Getting started

[Atomic_Sheep]

Hi guys, I'm just getting started with electronics and I was wondering where I could learn all the bits and bobs/pieces/tool set that can be used to make all the circuits? I d/l some circuit design software, trying Vutrax at the moment, not sure if it has built in circuit testing to make sure the circuit will work but hopefully it does but anyway... I d/l the software and I tried designing a circuit and hit a pretty big road bump straight away... there's no easy to use, user friendly interface when sifting through the parts and they all seem to be labelled by their codes which I of course don't know. Is there some encyclopaedia of all these parts somewhere. I recall my dad was explaining resistors to me a long long long time ago and I just remember that the bands meant different resistances and he seemed to know all of that stuff so obviously there's a list that links the codes to what they are somewhere or something like that.

I was trying to add diodes into a basic circuit with just a diode and a power source (battery) but it proved to be a lot more complicated than I had envisaged, certainly a lot more difficult than simply sticking a bunch of stuff together that we got from our teacher at school in a big box of goodies that couldn't hurt a fly if you connected them the wrong way (also a long long time ago), but at least it was all compatible stuff that you knew was going to work one way or the other but with this, I don't know what I'm selecting!

 

[Hero999]

I've never heard of, Vutrax, I Googled it and it looks reasonable.

Google is the best reference for part numbers and datasheets.

What exactly are you trying to do?

 

[Atomic_Sheep]

I've got several projects in mind (really just one big one with lots of different parts). The context is a flight simulator

http://spacecollective.org/userdata/2toYMud8/1196405752/home built_sms.jpg

At the moment I'm trying to design very basic pcbs that provide backlighting for the panels using diodes, potentiometers and some sort of power supply (some people ive seen are using standard pc psu's). Besides these basic lighting pcb's I'll need pcbs that hold buttons and switches for the various parts of the cockpit. But I'm initially designing the lighting because everything is strangely enough I believe built around it, at least that's the way I see it.

The second part of the project (which I'm working on simultaneously) involves making a 6dof full motion base for the simulator and that requires me to firstly create a small prototype using RC servos. I'll be connecting them to the computer via a port (usb or other serial ports) but ill obviously need a few bits and bob that go in between.

Since you've never heard of that software, could you, or anyone else recommend software that would be perhaps better than V? I'm planning on getting a CNC router at some stage so I assume I will be able to use that to CNC my PCB's. Is it possible to use traditional engineering CAD programs for this task? I think the testing of the circuits won't be an option with those?