***Official Electronics Thread of Officialness (it starts off with lots of Nixie Tube Clock goodness

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Yay we're actually going to be doing practical in our electronics class every week rather than just theory despite the module not requiring any practical :D

Although the company policy means we have to wear our overall, safety glasses toecap boots and even more bizarrely our reinforced bump caps in the electronics classroom as it's designated a workshop :o
 
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Ha, i remember pre-GCSE Electronics (i couldn't take DT at GCSE :(), i never managed to make one thing that even came close to working :p

Of course, now we're doing electronics as part of the Physics AS, mainly theory (but proving it with crocodile clips :D) but not a lot of it is actually required for the course.

Oh, and all in favour of changing thread name to "***Official Electronics Thread***"? ;)
 
PermaBanned said:
Oh, and all in favour of changing thread name to "***Official Electronics Thread***"? ;)
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definitely this :p
Ha, i remember pre-GCSE Electronics (i couldn't take DT at GCSE :(), i never managed to make one thing that even came close to working :p
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the fume extractors don't work at all the peak from the bump caps just holds the fumes in your face :(



Anyhow payday is next Friday so I'll be finally buy some electronics stuff to start playing with myself :D.....wait a second that sounds far dirtier than I expected :o


So I've got in mind some early projects (lots of practice soldering too :p)

Turning an old 250W pc PSU into a bench supply with fixed out puts + a variable one.


a little hand held fume extractor from an old pc fan + little tin (more to just get used to makign things small/compact + it's relatively practice :p

uv exposure box + an etching bubble tank then using that to make an arduino single sided serial
Also need to make a serial adapter to use to program it >.<

Would fancy around Christmas time to be looking to build an 8*8 LED cube :D

Any other fun/good learning pieces you guys can think of?

also tips on what to buy/where from/any things you've found really useful lthat i mgiht over look. :


mostly been looking at rapid and ebay.

Thinking antex xs25 or is there a better one that's not insanely expensive?
 
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PermaBanned said:
Oh, and all in favour of changing thread name to "***Official Electronics Thread***"? ;)
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Sounds good to me :D :)

Tefal said:
definitely this :p



the fume extractors don't work at all the peak from the bump caps just holds the fumes in your face :(



Anyhow payday is next Friday so I'll be finally buy some electronics stuff to start playing with myself :D.....wait a second that sounds far dirtier than I expected :o


So I've got in mind some early projects (lots of practice soldering too :p)


Turning an old 250W pc PSU into a bench supply with fixed out puts + a variable one.


a little hand held fume extractor from an old pc fan + little tin (more to just get used to makign things small/compact + it's relatively practice :p

uv exposure box + an etching bubble tank.



then using that to make an arduino single sided serial

Also need to make a serial adapter to use to program it >.<


Would fancy around Christmas time to be looking to build an 8*8 LED cube :D

Any other fun/good learning pieces you guys can think of?

also tips on what to buy/where from etc :


mostly been looking at rapid and ebay.

Thinking antex xs25 or is there a better one that's not insanely expensive?
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That's what i like to hear Tefal! :D
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Tefal said:
also tips on what to buy/where from/any things you've found really useful lthat i mgiht over look.

mostly been looking at rapid and ebay.

Thinking antex xs25 or is there a better one that's not insanely expensive?
Click to expand...

Well that makemag video i posted earlier is a very good place to start, add onto it a multimeter and there's not much more you can ask for (apart from maybe a PCB drill press... i'm sure there's a way of making one of those relatively cheaply). I think i'll take AODs advice when i can be bothered to go and put money in the bank and get a Solderpro 50 butane soldering iron, just over £20 for the full kit at Rapid i think. I tend to get as much stuff at Rapid as i can, saves on delivery costs :)
 
Aod said:
Feel like taking mine apart and finding the fault? :D

It looks really good though taliesyn :)
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Thanks :D

Looks like you've done pretty much everything I would have to try and trace it. Odd that it's taken the LV side out too though. Wonder if the PV electronics guy may be able to help you out with some suggestions?

Tefal, if you're using an ATX supply as a bench PSU be careful as they can output insane currents, particularly on the +12V rail, that will happily destroy any electronics project you attach to it if there is a short.

