Beginning electronics project?
August 10, 2007 12:01 PM   Subscribe

I'm totally inexperienced when it comes to electronics, but I want to start building things that make noise. Is this (the link goes to a page with schematics and information) a terrible first project?


It seems pretty straightforward: (1) learn to read the schematic. (2) buy the parts. (3) build it on a breadboard. (4) solder things onto a circuit board.

Is there anything that's going to trip me up that I don't know about? Should I start with something way simpler? Any advice would be super appreciated. Thanks everybody.
posted by hapticactionnetwork to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (20 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
That's pretty much it :) For the project you linked you should probably avoid breadboard and make your own pcb though. This method use photosensitive boards nice and easy or you can use stickers to lay out the board and then use some ferric chloride (again radioshack)
posted by zeoslap at 12:41 PM on August 10, 2007


This PCB tutorial looks better
posted by zeoslap at 12:44 PM on August 10, 2007


The most recent edition of Make (Version 10) has some super, super, simple sound making projects with a 555 timer. I'd start there (were I you), but it won't be as challenging or interesting when done (it will also only take $10 and a half hour tops).
posted by phrontist at 12:45 PM on August 10, 2007


not be a negative nelly, but I spent a good two years as an undergrad dealing with circuitry, and as easy as it seems to follow a design layout, some part won't work right or something will get screwed up or not work as planned. Something just always goes wrong, for everyone I've ever met, and unless you can troubleshoot it adequately you'll just have a bunch of junk and be out some money. That usually means a basic knowledge of circuitry. Hell, I've never actually finished a homemade circuit and my projects have never been that ambitious.

That being said, if you're going to do it, do it properly, make sure you have a proper breadboard to build the circuit before you make the pcb, because once it's on the pcb you're SOL if you need to change anything. Make sure you have a decent multimeter, that you know how to soldier competently, and I would seriously recommend getting a copy of the art of electronics and even a basic electronics text.

Just for a perspective, I'm currently a grad student in EE. I'm not trying to scare you off, because it's really cool to get this shit to work, but make sure you've got the tools and parts you need, and I'd reccomend reading and simpler projects first, just to get a feel for it.
posted by Large Marge at 12:55 PM on August 10, 2007


I've been doing electronics for a few years, mostly microcontroller based instead of analog stuff like this. I hate soldering. That looks like a lot of components to get soldered on a first try.

Consider starting with something that can be done on a solderless breadboard and with relatively few components -- then it's just a matter of poking wires into little square holes.
posted by jepler at 12:59 PM on August 10, 2007


I think this might be a great 2nd project. It might be OK for you, but there's a lot to learn here for a first timer. I have never made my own PCB- I have heard it's easy, but I'd recommend a first-timer to buy the board. Where would you get the parts? (I know, but do you?) I didn't notice anywhere you could get everything, like a box or the pot knobs.

I would start a little less complicated, say this or even this, to see if you like this kind of stuff. These are beginner level packages that come with everything you need except the tools.
posted by MtDewd at 1:28 PM on August 10, 2007


I agree with phrontist that you should probably experiment with something simpler first (either with a 555 or with the 40106/74C14 that comes with the kit you're going to build). Getting a circuit running on a breadboard that makes noise with either of these chips is super easy (and fun!) and should prepare you for building the circuit in the kit.

But I think the kit would make a great first finished "project." Go ahead and order it. You'll have a lot of fun. Just be aware of these things:

1) Soldering (if you haven't done it before) is harder than it looks; invest in a good iron, find a good tutorial and practice plenty.

2) It will most likely take you about ten times as long to put this together as you think it will - but don't let that discourage you.

3) Your first attempt will probably not work. Consider buying two kits (or order the same parts from another source, like All Electronics or Newark) so you can build a second kit with the lessons you learned from the first.

Good luck, and make sure post an MP3 when you're done. :)
posted by aparrish at 1:39 PM on August 10, 2007


Also, if you're really interested in this stuff, consider buying Nicolas Collins' Handmade Electronic Music. It has several chapters about simple oscillators like the one in your kit, along with hacker-friendly introductions to microphones, piezo elements, circuit bending, amplifiers, simple effects, etc.
posted by aparrish at 1:44 PM on August 10, 2007


If you have never soldered anything onto a board before this is too complicated. Try something simpler, maybe with only 8 or 10 solder joins.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:51 PM on August 10, 2007


PAIA makes kits that range from easy to really advanced, but they provide all the parts, so it might make the first step easier (and they have some pretty cool stuff).
posted by doctor_negative at 2:04 PM on August 10, 2007


If you're looking for a first project that teaches you the fundamentals of electronics & also makes bleeps & blinkies, may I suggest Joe Grand's Build Your Own Electronic Game Kit?
posted by scalefree at 2:08 PM on August 10, 2007


