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Schematics are the functional diagram of electronic circuits. With so many designs available on the web, understanding how to read schematics can unlock a world of possibilities for the electronics maker. In fact, if you can read a schematic, you can build a circuit before even understanding how it works!
Fascinating video from Nyle Steiner, who reports on his experiments with simple homemade memristors made from what are, probably, Al-CuS-Cu and Al-PbS-Pb junctions. He describes the observations that led him to experiment with these systems and the results of his experiments, and then wraps up by drawing out a simple memristor demonstration circuit and demonstrating its operation on-camera.
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Infrared light may be invisible to the human eye – but it’s usefulness in the world of electronics is easy to see. IR emitters & detectors can be used in a variety of different ways – most of us use them for wireless communication everyday.
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More cool original content from Hack a Day, this time by Kevin Dady. He writes: “I was recently commissioned to make a device which uses a pretty large number display, and I went out shopping. The seven segment we liked best was still quite pricey, and would not fit our enclosure correctly anyway…”
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This lovely hand-made component, built as part of a crystal radio set Instructables user Jezan assembled for his son, started out as a sheet of 1.5 mm aluminum that looks like it may have come from the side of an old file cabinet. Jezan used minimal tools…
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Easily overlooked, but elemental to electronics hardware, the manually operated switch is the simplest of electromechanical devices — and likely the most familiar. While the most basic switch is … well, quite basic — there’s a crazy-huge variety of switch types & sizes available to the electronics maker nowadays. Those new to the soldering & schematics scene will surely benefit from an introduction to some of the terms and formats relevant to various switch species.
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http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/circuit_skills_perfboard_prototypin.html
When you think – “DIY electronics”, one of the first images that likely comes to mind is a bunch of parts and wire soldered to a standard piece of perforated circuit board – and that makes sense. Perfboard is super-versatile – essentially it’s just a grid of potential solder-point connections. You can trim it down to just the size you need – or leave extra space for future enhancements … or revisions, if need be.
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