What's in an electronics hobbyist's toolbox?

[nsaspook]

A Hickory hatchet is a good addition to the tool box.

 

[jedishrfu]

If only all projects were so challenging.

 

[jim hardy]

that hv coil from the transformer would make a handy search coil for detecting ac magnetic fields around your house.
Hook to an AC meter set for lowest scale , maybe 200 mv

see if you can find any.

I used in the power plant ten turns encircling 1/10th square meter
only in vicinity of huge ac currents was my measurement useful
i got two volts a couple feet from a bus carrying 20 kiloamps

that coil has thousands of turns but encircles only perhaps 1/40th of a square meter
volts per turn e = dΦ / dt
check my arithmetic
at 60 hz you'd get 377/40 X n_turns volts per Tesla ?
If n_turns is 1000 that'd be 45 millivolts per microTesla?
check my arithmetic
i expect there's way more than a thousand turns on that coil probably closer to 5,000.

anyhow - a reason to be gentle with the hatchet...

ahhhh I'm distractible to a fault. OTOH in this age of fascinating gizmos there's no excuse to be bored..

old jim

 

[nsaspook]

 

[Stavros Kiri]

View attachment 242030

C.f. Science Jokes ...

 

[Henryk]

I wouldn't bother with PCBs and etching solutions. There are a few places that offer quick turn around prototype manufacturing, making your own just doesn't make sense. For a very rough prototype, use a vector board, if you want something that works well, then there is no substitute for a 'real' PCB.
Some of those vendors provide software for PCB design, other require Gerber files. A few companies offer free or low cost PCB design software.

The important things to have are: an oscilloscope and a signal generator.
Sounds expensive, but if you look around you might pick up a second-hand unit for a very reasonable price.

Next, a few BNC cables.

At least one power supply with variable voltage and current limit (in addition to standard 5 V, +/- 15 V ones)

Good isolating tape. (I have Kapton)

flux

q-tips and isopropyl alcohol (to clean the flux)

Good lighting

 

[nsaspook]

I agree about making your own PCBs. There are plenty of 'free' for hobbyist design programs like Eagle that do a great job of transferring schematic design into board design with vendor build files generated with one mouse click.

This was a recent project to make a automation SECS/GEM host emulator with a 8-bit controller. The first prototype was built on a vector board using a surface mount adapter for the controller.

Using the verified circuit design from that board in Eagle a few two layer board spins were made by a local quick turn around vendor in a few weeks for a hand soldered (with a SMD hot air gun for controller) production host controller PCB with a external optional display for operational testing.

Left: first board layout test prototype, Right: final board design.

 

[nsaspook]

Debugging hints on the PCB are also sometimes a good idea when the circuit is confusing.

 

[swampwiz]

My electrical hobbyisting is more or less limited to restoring & maintaining a herd of pinball machines, of both the electromechanical and digital vintage, and I typically take the attitude of buying a new remanufactured circuit board whenever an the OEM board fails the rudimentary test that techs would go through to figure out if it needed to be swapped out - or failing that, aside from checking individual resistors, diodes, transistors and capacitors that appear a possible cause of failure, shipping it out to someone to repair it; I consider any chip to be a "black box" and don't fool with it. I work on a few other basic things like a vintage lamp or traffic signal, but this is all pretty basic. I once diagnosed that the soldered in fuses on the circuit board on my Kill-A-Watt were blown, so I fixed that. Also, one time I got a remanufactured fuse/power board for one my machines that was all screwed up, and I had to modify it by hand, cutting some board lines and soldering in jumpers, but what was a real pain was having to reseat the pin connections (the guy making them claimed that the pinball parts retailer gave him the wrong specs, but it was pretty obvious that this idiot had looked at the drawing upside down).

As for my toolkit, I have a 120W pistol solder gun, and a variable (up to 50W) ice-pick solder, and all the regular accoutrements thereof, but the solder vacuum I have is this beautiful piece of engineering, and worth the 6X price from the standard ones:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002MJMXD4/?tag=pfamazon01-20

For wire, I had originally bought a rainbow of 25-foot spools of 18 Ga hookup wire, and I still have some of that remaining. I've also bought a rainbow 22 Ga wire (1-foot sections) for the few times when I have leads that are too small for the 18 Ga. I rarely need a wire for more than 10A (which the 18 Ga wire handles), and for the few times I need more, I just double up. I also have some wire harnesses scavenged from a few machines, and lately I've been using that.

