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School project

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Frankehh

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Hi guys, I'm new here.

I have to make a project for school, throughout the whole year. I don't have to design something from the ground, I just have to find a nice design on the internet/books --> buy the components and build it/simulate it and write a book (30 pg's) in which I explain the theory of this design.

I've already been searching on the net but I still haven't find something nice, you guys can link me to good project sites? I'm interested in alarm system's.

PS: I'm a 17 year old student, it doesn't need be complex.. a few timers and some other components is good enough.
 
It might take a few more than 2 pages if you have to list the design process ,design considerations, the circuit calculations, implementation, test results, and computer simulation.
 
Frankehh said:
Hi guys, I'm new here.

I have to make a project for school, throughout the whole year. I don't have to design something from the ground, I just have to find a nice design on the internet/books --> buy the components and build it/simulate it and write a book (30 pg's) in which I explain the theory of this design.

I've already been searching on the net but I still haven't find something nice, you guys can link me to good project sites? I'm interested in alarm system's.

PS: I'm a 17 year old student, it doesn't need be complex.. a few timers and some other components is good enough.

man..it better be a pretty complex project if you are going to get 30 pages out of it...or write quite large...and double spaced.
 
You could write more than 100 pages, let alone about a resistor or LED used in your circuit - therefore I don't see any problems there...
 
I wrote about 30 pages in my AS and A2 projects despite them being relatively simple. They want you to go into large amounts of detail about everything, though not the internal functions of chips.

Our lecturer listed suitable projects we could do, not drawn out, just basic descriptions. I don't think I used them either year though.

The first year I did a circuit where digits 0-8 flashed at a variable rate on a 7-seg. You had to hit a button on the 8 digit to "score", which set off a buzzer.

Second year project was a remote controlled light bulb, where an IR remote could control a lightbulb through 4 different brightness levels.

With these projects, just try to use the circuits you have been tought during the year in a creative way. Use as many as you can really so long as you have a good understanding of them and the project is still sensible. The second year had transistors etc, so I made sure I used them.
 
HarveyH42 said:
http://discovercircuits.com

Is a huge site of links, should find something. Or at least other project sites...
Thanks but the problem is, my teacher wants a project which includes PCB (because it has to be single layered)

so do you guys know sites with projects which include PCB? I know one: elektronic lab.. but I'd like to see more projects.

I'm specifically searching for a digital project, something like this: http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/oscillators_timers/014/index.html but it doesn't include PCB so it ain't good... (so I'd like to make a stopwatch, digital clock)
 
Frankehh said:
Thanks but the problem is, my teacher wants a project which includes PCB (because it has to be single layered)

so do you guys know sites with projects which include PCB? I know one: elektronic lab.. but I'd like to see more projects.

I'm specifically searching for a digital project, something like this: https://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/oscillators_timers/014/index.html but it doesn't include PCB so it ain't good... (so I'd like to make a stopwatch, digital clock)

Perhaps you ought to consider designing a PCB for it then?, after all it's YOUR project, perhaps you should have a little input to it?. Otherwise you may as well just go and buy a kit from Maplin!.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
Perhaps you ought to consider designing a PCB for it then?, after all it's YOUR project, perhaps you should have a little input to it?. Otherwise you may as well just go and buy a kit from Maplin!.
You don't get it do you? The teacher told me to have a PCB with the project so he can see if it's single layered or double layered, because we aren't allowed to make a double layered project. It has nothing to do with lazyiness from my side! Once I have my project I'll have to build it and create it on multisim and ultiboard.
 
Frankehh said:
You don't get it do you? The teacher told me to have a PCB with the project so he can see if it's single layered or double layered, because we aren't allowed to make a double layered project. It has nothing to do with lazyiness from my side! Once I have my project I'll have to build it and create it on multisim and ultiboard.

No I don't 'get it' at all, what is the point of what you're supposed to be doing?. You're taking someone elses project, someone elses PCB layout, what are you doing for the project?.

What sort of marks are you likely to get for simply copying someone elses project?.
 
In my first electronics class, back in High School, we made our own PCBs in class, for every project we built. This was a few years before personal computers. That's right, we used tape, perm. markers, rub on traces/pads.

You should be able to enter most simple circuits into Multisim, and have the computer route a single layer board for you. Take you maybe a half hour...

PCB artwork isn't commonly included with the majority of circuits you find on the web. Personally, I always simulate a circuit, before I build it on a breadboard, just to make sure it works or see if I can substitute parts I have on hand.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
No I don't 'get it' at all, what is the point of what you're supposed to be doing?. You're taking someone elses project, someone elses PCB layout, what are you doing for the project?.

What sort of marks are you likely to get for simply copying someone elses project?.
I'm 17, I'm not supposed to create my own project or PCB layout, I simply have to copy it so I can get used to the procedures & software. I'm not going to design something on my own if I'm not supposed to.
 
Frankehh said:
I'm 17, I'm not supposed to create my own project or PCB layout, I simply have to copy it so I can get used to the procedures & software. I'm not going to design something on my own if I'm not supposed to.

You're 17!! - I was presuming you were year 8 or 9 (12 or 13 years old), what sort of course are you doing? - and what have you been doign previously?.
 
THe almight Google had this as it's second suggestion:

**broken link removed**

There are a few alarm and security circuits in the list.

I'm curious as how you are going to write 30 pages on the design and function of a circuit that wasn't designed by you..and not very large circuits either...

Very few circuit websites include a PCB layout...you might have to make it yourself from the schematic...isn't that how you get used to the software?
 