Agreeing with others that this is probably a better second project than a first. Also, I'd like to echo aparrish's recommendation of investing in a good iron. For most of the tools you need you can get along just fine with cheap or improvised tools, but a good soldering iron really does make a big difference. Make sure you get one with an iron-plated tip (not bare copper), and if you can afford it a temperature-controlled iron is quite nice. A good one shouldn't run you more than $150 or so; I have a Hakko 936 I'm happy with.
posted by hattifattener at 2:51 PM on August 10, 2007


Response by poster: Thanks everybody. All these answers are awesome! I especially appreciate suggestions about other stuff to try first.
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 5:17 PM on August 10, 2007


Assembly is the easy bit. The hard bit is what do you do when you switch it on and it doesn't work? With early projects, this will happen more often than not. Usually it's something simple* that you can visually find and fix (such as bad soldering), but if your soldering fried a component, or you were unable to source the exact components and used a lot of similar "equivalent" components, or the kit is not well designed or has extremely low tolerences, then that stuff is not visually obvious and you'll need to analyse the circuit to find which area(s) of it is not working, and what needs to be fixed.
You don't need to fully understand a circuit to do this, but you do need a vague idea of what parts of it do what, and what to look for with a multimeter (or oscilloscope) to check that an area is working.

The good news is that audio circuits are fairly tolerant, and there are a lot of simple sound-making kits you can use for practise in the run up to this one.

Also, read up on soldering tutorials, as there are a few really simple (but not always obvious) tricks that make a world of difference to the ease and effectiveness of your soldering.

* For early projects, usually it's not only something simple, it's a whole lot of somethings simple. All unrelated, all individually sufficient to prevent success :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 5:50 PM on August 10, 2007


I also second the solderless breadboard. I do some fairly complex circuitry, with a lot of success, and my rule is still the same: NEVER pick up a soldering iron until the circuit is working PERFECTLY on the solderless breadboard. Trying to debug a circuit is so much quicker and easier on a solderless breadboard. Trying to do it with a soldering iron is just making life hard on yourself.

In addition to your components, you will want:
- Solderless breadboard
- Solderless-breadboard jumper-wire pack
- Miniature alligator-clip jumper cables
- Multimeter (a cheap one will suffice. A nice one is nicer :)
posted by -harlequin- at 5:57 PM on August 10, 2007


Whoa, that's really complex. My first project was making a serial cable for a graphing calculator and I managed to screw that up a bit. It was about 1 million times simpler than this.

I recommend starting with these more simple and fun projects over at the robotstore.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:11 PM on August 10, 2007


A multimeter and solder less breadboard are a must.

Concepts than can be confusing at first become second nature when you test them with your multimeter on a breadboard. Try very basic stuff like voltage dividers before you move to full projects.

I second The Art of Electronics. And try to get the student handbook, it makes a HUGE difference. I got slightly damaged used version of both from amazon at a small fraction of the cover price.

Do not torrent it, the book is great. The PDF torrent is missing a chapter, and the quality of the scan is mediocre. The DJVU version can only be opened and printed in windows systems. Not worth the trouble.
posted by Dataphage at 2:50 AM on August 11, 2007


Buy their through-hole plated board and go for it. By the time you've finished it, you'll be able to solder.

Wire the front panel pots before starting any soldering on the PCB. It's easier to redo wonky first-try solder joints on big things like pots than it is on little things like PCB joints.

Once you get to the PCB, solder in the resistors first, then the capacitors, then the transistors, then the IC. This is pretty much the hardest-to-fry to easiest-to-fry order.

Pay special attention to getting the orientation right, on component where that matters (electrolytic capacitors, diodes, transistors and the IC).

And we do demand audio samples.
posted by flabdablet at 5:15 AM on August 11, 2007


For this project, I'd buy the pre-etched board. Absolutely. Not only are homemade boards a huge pain, they also don't have the "solder mask" layer, which makes them awkward to solder, especially for a first-timer.

Get a few simple kits (anything in the $10-20 range from Ramsey is probably good) to start with. Then buy the board for the MFOS project and have at it.
posted by Myself at 11:50 AM on August 11, 2007


Looks workable as a first project to me..

It really depends on your motivation and interest though. In beginning circuits labs, some students have a hard time with resistor dividers, everybody is different. It certainly can't hurt to build up to your project a little, by working through some simple circuits, as in the link above for example.

Trying it on solderless breadboard first is a fine idea, but don't try to make your own PCBs until you have experience with pre manufactured ones. Building and debugging the circuit, and soldering effectively, are two completely different skills, making PCBs at home is a third. You really want to keep the unknowns under control, so try not to combine too many new skills at one time :)


Is there anything that's going to trip me up that I don't know about? Should I start with something way simpler?

There are tons of things that can trip you up - really, it is hard to find a word for how many - but just get started, and address the specific issues that actually come up. When a problem does come up, try to find somebody locally to help you a bit (craigslist?). A little one on one assistance (tutoring? only sort of..) will be a huge bonus - while forum postings with advice and answers are great in general, plain text on the internet can be very limiting, and the "plate of beans" effect can sometimes cause a huge amount of irrelevant noise that is hard for a beginner to wade through.
posted by Chuckles at 2:44 PM on August 11, 2007


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