Building Your Own

Electronics Lab

^ -

Dale Wheat

Apress*

ContentsJ

m About the Author xi

I About the Technical Reviewer xii

Acknowledgments xiii

i Introduction xiv

m Chapter 1: Planning Your Electronics Workshop 1

What to Expect 1

It Starts with a Plan 2

A Broad Outline 2

A Little Time 2

A Little Space 3

Basic Tools 3

Fundamental Components 4

Ideas 5

Goals 6

Inspiration! 7

How Electricity Works 7

The Theoretical Approach 7

A Practical Approach 9

Safety 10

Lighten Up! 11

Environmental Impact 14

V

* CONTENTS

Budgeting 14

Buying New 14

Finding Used 15

Harvesting or Recycling 15

Some Example Workshops 16

A Fresh Start 16

The Robot Clubhouse 17

A Cautionary Tale 17

Summary 18

m Chapter 2: Building Your Tool Chest 19

The Most Important Tool Ever 19

Care and Feeding of Your Brain 21

All Those Other Bits, Too 21

Basic Hand Tools 22

Wire Cutters and Wire Strippers 23

Pliers and Tweezers 29

Screwdrivers, Nut Drivers, Wrenches, and Ratchets 30

Screws, Bolts, and Nuts 33

More Specialized Hand Tools 34

Wire Crimpers 34

Computers 35

Tools for Soldering 37

Power Tools 40

Drills and Drill Bits 40

Laser Cutters and 3D Printers 43

Basic Test and Measurement Equipment 44

Inspection Equipment 45

a CONTENTS

Physical Measurement Devices 46

Simple Electronic Measurement Tools 47

Advanced Test and Measurement Equipment 49

Multimeters 50

Oscilloscopes 51

Power Supplies 55

Organizing Your Tools 56

Summary 56

ii Chapter 3: Components 57

Conductors and Interconnects 57

Electrical Schematics 57

Wire and Cables 58

Connectors 64

Passive Components 68

Resistors 68

Capacitors 76

Inductors 78

Switches 79

Active Components 81

Power Supplies 81

Diodes 82

LEDs 83

Transistors 83

Integrated Circuits 84

Acquiring Components 84

Buying New Components 85

Recycling Used Components 85

vii

CONTENTS

Component Data Sheets 86

Summary 86

Chapter 4: A Portable Mini-Lab 87

Have Lab, Will Travel 87

The Compact Executive Model 87

No Soldering Required 90

The Ever-Shrinking Computing Device 91

Electrical Experiments You Can Perform 91

Lighten Up, 20th Century Style 91

A Slightly More Permanent Circuit 95

Multiple Uses for the LED 100

The Special Project Portable Laboratory 101

Summary 104

Chapter 5: The Cozy Corner Lab 105

The Rehabilitation of a Small but Useful Area 105

Science to the Rescue! 106

Organization 107

The Great Divide 107

Adding a Power Source 110

A Clean, Well-Lighted Space 111

Tools 112

Under the Desk 115

Components 115

Where to Go from Here 116

Projects 116

Parallel and Series Circuits 117

Batteries in Series and Parallel 122

viii

s CONTENTS

Switches in Series 123

Switches in Parallel 124

The Three-Way Switch 125

Resistors in Series 126

Resistors in Parallel 129

Capacitors in Series and Parallel 130

Inductors in Series and Parallel 130

LEDs in Series and Parallel 131

Summary 133

Chapter 6: The Small Group Lab and Classroom 135

Know Yourself 135

Facilitator or Coordinator 135

Teacher or Presenter 136

Participant 137

Observer 137

Know Your Group 137

Your Family 137

Your Friends 138

Coworkers and Fellow Students 138

Special-Interest Groups 139

The General Public 139

A Shared Resource 140

Be a Hospitable Host 140

Be a Courteous Guest 141

Workstations 142

Safety Planning 142

Presentations 143

Summary 143

ix

CONTENTS

Appendix A: Getting Started with Tool Building 145

A Very Simple Power Supply 145

An Easy 2.5 Watts 147

Adding Features 154

Various Indicators 155

Power-On Indicator 155

Power Supply Voltage 156

Power Supply Current 158

Summary 159

m Index 161

X