did was only made in small quantities. That was a replacement controller board for an old obsolete LED matrix sign but after repairing 3 it was decided to just scrap the signs and replace with a cheap modern one we got made in China.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Not generally totally abandoned, if it was anything more than a test rig, prototype or trying to prove or demonstrate some concept.

I tend to have a number of hobby projects running in tandem, waiting for time, parts availability or funds, or just ideas & inspiration to get past a problem. Some have been in progress for several years, including three different robots, with numerous boxes of parts accumulated..

Mostly, the nearest thing to being abandoned is if I realise I could have used a different approach or some fundamentally different method & restarted the same project in a different way, probably by cannibalising the previous version for some parts.

On the other hand, I have accumulated the end results, which sometimes I don't have any ideas what to do with after completion! eg. For one example, the four foot tall Van de Graaf machine parked in my living room... It produces very spectacular arcs when run, ~ 500,000V, but has zero practical use!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

On the other hand, I have accumulated the end results, which sometimes I don't have any ideas what to do with after completion! eg. For one example, the four foot tall Van de Graaf machine parked in my living room... It produces very spectacular arcs when run, ~ 500,000V, but has zero practical use!

Back at school, in a physics lesson, the teacher got one of the girls (because she had longish hair) to stand on a tall stool so she was insulated, and place her hand on top of the dome - he then fired up the Van De Graff generator, and as expected, her hair nicely rose and stuck out in a nice sphere.

The teacher was then pacing about, explaining what was happening and why - unfortunately, he was one of those people who can't keep their arms still when lecturing, and he made the mistake of getting too close. His arm went up to nose level - and an arc jumped from the girls nose to the teachers finger. The teacher was thrown to the floor, the girl was thrown off the stool to the floor, and the Van De Graff generator went flying

Great fun in a physics lesson though

Looks a really nice construction job though, well done

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Have you suffered such a syndrome?

Yes, a lot of them. My ADHD was overcome at work with an excellent staff including an administrative assistant. At home, not so much. My hobbies turn great ideas into another half-finished project that I'll eventually say, "I should throw this away because I'll never finish it, but I just can't get myself to toss it, or disassemble the breadboard or use any of the parts I bought for the project, or... .

One day, I'll try the ADHD medication and finish everything in a week.

 

[Pommie]

Have you suffered such a syndrome?

I currently am (are?). I've recently agreed to make a project for a friend.
I've designed the boards and got them made - they arrived today.
Need to get motivated to write the code, I used to do this for fun but now find it a chore.
Think it might be an age/retirement thing. However, I've been retired over twenty years and it's only just started.

Mike.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Think it might be an age/retirement thing. However, I've been retired over twenty years and it's only just started.

For 20-years and it's only started now? Did you retire when you were 40?

 

[Pommie]

For 20-years and it's only started now? Did you retire when you were 40?

44. Just before moving to Australia.

Mike.

 

[tepalia02]

Yes. Lots of. One I can still remember is a voice-controlled robot. That project was not fully abandoned, but that project could not be seen by outsiders. Seeing voice controller car projects, I started to make a miniature humanoid voice controlled talking robot. I designed the PCB around 5 times, the chassis was designed two or 3 times. Finally I left my job and that product never show up.