One of the easiest ways to start is to buy a electronic kit. Kits are already designed, tested, and packed with the correct parts. Kits come in all sorts of sizes. Kits are made to do wide range of things. But a lot of them require you to use tools like a soldering iron. If you already can solder, then kit-building can be great! If you don't solder but you want to learn something, then you have a few choices.
No-Solder Kits
Building Blocks
|
The No-Solder kits are like "building blocks". The parts are designed and made to fit together in specific ways. The pieces fit by locking together or latch on with small magnets. This approach is very easy to assemble. You don't need much skill to snap pieces together! These kits are OK for kids even younger than the age 6. By the way, the simplicity of these kits actually comes from a lot of design and engineering work. Each part is sealed up inside a chunky block or strip of plastic. This makes the kit safe. But you may not get to see, feel and poke at the actual parts. This limits future experiences — you may get more curious about the parts and want to use them however you want. Also, these kits have high price tags (in my opinion) for just a basic kit and for someone not yet sure about trying electronics. |
Snap Circuits |
MakerBloks | |
LightUp | 
littlebits |
C&A Scientific |
Many-In-One Electronics Labs
Another kind of no-solder kits are the "Many-in-one electronic labs", such as 75-in-1, 100-in-1, up to 500-in-1. The parts are all fixed to one big board. Their leads are brought out for connections using steel-spring terminals.
Elenco Electronic Playground 130
You make connections by flexing the tight spring to create a gap, and slip a wire into this gap. The released spring will then clamp down on the wire and make a connection.
This is an easy way to build simple circuits. But it can get pretty complicated if there are a lot of connections. You could be using a lot of wires, running every which way. You should use different colored wires to help keep track of each connection, but a complicated circuit can become a big puzzle.
These "more-in-one" labs are also physically large — they can take up a lot of work space. All the parts are always in your layout, whether or not your circuit needs them. Also, a circuit should be laid out so the parts and their connections match the flow of operation — but you can't do that with these "labs".
But the good thing is, if you do go further in electronics, you can remove the parts (with some un-soldering work) and use them in future experiments and projects! ☺
Soldering-Is-Required Kits
I built my first electronic circuit, a Eicocraft kit, when I was around the age of 7. My father and uncle were electronic hobbyists, and bought it for me. It was a two-transistor tone oscillator (a "Morse-code-practice oscillator"). There were about a half-dozen parts, including a small speaker. It also needed batteries to work, but I don't remember if they were included (probably not). It came with a printed-circuit board with copper traces, so I had to solder the connections. I guess it took me a few hours to put it together, but I did it. Maybe I was expecting too much — after all that work, I did get the simple continuous "beep" — but I felt let down. ☹ Now looking back, it was a positive experience, but I didn't see that at the time.
So, 7 was a good age for me to learn how to solder, and not terribly burn myself. I didn't get too many burns after that! But the kit that I built was unsatisfying. I didn't want to learn Morse code (That was the main purpose for building that kit). I didn't have a further use for it. Looking back, maybe if I was younger, a beeping circuit would fascinate me — but a younger me shouldn't have been soldering! If the circuit included OTHER uses for it, or ways to modify it, it may have kept my interest. I was too young to appreciate the success I did have. And I was too young to learn circuit theory for figuring out what else it might do.
Computer Boards
There has been a great interest over the last several years in single-board computers. Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Board, Parallax Stamp, and many more. If you've looked around in the electronics hobbyist marketplace, you saw them. So I guess I should say something about these. Well, they are not for the typical absolute beginner. I would not start my journey into electronics with them. They require some computer hardware and programming knowledge — or at least, a real desire to learn about these areas — and higher amount of mental focus. Unless you or your child can already program computers, I'd save these for when you're certain about learning electronics.
The Middle Ground
I believe we can get some of the best qualities of no-solder and soldering-is-required kits.
We can use parts that were designed to be soldered, but not solder them. Instead of soldering, we'll use a plug-in breadboard. The circuit can be quickly assembled, and then modified or "hacked" to get another interesting circuit. My circuits use low-voltage battery-power for safety. Later on, if you want to build a permanent version of the circuit that you can use away from the workbench, then you should learn how to solder.
The challenges here are where do you get the parts? where do I get the instructions? These are the reasons for my blog! I will be answering these questions!
Final Thoughts
I started this blog after I did a presentation at the Maker Faire New York 2014 "Electronics" stage. My goal then was as it is now: Provide an alternative to the typical "kit building" entry to electronics. No soldering needed. But make it easy, fun, interesting, and useful!
If you or your kids do want to try building a kit, find one that will build something really useful. Pick something that will have a long-term use. Also check the kit's age-recommendation. If soldering is involved, well... read what I said above.
Photo credit and thanks to Kristina S.
| ← Previous Article | ↑ | Next Article → |
| Home Page |
No comments:
Post a Comment