components

Magnetic sensors tutorial

Magnetic sensors tutorial

Subscriber John Schuch writes: Threads on the MAKE forums often touch on hall effect sensors for measuring current, position, speed, etc. I just got this link in an email this morning and think it’s pretty cool. Gotta love free technical training. This is a sponsored tutorial on Digikey, sponsored by Honeywell, and promoting Honeywell’s line […]

Continue Reading
EIA resistor values explained

EIA resistor values explained

Jeff, he of the mightyOhm, asks: Have you ever wondered why standard 5% resistors have strange values, like 330 and 470 Ohms, instead of nice round numbers like 300 or 500 Ohms? It turns out that standard resistor values form a preferred number series defined by the EIA.  5% values are part of a standard […]

Continue Reading

The making of a triode

One of our most viewed and discussed postings of ’08 was Claude Paillard’s stunning triode video where he makes a vacuum tube triode from scratch. While poking around the Web, looking for other videos he might have done, I bumped into this documentary about the 2006 European Triode Festival in the Netherlands, celebrating the 100th […]

Continue Reading
Circuit supper

Circuit supper

I love the funny and characterful scenes that Lenny & Meriel manage to capture with their Sparebots sculptures — like this dude, obviously ready for a bellyful of button cell. Sparebots

Continue Reading
Salt water Leyden jar

Salt water Leyden jar

Warning: High Voltage Ahead. This Instructable shows you how to make an old-school high voltage capacitor, a Leyden jar, out of a jar of salt water. Even though this shows you how to make a small-jar capacitor, so the voltage is probably not lethal, it’ll still pack a wallop, so not something to be undertaken […]

Continue Reading
Free electronic components  and hardware

Free electronic components and hardware

We all like getting free stuff, and as any electronics geek can tell you, you can usually get free IC samples from most vendors. But you may not be aware that you can sometimes get other free components too, such as LEDs, switches, project boxes, and other parts, if you’re a qualifying entity (business, student, […]

Continue Reading