I have for my main multimeter the Ideal 61-361, which has a wonderful rubber case that seems to make it near indestructible (I would post a link to it, but Amazon doesn't seem to have it anymore). The only problem is that it doesn't have a good range for capacitors, so I bought another multimeter that has a good range, and it serves as a spare.

I have over 2 dozen different models of fuses (mainly 6 x 30 mm appliance-style), for seemingly every possible amperage, fast & slow blow, etc., and try to keep at least 5 on hand in case I have to attrit them to solve the problem.

I think I have about a dozen pairs in various colors of alligator clip jump wires that appear to be 20 Ga (I guess I should measure the resistance to back out the Ga), but I have some 14 Ga ones that I use for high current applications. I'd like to be able to buy more good ones in different colors. I've been thinking about making my own.

I've got some wire strippers, and a Molex crimper (which I had to use extensively to replace about 100 total wires in a bunch of harnesses).

I've got a bunch of flat-edge connectors (male & female) that are supposed to be for 14-18 Ga, a bunch of eyehole connectors for 16-22 Ga, and the whole gamut of thimble connectors in their standard colors (grey/blue/orange/yellow/red in ascending size) - which I always prefer to use instead of soldering whenever possible. I seem to use the blue a lot, and will soon be buying another pack of that.

I have DeOxit contact cleaner, which is the best I've come across, and Brasso and a steel or brass brush for the really caked up contacts. I also use 0000 steel wool sometimes, but one has to be careful to clean up all the little hairs!

 

[Rx7man]

My electrical hobbyisting is more or less limited to restoring & maintaining a herd of pinball machines, of both the electromechanical and digital vintage, and I typically take the attitude of buying a new remanufactured circuit board whenever an the OEM board fails the rudimentary test that techs would go through to figure out if it needed to be swapped out - or failing that, aside from checking individual resistors, diodes, transistors and capacitors that appear a possible cause of failure, shipping it out to someone to repair it; I consider any chip to be a "black box" and don't fool with it. I work on a few other basic things like a vintage lamp or traffic signal, but this is all pretty basic. I once diagnosed that the soldered in fuses on the circuit board on my Kill-A-Watt were blown, so I fixed that. Also, one time I got a remanufactured fuse/power board for one my machines that was all screwed up, and I had to modify it by hand, cutting some board lines and soldering in jumpers, but what was a real pain was having to reseat the pin connections (the guy making them claimed that the pinball parts retailer gave him the wrong specs, but it was pretty obvious that this idiot had looked at the drawing upside down).

As for my toolkit, I have a 120W pistol solder gun, and a variable (up to 50W) ice-pick solder, and all the regular accoutrements thereof, but the solder vacuum I have is this beautiful piece of engineering, and worth the 6X price from the standard ones:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002MJMXD4/?tag=pfamazon01-20

For wire, I had originally bought a rainbow of 25-foot spools of 18 Ga hookup wire, and I still have some of that remaining. I've also bought a rainbow 22 Ga wire (1-foot sections) for the few times when I have leads that are too small for the 18 Ga. I rarely need a wire for more than 10A (which the 18 Ga wire handles), and for the few times I need more, I just double up. I also have some wire harnesses scavenged from a few machines, and lately I've been using that.

I have for my main multimeter the Ideal 61-361, which has a wonderful rubber case that seems to make it near indestructible (I would post a link to it, but Amazon doesn't seem to have it anymore). The only problem is that it doesn't have a good range for capacitors, so I bought another multimeter that has a good range, and it serves as a spare.

I have over 2 dozen different models of fuses (mainly 6 x 30 mm appliance-style), for seemingly every possible amperage, fast & slow blow, etc., and try to keep at least 5 on hand in case I have to attrit them to solve the problem.

I think I have about a dozen pairs in various colors of alligator clip jump wires that appear to be 20 Ga (I guess I should measure the resistance to back out the Ga), but I have some 14 Ga ones that I use for high current applications. I'd like to be able to buy more good ones in different colors. I've been thinking about making my own.

I've got some wire strippers, and a Molex crimper (which I had to use extensively to replace about 100 total wires in a bunch of harnesses).

I've got a bunch of flat-edge connectors (male & female) that are supposed to be for 14-18 Ga, a bunch of eyehole connectors for 16-22 Ga, and the whole gamut of thimble connectors in their standard colors (grey/blue/orange/yellow/red in ascending size) - which I always prefer to use instead of soldering whenever possible. I seem to use the blue a lot, and will soon be buying another pack of that.

