Glad i found this site !

[Al Manzoli]

I am happy to have found this site.

I have worked most of my adult life in the electrical trade , but I never really had time to pursue my interest in the electronics side.

I did ( many years ago ) complete a college course on P L C s , which I must admit I very rarely used.

Since closing my business (after 26 years) and working for others , and now being retired , I find myself looking for small electronic projects to build .

Can anyone suggest any small projects I can try , that will stimulate my thirst.

Of course they have to be inexpensive , because as I have stated in other threads , I am cheap !

 

[jpanhalt]

First, I would start with a little bit of analog circuitry. Flash some LED's with an LM555 . There are articles on ETO about 555's. Here's a link to another resource: **broken link removed** Next project would be a motor controller, just to familiarize yourself with PWM, or an Op-Amp amplifier.

I would repeat the LED's and PWM with digital. Many tutorials on the web for that. Nigel's and Ian's on ETO are very good.

I do believe that the best way to get into the hobby is to find useful projects that you need. For me, that was a merging of my other hobbies with electronics. Tell us a little more about your other interests, and we may be able to make more concrete suggestions.

As for books, I used Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, 2nd ed. , Cambridge University Press, 1989. It is rumored that the authors are actively reviewing galley proofs for the long awaited 3rd edition.

John

 

[cowboybob]

We're happy you found, as well, Al!

Where to start.

Might I suggest a "Learning Electronics" net available course (often available as downloadable .PDF files)?

They often include introductory circuits that you can build that are simple but informative as building blocks to more complex concepts.

Much of your electrical background will be quite useful, except your usual assumption that a black wire is HOT. In electronics (and automotive wiring) it is generally assumed to be ground. I made the reverse assumption when building my house (what with my electronics background) that the black wires would, of course, be ground in house wiring; a mistake gleefully pointed out by the Building inspector... .

 

[crutschow]

You might also try getting an electronics kit. They go from relatively inexpensive and simple to more expensive and elaborate. Those have a number of simple circuits you can build to become familiar with circuit basics, and typically have a plug-in breadboard to allow easy assembly of the circuits.

 

[steveB]

I am happy to have found this site.

Welcome!

So being cheap means you need to find parts without paying too much. So, keep an eye out for free and inexpensive stuff. I once got word that a business was throwing away a bunch of inventory. They were not allowed to sell or give away inventory that is classified as worthless and disposed of. However, if you know it's happening, you can arrange to "throw it away for them" so to speak. So, some parts I have a 1000 lifetime supply of. I once estimated the total value of the parts I have and it exceeds a quarter of a million dollars, but all obtained for free.

Also, if you need something, place a message here, and sometimes someone can throw it in the mail for you for free; - if they happen to have it.

And, repairing broken test equipment (obtained for free) can be a project for a cheap person.

 

[Al Manzoli]

Thanks!https://s766.photobucket.com/user/3free3/media/cid_CEF9A3D42FAB4080B0C2C1EDC2D08464OwnerHP.gif.html**broken link removed**

 

[Al Manzoli]

I love to tinker with anything that someone has thrown out because ( it no longer works ).

I have some tools that I have had for years ,that people threw out .

Sometimes a very quick fix , and other times very frustrating !

I also have worked on some stuff that I assumed to be an easy fix , to finally realize that it is BEYOND REPAIR.

But ... W T H it was fun.

 

[Al Manzoli]

Quick question ... ...

Is there an easier way to post images on this site , without the url ?

I have many pics on my computer with no url.

On other forums... ... Electrician forum and Model railroad forum , I can , and do , post pics all the time !

There is a way to send the pic to Photobucket , and get a (or an) url for it , but it is a PITA.

Anyone have a solution ?

 

[jpanhalt]

Try Ctrl + V, if it is an image format. That works when I use the snipping tool in Win7. Otherwise, on the LOWER right set of buttons, use the "Upload File" button (next to Post Reply).

John

 

[Al Manzoli]

Try Ctrl + V, if it is an image format. That works when I use the snipping tool in Win7. Otherwise, on the LOWER right set of buttons, use the "Upload File" button (next to Post Reply).

John

Thanks ! I will try that !

IT WORKS !

 

[steveB]

I love to tinker with anything that someone has thrown out because ( it no longer works ).

I have some tools that I have had for years ,that people threw out .

Sometimes a very quick fix , and other times very frustrating !

