I’ve decided that I want to start learning some practical things. Perl, Doctor Who, and macrame can only take me so far, you know? And I’ve decided that I want to start with the exciting world of electronics and electricity. I don’t really know even the most basic things about it, other than how to plug something in and the right way to slap a TV to get it to stop buzzing. I want to know both about hobby electronics (building or at least understanding electronic gadgets) and household electrical systems.
Where’s a good place to start? Anyone out there have a book you’d recommend? Should I get one of those “150 Projects in One” kits you can get from Radio Shack? Hook up with a hobbyist’s group? I’m really not sure what the best way is to start.
Any help is appreciated. I promise I will never use any knowledge gained for evil.
What will your first project be? If you are in the realm of audio (speakers, amplifiers, crossovers, etc) then Benny would be the one to talk to. I started with one of those 150 in 1 kits from Radio Shack (in 4th grade) and I’ve built and repaired things since then. I’ve even acid-etched my own circuit boards. I think that the 150 in 1 things might not fulfill your desire or teach you much. I’d suggest starting with a book like Practical Electronics Handbook or Beginner’s Guide to Reading Schematics… I still get two catalogs that are full of kits and parts (they have 800# or web forms to get a hard copy in the mail). http://www.allelectronics.com/ and http://www.partsexpress.com/ Parts Express is mostly audio, I’ve been planning on making new speakers for a while and they are one of the best suppliers of drivers. There is also this company: http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/ that I found when I was thinking about doing pirate radio, many hobby kits… and http://www.electronics123.com/
You’ll also need to get a good multi-meter & soldering iron for most kits that come with everything else.
I don’t know much, okay anything, about them, but what about a technical college? I bet you could find some intro night courses, but the cost may be more than you’d want to shell out for a new interest.
From my perspective, the best way for you to learn something (and I mean, you as in Dave Lartigue, not some generic “you”) is to get something you can apply your knowledge to.
Like pronoblem, I had the RS kit in grade school and did acid etching/wire wrapping and a lot of that, especially when I got my EE degree. The 150 kit is actually a LOT of fun and gives you a lot of the basics. But it certainly won’t help you install a ceiling fan, or run 220 to an electric clothes dryer. Home appliances are pretty different than the 9V kit you get from RS, but the nice thing is that your local library will have a ton of good books on do-it-yourself home electrical work. You may actually want to start there and go backwards, especially if you have something you want to do like install a dimmer switch, or put in a ceiling fan.
Yeah, I know I have two problems here.
1) Electronics and electrical systems are different things, although related. But since I don’t have a working knowledge of even the basic concepts, starting at either isn’t bad.
2) For the electronics bit, I don’t have any particular project in mind. I always learn best when I have something I want to accomplish and have to figure out what’s going to get the job done. The household electronics thing, well, we’ll be wanting to swap out some light fixtures soon, but that’s not really much of anything other than connecting the same color wires together.
I read Make Blog which has many interesting projects… the quarterly magazine is $15 on the stand:
http://www.makezine.com/blog/
A little ambitious, but I have been thinking of building one of these. I have a friend that is a music therapist with children and we discussed the idea of using one of these for some of his patients that have limited movement, like those that have palsy with the resulting contracted limbs, etc:
http://home.att.net/~theremin1/145/145.html
My only suggestion is: Unplug the toaster before inserting the fork.
Trust me on this one.
Hope that helps!