PermaBanned said:
I think i'll take AODs advice when i can be bothered to go and put money in the bank and get a Solderpro 50 butane soldering iron, just over £20 for the full kit at Rapid i think. I tend to get as much stuff at Rapid as i can, saves on delivery costs :)
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Personally I wouldn't use a gas soldering iron for pcb work, although I have an Iroda one that is fantastic for car wiring and that sort of thing. The one I have seems to get too hot for delicate stuff, but maybe that's just me. The Antex you're suggesting is a good iron. I have a CS18 that I've had for years, and it's still going strong :)

Well, you've all started me off again lol. Last night I put together a simple virtual ground circuit for a CMOY amp I'd built ages ago from a kit which had a power arrangement that could potentially cause dc offset problems on the output if one of the batteries ran down faster than the other. So if I fall asleep with it running (again lol) I have less of a chance waking up to fried headphones. I'll probably convert it to a 'proper' rail splitter in the fullness of time :p
 
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taliesyn said:
Personally I wouldn't use a gas soldering iron for pcb work, although I have an Iroda one that is fantastic for car wiring and that sort of thing. The one I have seems to get too hot for delicate stuff, but maybe that's just me. The Antex you're suggesting is a good iron. I have a CS18 that I've had for years, and it's still going strong :)
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Gas =/= far hotter, surely? The Solderpro 50 is roughly equivalent to a 30-70W electrical iron, is it not? I can't see how that would be too hot, the figures say in the lowest setting the tip will be about 250C.
 
PermaBanned said:
Gas =/= far hotter, surely? The Solderpro 50 is roughly equivalent to a 30-70W electrical iron, is it not? I can't see how that would be too hot, the figures say in the lowest setting the tip will be about 250C.
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No, that's not too hot at all. The tip temperature for the 60/40 Multicore solder I use should be around 300C, so it's slightly low if anything. I have the Solderpro 70, and I just can't seem to get on with it for detail work. Like I said it's probably me, I'm probably setting it too high.

Mind you I would suggest that 70W is far too high for PCB work, and an 18w or a 25w iron is much safer.

I'll stick to my solder station. Cheaper than wrecking boards :D
 
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PermaBanned said:
apart from maybe a PCB drill press... i'm sure there's a way of making one of those relatively cheaply)
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Well we're being trained to drill holes in aluminium all free hand with no centre punch etc, which have to be straight for counter sink rivets.


so hopefully I'll be able to get away with it by hand if not a press is hardly expensive I've already got a rip-off dremal style tool.


taliesyn said:
Thanks :D

Tefal, if you're using an ATX supply as a bench PSU be careful as they can output insane currents, particularly on the +12V rail, that will happily destroy any electronics project you attach to it if there is a short.
Click to expand...


yeah :p

The Antex you're suggesting is a good iron. I have a CS18 that I've had for years, and it's still going strong :)
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Cs18's are what we use in college, and nicely because we're in aero industry we still use lead solder and don't have to dick around with the lead free stuff unlike every other industry group :D
 
I just got home from work to find this.

Box_of_stuff_from_Vlad-20111005-182510.jpg

It's a box of stuff from Vlad



It_s_well_packaged-20111005-182642.jpg

It's well packaged



Remove_the_polystyrene_and_this_is_what_s_underneath-20111005-182733.jpg

Remove the polystyrene and this is what's underneath



It_s_an_IN-18_Nixie_tube-20111005-182834.jpg

It's an IN-18 Nixie tube



And_it_s_big-20111005-182928.jpg

And it's big



This_gives_an_idea_how_big_it_really_is-20111005-183043.jpg

This gives an idea how big it really is


:D :D :D
 
Tefal said:
Permabanned you need to go make an official ***************** electronics thread :p
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Why me? To date i have never managed to start a project, from scratch, that has been remotely successful. Possibly the only thing i've done that's worked has been soldering new headphone drivers into some rubbish cheap ones :p

If we're not just going to use this one then AOD or Feek (who i still think should start an '***Official HAM Thread***' ;)) or someone should do it :p
 
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