Agreed, and sometimes a proper fix would be frustrating but you can make a quick improvised fix that works. My first experience with this was back in the late 1970s when I was a teenager. The guy across the street threw out a Betamax video player, which were very expensive and novel at that time. I took it and found it played tapes at fast forward speed. A study of the inside indicated that the motor control board was dead. I had no money to buy a new one and didn't have a clue on how to fix it. So, I wound masking tape around the spindle until the "too fast" speed became normal play speed. It worked perfectly for 5 years after that.

If something like that happens to you as a teenager, you become cheap for life.

 

[killivolt]

I'm glad to see you....

I'm a hobby tinkerer. I happened to just come to know a program called LT Spice, I tried it about 8 years ago, way to advanced for me then, I gave up.

However, it's well supported and many Video Tutorials are available. It won't take parts or scavenging. This is a "Tool" to help you build and know as you go, after that you can go scavenging for what you want. https://www.linear.com/designtools/software/

Try it and see. There are a lot of Tutorials and such. It will grow your knowledge and in addition to the books and materials others have suggested. It's as close real world as it gets, virtual and real world experience.

After that build to your hearts content.
To all Hobby Tinkerers everywhere. Good Luck.

kv

 

[dr pepper]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm cheap too and proud of it.

Velleman do a good range of kits worth looking at, the quality of their pcb's is excellent.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Hi Al

Back in the mid 80's I automated a gantry crane for a model railroad for some guy in the biz. It was in an article in, I think Model Railroading along with other stuff he built. It had 3 rows of 9 box cars and a loading dock. The object was to move the boxcars to the dock and back again at the push of a button. The operation took about 20 min, The layout was about 4' x 6'.

We actually did it twice. Once I used a 1802 processor and programmed it by hand. I didn't have the assembler/compiler. The second and third was done using a single board basic computer. I pretty much lost the documentation and I probably have three card cages minus the controller. I may have the large pencil vellum schematics under a rug somewhere and I do have a gantry which is where most of the stuff takes place.

The latter one was designed modular. Two dual motor control cards. One crane/magnet card and one x, y position card and the Single board CPU. The crane could be operated manually. I have a VHS video of it.

 

[dr pepper]

Respect.
I can write assembler but not code by switches, I knew someone who wrote complicated code in hex, you need a messed up brain todo stuff like that.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

It goes back to the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 in like 1975. Switches in Octal notations were the norm. I did a lot of troubleshooting of the 11/2 and 11/23 and did some work with a PDP 11/50. I was instrumental in finding that the computer was dropping a bit in the processor status word so that DEC service could fix it.

And for a lab project in college, I built a computer using TTL chips. I built the program counter stuff, another did the data structure and a third did the memory. It was a 16 word, 16 bit microcoded computer that could sort 16 number s in ascending and descending order. So, we designed the instruction set and built a "computer" on a few breadboards. This was in the 8008 era. A long time ago.

The RCA COSMAC 1802 was pretty easy to do by hand. The really BAD part of the architecture was there was no subroutines. Every register could be the program counter. So, you could "pass the program counter". Writing code to be able to do subroutines was the hardest part.

 

[ericgibbs]

Respect.
I can write assembler but not code by switches, I knew someone who wrote complicated code in hex, you need a messed up brain todo stuff like that.

hi DrP,
When I started writing MCU programs, it was all machine code and punched paper tape or punched card.
Every Byte had to be typed in via the keyboard or a bank of switches.
Whether my brain got messed up I cannot say, but at least I have an idea whats 'under bonnet/hood' when using an Assembler or Compiler.

E

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Been there. Done that. Except the paper tape readers were either ASR33 or high speed. A better use of punched cards was to make Christmas wreaths out of. I think the punched card programs I wrote were in ALGOL.

I did have a class in compiler writing and actually wrote one along with an operating system.

 

[dr pepper]

I've never used or worked on paper tape systems.
I did read an interesting book on colossus.
The 6502 was my first programming experience, then the z80, the latter is a good chip.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I guess my FIRST Fortran program was an OS/Interpreter of sorts. It did 8 loops of PID in the Background process and the Foreground process ran the display and sequencer. I wrote Fortran modules which acted like device drivers with certain entry points. One of the cool entry points was that it could read and save values to a single file. Fortran had a way to "back up" the read a line from a file. It took two of us about 9 months to write.