Darell
Flashaholic
A soldering iron (or pencil) is a great place to start.
Breadboard
- Thread starter Darell
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papasan
Enlightened
i bought a breadboard on ebay awhile back, but so far i've only used it once. i find the SM parts to be much easier to work with and smaller to boot, so the breadboard is pretty much useless unless i want to mount all my stuff on to through-hole adapters. besides, soldering stuff together makes a better connection and is less likely to give you problems.
what i would do is figure out what, exactly, you want your finished project to be. like, decide to make a switch booster or something. then get the parts and execute it. take it one project at a time instead of trying to make an everything kit.
besides the iron you'll probably want to get a magnifying glass and a good work light
and either a small vice or one of those helping hands thing to hold in place for you. if you're going the SM route you'll need liquid flux and some solder wick as well.
what i would do is figure out what, exactly, you want your finished project to be. like, decide to make a switch booster or something. then get the parts and execute it. take it one project at a time instead of trying to make an everything kit.
besides the iron you'll probably want to get a magnifying glass and a good work light
papasan
Enlightened
basically there are 2 types of components in this world...through-hole or surface mount.
through-hole units are you normal leaded resistors and 5mm LEDs and the like, they have a pin or row of pins (leads) that need to go through a circuit board to be soldered (although they don't absolutely have to, but that's how they are designed) and generally soldered on the opposite side. breadboards are designed to use through-hole components to prototype a circuit before you build it, they are easy to use and require no soldering and are great for prototyping.
surface mount devices (SMD) are components are those that are designed to mount on the top of circuit boards with no hole drilling neccessary unless you need to pass a trace between layers of the circuit board. they are slightly harder to solder (unless you get the really tiny ones, they come in some _very_ small sizes, or the really big ones (which are easier to solder IMHO)) and are generally half the size or smaller than their through-hole conterparts so you can pack them closer together.
the ZLT+ board is a good example of an SM circuit board. most electronics made before 1985 (i'm taking a guess here) are good examples of through-hole circuit boards =).
since the every day use of computer assistance that can simulate a running circuit is common place now, i would doubt that there are many companies out there still using breadboards to prototype stuff. i would think most folks just put it all into spice or electronic workbench or whatever and flip the virtual switch to test it out.
through-hole units are you normal leaded resistors and 5mm LEDs and the like, they have a pin or row of pins (leads) that need to go through a circuit board to be soldered (although they don't absolutely have to, but that's how they are designed) and generally soldered on the opposite side. breadboards are designed to use through-hole components to prototype a circuit before you build it, they are easy to use and require no soldering and are great for prototyping.
surface mount devices (SMD) are components are those that are designed to mount on the top of circuit boards with no hole drilling neccessary unless you need to pass a trace between layers of the circuit board. they are slightly harder to solder (unless you get the really tiny ones, they come in some _very_ small sizes, or the really big ones (which are easier to solder IMHO)) and are generally half the size or smaller than their through-hole conterparts so you can pack them closer together.
the ZLT+ board is a good example of an SM circuit board. most electronics made before 1985 (i'm taking a guess here) are good examples of through-hole circuit boards =).
since the every day use of computer assistance that can simulate a running circuit is common place now, i would doubt that there are many companies out there still using breadboards to prototype stuff. i would think most folks just put it all into spice or electronic workbench or whatever and flip the virtual switch to test it out.
Due to the extreme generousity of CPF members I have some money just laying around. Now I know it's good to save money but I was thinking now would be a good time to get some basic electronic components to mess around with the loose LEDs Don is sending me, and for other purposes too, so what do I need?
I was thinking one of those breadboard things and some resistors and maybe a pot or 2 but I just don't know what I need.
I was thinking one of those breadboard things and some resistors and maybe a pot or 2 but I just don't know what I need.
