What's in an electronics hobbyist's toolbox?

Topher925

I would add to the list

-a good set of tweezers (fine point especially)
-architects lamp
-a GOOD multimeter (cheap chinese DMMs don't count, I recently got an Agilent u1242B and it changed my life)

Sixdeuce062

Yes I am not the only one! The spimson meter is awsome and almost indestructable for most electronic readings. digital meters some time dont show the proper readings. thats why the simpson meter is the best choice

Fish4Fun

Wow, I would consider a DSO an absolute MUST. Here is my partial list:

DSO
Bench MM
Hand-held MM's
Soldering/De-Soldering Station
STK-500 Avr Programmer
A bunch of Breadboards & Pre-Cut Color Coded Wires
Half a dozen 72 drawer "Organizers" for Parts
Parts, Lots and Lots of Parts :-)
Drill press & Carbide PCB drill bits
Ferric Chloride & Sodium Persulfate for etching
Photo resist coated PCB material
A PC with a pair of RS232 inputs and a Parallel Printer Port
A PC Power Supply (+3.3V, +/-5V, +/-12V)
Dozens of various sized Wall-Worts
Lighted Magnifying Glass

While I wouldn't want to do w/o any of my tools, I would consider a DSO the single most helpful tool I own. I cannot imagine troubleshooting a new design w/o one. Sadly, in recent years the second most helpful tool I own is my lighted magnifying glass, LOL!

Fish

Ele38

I think that it is also important to have a lot of TTL chips, such as logic gates, FFs, etc ...
Too many people want to use microprocessor but do not know what a logic gate is

Dmytry

Multimeter: I got PeakTech 2010DMM which can measure capacitances and inductances, which is extremely handy. Plus a cheap Chinese multimeter which I converted to use old mobile phone wall wart for power. I use former for testing/checking stuff and latter for persistent measurements.
Breadboards are good to have.

Speaking of parts... i recently ordered this, 10$ for 2500 resistors, 50 values 50 each:
http://www.satistronics.com/50-value...pcs_p2164.html
and a bunch of other crap in bulk. Can't wait for it to ship (then I'll brag, err, give review). Anyone else got good component kits to recommend? I'd like to get a cheap capacitor kit up to few nF.

CraigHB

Sort of a "depends" question. For starting out, you can do a lot just with a solderless breadboard, a multi-meter, and some through hole components. If you want to make something more complex you can actually use, then the list gets pretty big.

Most everything you would want has already been mentioned, but for me doing my own projects at home, I'm pretty well covered in the instrumentation department with a good DC power supply, a relatively inexpensive 20MHz scope, and a professional DMM. The one thing I've needed on occasion that I don't have on my workbench is a frequency generator. For the few times I've needed one, it's hard to justify the expense. I've managed to get by without it.

The #1 tool that I could absolutely not get by without is my magnifier. I use a 10x stereo microscope for PCB assembly because my sight is limited, but most people can get by well with a jeweler or watchmaker visor style magnifier. My soldering station would be next on the list. The one I use is purely a soldering station, Weller WESD51. I use de-soldering braid in lieu of a de-soldering station. The good soldering/de-soldering stations are pretty expensive.

As far as parts, I do as much as I can with µcontrollers. I just don't see the sense in using discrete components for any kind of logic anymore. Basic 8 bit MCUs are no more expensive than a higher value tantalum capacitor. I have a stock of thru-hole stuff for breadboarding which I do only on limited ocassion anymore. Most of my stock is SMD, hence the dependance on the magnifier and DIY PCBs (for basic stuff) or manufactured PCBs (for more complex stuff).

sandy.bridge

Hello all,
I was wondering if any of you could suggest some beginner equipment for ee major that eventually wants to design circuit boards. For example, would it be wise for me to start practice soldering? Thanks in advance.
Regards.

berkeman

Yes, definitely. Visit a Radio Shack or Frys Electronics or similar store (or shop online), and find an electronics kit or two that looks interesting. You will probably need to buy a basic/cheap soldering iron to assembly your first kits.

Building kits and then starting to put together your own projects is a very important step for practical EEs, IMO.

sandy.bridge

Are there any kits you could recommend via online?

berkeman

Maybe others have suggestions. Mainly I'd look for kits in the $20 range that require soldering (not snap-together thpe), and that involve something that is interesting to you. Like build a small AM radio receiver, or an alarm clock, etc.

sandy.bridge

Alarm clock sounds fun for starters. Thanks :)

turbo

If you can get 'hold of an old amplifier that is tube-driven (Supro, Fender Champ, etc) you will soon get a feel for what you need that is *not* already in your tool-kit. Decent soldering iron, solder-sucker (to clean out tag-board joints so you can replace parts), flux (solder paste), alligator clips, heat-sinks, jumper-wires (to keep large capacitors discharged), and many, many other things. I realize that in these days of mostly mass-produced solid-state stuff, some of these suggestions may seem archaic, but they are important to me. YMMV

DragonPetter

I don't think anyone mentioned a rubbing alcohol bottle dispenser (the kind with the long needle), and some hard brushes with bristles that won't break off. Good for cleaning off soldering work.

sandy.bridge

Has anyone had experience with a DSO Nano V2? It's essentially a handheld oscilloscope that supports up to 1MHz.

yungman

I just set up a minimal set up for a project at home like 3 months ago. To me, this is very important.

1) good pair of small needle nose pliers.
2) good pair of small wire cutter.
3) good multi gauge wire stripper.
4) good soldering iron like Weller station with selection of tips of different temperatures and size. Don't get anything less than $100.
5) an old scope like Tek 465 from surplus store.
6) a function generator of about $100 to $160 in surplus store.
7) a digital multi meter. I only paid about $50.
8) set of 22 gauge wires of different colors.
9) assortment of 1% metal firm resistors I ordered very cheap on ebay from Hong Kong.
10) assortment of ceramic disc cap I ordered on ebay from Hong Kong.
11) a box of double sided copper FR4 boards.
12) 50 pcs of 10uF tantalum cap.
13) small parts drawers for parts.
14) copper tape.

I am doing guitar electronics, so 9V battery is my only supply. But you might want to get a power supply in the surplus store. Get the parts drawers, if you get the assortment, it is important to have that. If you get parts from Hong Kong or China, you better measure the resistor values before putting it in. But they are cheap but I found error on one value.

Don't be cheap on the wire cutter, stripper and soldering iron.

yungman

Forget handheld, you need at least a 200MHz two channel scope. You don't even need digital scope if you want to be cheap.

sandy.bridge

Okay, what about a signal generator?