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Do you have the electronics software at home? Most every teacher I ever had, was usually pleased when I showed a little initiative, and did a little extra work.

Workbench isn't too difficult to figure out. Ultiboard shouldn't have a problem doing a simple single sided layout for you. You aren't designing anything, just copying and converting, the computer is doing most of the work for you.

Eventually, you will actually have to do some work for yourself, so why not get a headstart. If you just don't have the spare time, purchasing a kit is your best option. Haven't done a kit in a long time, some give very minimal instructions, sometimes not even a schematic. Some come with very detailed documentation, schematic, layout, theory stuff, troubleshooting... You can even get some pre-assembled, if you have trouble remembering which end of the soldering iron to pick up...
 
The very, very, very, very basics of electronics. Learning how to copy the hard work done by someone else.
 
This thread makes less sense to me, the longer it gets. Maybe it's not so much an electronics course, but more of a chinese engineering course... This kid shouldn't be thinking about building projects, if can't doesn't understand the most basic things. If he can read a schematic, doing the layout shouldn't be a problem, and the teach wouldn't missing a very important lesson. Most of my property tax bill goes to public education, and this is what its paying for?

Wonder if I should tell him why PCB layouts are rarely included, other than its not that difficult... Oh what the hell. The artwork you get off the web usually gets compressed, meaning it loose detail, sometimes resized. Graphics programs vary in the way they import the different formats. When you print the layout, it isn't so good and you get a PCB that might not even be usable. ICs might be a tough fit. The transfer method used might need a mirrored image. A diagram takes little time or space to transfer over the internet. PCB art needs to be uncompressed, much larger file (that may/not be useful), how do you keep the two files together without compression?

Anyway, the kid blew it when he tried to sell the not suppose to do his own layout. If tells me he's not suppose to solder either, I'm going off!!!
 
Ok...with the fear of upsetting Nigel (Seems as though Ive been scaring some of the less than manly co-posters around here half to death) ...and all the other mythical gods...Im slapping on a pair of hip-waders, annd wading into the inner bowels of this inane quagmire.
I have NEVER used a software program to design circuit boards
-I have never had a problem resizing circuit boards that have been reproduced ANYWHERE including the web....simply by resizing the PCB in paint, or simply printing it out...then calculating the sizing needed by looking at the known pinouts on things like IC's, then adjusting the sizing on a photocopier.
-I have NEVER really had a problem finding INTERESTING projects on GOOGLE to build...as a matter of fact...my problem isnt finding them...its deciding on what one of 10,000,000 hits that I want to build that day.
I am ENTIRELY self-taught on electronics...have been building projects BY MYSELF since I was 5 years old, courtesy of my Radio Shack 150 in 1 kit. The only official education in electronics was 3 years I took in High school. Then we were told that we had to design a circuit, lay it out on protoboard, draft a schematic, make a PC board (using Letraset, and a sharpie), etch the board, , plate it, design a component overlay (we didnt have to print the overlay onto the board, as we had no way of doing it at the time)drill it, install all components, make the project work, install it in a case.
We had exactly 10 days to do all of this

..and there was no such thing as the internet. I remember building a race track, that used 3 lanes of LEDs that would race around the track, and ultimatly one of the leds would randomly win the race. I think that I used about 100 leds for the project, and that was when LEDS were about 1.00
each.or more...because they were new technology.
Yet somehow...with little electronics education, I seem able to download a circuit, or design it from scratch....design a PCB, and component overlay....BOTH USING MICROSOFT PAINT...nothing special, print it out, iron it onto a piece of copperclad board, etch it, drill it, and have a working project within a few hours.
Oh and for the people that wish to say Im bragging..Im not...I realise that practically every other member of this group can run circles around me in the design, layout, and building of a circuit...which is why I ask for help so frequently.
You are 17....you probibly have every computer program at your disposal to assist you....you have the endless resources of the internet...a well-trained teacher.....AND YOU SAY THAT YOU CANNOT FIND A CIRCUIT...OR A PCB LAYOUT FOR IT????????????
HOLY CRAP GUY...YOU HAVE GOT TO BE EITHER THE STUPIDIST GUY ON THE PLANET....OR THE LAZIEST.
I cant even fathom that yiou can write a 30 page essay on the circuit..and how it works either...if you cannot at least BEGIN to find a circuit....or were you expecting to have someone here do THAT for you AS WELL!
This guy is about the 5th guy lately on here that is taking a course, and wants us to give him a project, lay it out, help him explain it...and then ULTIMATLY BUILD IT. And NO...I dont think that its the schools fault...I think that its the lazy -assed students that simply want to pass....by putting the same amount of effort into this project, as they ultimatly do with every other aspect of their pityful lives. Im not scared about the future of mankind so much as Im scared that someday Ill have to be hooked up to a device, or put my life in the hands of equipment that this lazy little piece of **** has either designed, or is responsible to keep running.
Do us all a favour here:
-Spend a few hours on the internet looking up circuits
-spend a few hours thinking about its design and how it works
-spend a few hours designing a circuit board for it
-spend a few hours building it
-spend a few hours debugging it
-spend a few hours writing about your experience

THEN......IF YOU STILL DONT GET SOMETHING ABOUT THE PROJECT...START ASKING QUESTIONS


NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
YOU MAY GET THE SAME SORT OF RESPONSE AS YOUN AHVE HERE WHEN YOU FINALLY ENTER THE WORKFORCE...AND ASK YOUR CO-WORKERS TO DO ALL YOUR WORK FOR YOU.
 
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