I have DeOxit contact cleaner, which is the best I've come across, and Brasso and a steel or brass brush for the really caked up contacts. I also use 0000 steel wool sometimes, but one has to be careful to clean up all the little hairs!

Do you follow Joe's classic arcade games on youtube? A lot of the old machines had very standard TTL/Cmos logic circuits that aren't too hard to fix.. really great channel https://www.youtube.com/@LyonsArcade

 

[Redbelly98]

...pinball machines, of both the electromechanical and digital vintage, ...

Digital pinball machines? Did not know such a thing existed. And I was around in the 80s, when electromechanical pinball machines and early video games coexisted for a while.

 

[swampwiz]

Digital pinball machines? Did not know such a thing existed. And I was around in the 80s, when electromechanical pinball machines and early video games coexisted for a while.

Uh, digital pinball machines came out in 1977-79. No one has made an electromechanical pinball machine since 1978 (I am not counting bingo games).

 

[swampwiz]

Do you follow Joe's classic arcade games on youtube? A lot of the old machines had very standard TTL/Cmos logic circuits that aren't too hard to fix.. really great channel https://www.youtube.com/@LyonsArcade

I would rather a freshly made board to an original; I wouldn't mind fixing such a new board, but the whole idea is that they are much more relaible.

 

[Redbelly98]

Uh, digital pinball machines came out in 1977-79. No one has made an electromechanical pinball machine since 1978 (I am not counting bingo games).

I'm just recalling what I was seeing in arcades and bars in the 80s. I specifically remember this one, which this site claims came out in 1987. That jives with my seeing and playing it around 1987-88.

 

[swampwiz]

I'm just recalling what I was seeing in arcades and bars in the 80s. I specifically remember this one, which this site claims came out in 1987. That jives with my seeing and playing it around 1987-88.

Pinball machines had been digital since up to 10 years before this.

 

[swampwiz]

View attachment 242030

I'd also continue the flow-chart under WD-40:

Is it still not moving?

No, it is now moving -> No Problem

Yes, it is still not moving ->

 

[Redbelly98]

Pinball machines had been digital since up to 10 years before this.

Were you seeing them yourself in widespread use?

I'm not saying they didn't exist, but it can take a while for new things to catch on. Or they can catch on in some parts of the country (or world) well before others.

 

[swampwiz]

Were you seeing them yourself in widespread use?

I'm not saying they didn't exist, but it can take a while for new things to catch on. Or they can catch on in some parts of the country (or world) well before othersYesYes, I .

Yes, I remember playing digitals in late 70s; they had pretty much taken over everywhere.

 

[Rive]

No, it is now moving -> No Problem

Well. I've just had a really bad case of WD40 'No Problem' recently

An old water pump got it's big dose of WD40 around a year ago, and yes, it started moving right away
The problem is, that WD40 is NOT a proper lubricant
It washed away all the grease from the bearings
Now that pump is stuck again, with hopelessly rusted bearings this time.

So, that flow chart is a good - joke, but only a joke

Once something what's supposed to move got its dose of WD40, you'll need to remove WD40 before carefully applying appropriate lubricant.

Now, we gotta get that pump disassembled and up from that narrow pump-well

 

[Dc2LightTech]

a drawer of wire of assorted lengths. (Futurama :) )

 

[Gifovaco]

I've occasionally been asked by some of the students I've mentored or TA'd over the years, "What's in your toolbox? What do you recommend for someone who's just starting off to put in their toolbox?" I thought it might be fun / helpful to list some of your contents / essentials!

In my (electronics) toolbox (and piled on top/around it), I have:

• multimeter (Meterman 37XR, purchased after a few lower-quality multimeters gave up)
• bits of wire made into various probing bits for the above
• nice multi-bit screwdriver (Megalok)
• multi-bit mini-screwdriver set (think jeweller's tools)
• allen key set on a handle (so you don't lose any)
• several pairs of needle nose pliers (regular to really, really narrow)
• several pairs of side cutters (in various stages of being chewed up)
• Greenlee inductive probe
• needle- and blunt-tipped tweezers
• spring-loaded mini grabber thingamajig
• fancy self-adjusting wire strippers (I had an employee discount)
• breadboard + a small roll of 22 gauge solid-core wire
• adjustable-temperature Weller soldering station, fine (lead) solder, and braid
• hot glue gun
• hot air gun
• small box-cutter
• pair of handy-hands

Plus some assorted components / odds-and-ends I haven't file away into the appropriate storage case.

A cig lighter & heat shrink, cigarettes for break time...