As an actual electronics engineer.
Author is an RC Arduino hobbyist not really applicable to RF or hard core electronics.
The Uni-T meter is only usable if you work at less then 50 volts. These DMM are unsafe at high voltage.
Xcelite is a joke only techs from the 1970 and 1980s use their stuff nowadays it's rebadged made in china by the Apex tools conglomerate. Could by the same tool from home depot rebranded.
Interesting recommendation for a multibit screwdriver when in commercial electronics screw are deeply recessed in narrow openings.
Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
251–260 of 274 posts
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#252Hakko FX-888D is great and appropriate with the other stuff mentioned (although I prefer the older version with an analogue knob for temperature control), but it's $115 and for most new hobbyists a $25 pinecil or a $25 knockoff Hakko T12 is perfectly adequate and miles ahead of anything you'd find in a home depot for the same price.
I had tried my hand with hobbyist electronics a few times over the years, and had a few different cheap pencil style soldering irons from Radio Shack and always found soldering so hard to do well. I had no idea how people were getting the kind of joints that all the "this is how it should look" pictures showed. On a whim a few years ago I got a Hakko FX-888D, and it was like night and day! All of a sudden soldering w…
The old cheap ones have no temperature control whatsoever and crappy tips that oxidize quickly. I had the same experience as you, and have a trusty 888. I actually got access to a Hakko FM-206 rework station a while back and loved it more than my 888. It has a very compact tip holder, allows you to swap tips when they are still hot, heats up instantly but also cools down when idle to preserve the tip. I looked into getting something similar for home and ended up with a "knockoff T12" that uses the same tips based on discussion on the EEVblog forums. I haven't used my 888 since.
Knockoff T12s can use genuine but still cheap Hakko T12 tips (though I've never had a problem with cheap clone tips), with a temperature sensor built in. Using the word knockoff is probably misleading on my part, they aren't low quality counterfeit copies of Hakko and don't pretend to be Hakko, they just use Hakko T12 tips as it's the closest thing to a de facto standard there is. I can't even recommend a specific manufacturer for them, they just all seem to be using the same circuits and whatever one is available is fine. You need to order online basically. I don't know why they haven't replaced the $25 garbage irons sold in hardware stores, but those still exist and I wouldn't say the floor has been raised.
Pinecil is also great. It also has temperature sensors built into the tips. It has limited power so you might get frustrated on that one day in a decade that you need to solder something big, but it's so convenient for occasional use. I keep mine in my pen holder, and pull it out for short tasks. I just steal my macbook's usb-c charging cable in these cases (although pine also sells a nice silicone high temperature usb-c cable).
Both options have another benefit that I've enjoyed: They have DC power input, and don't become useless after an international move.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
Analog scopes are still a thing, especially when compared with cheap digital ones that often distort things or flatly don't show them. If one has only 150 bucks to allocate for a scope, unless the digital scope added functions (math, storage, etc) are needed, the best choice is often an used analog one. Digital scopes start to become interesting when they go up in features and price, 12/14 bit ADCs, much higher s/r,…
I second this advice, and would add another reason: Buy an analog scope while you can still find them for cheap! They don't make good ones anymore. The analog scope is a lifetime purchase. But the calibration point still applies. On my Tek 454, there are calibration knobs built right into the UI. The user is expected to tweak and calibrate as they go, and depending on the measurement. (Often the shape of the waveform…
I un-second it, if that's 'a thing', I think that was solid advice 10+ years ago, but not any more. The decent ones are less often seen, and they're collectors' items so they go for more than they're worth (to the audience the advice is directed at).
Unless doing something very particular straight off the bat (like audio or power or something) a beginner is better advised to get a cheap MSO / multichannel DSO, IMO, even computer based.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure they're the kind of thing that can bw ludicrously expensive, in part because they sound complicated/high-tech. Note that they can be really cheap, as in sub-£10 for A4 maybe even A3. I just mean don't do much (or any) cutting thinking 'I should get one of those at some point' before getting one, as excuses for new tools/toys go that's a good & also cheap one!
The thing about cutting mats in an electronics lab is that you're never going to be cutting anything big . You're going to be cutting a lot of small things. So the small, dirt cheap, easy to move around ones are perfect. A rare example of cheaper being better!
Yep, exactly. I can see the value in large ESD-rated full desk-covering rolls though, if you've got the cash to splash on it. (But certainly not in a hey beginner here's how I think you should set up your desk/lab type article or anything.)
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have (had? getting better!) this same issue, and it really killed excitement of electronics for me for a long time. I asked @theacodes on here this same question, on a post they'd written that like.. actually got into "ok, I'm putting this capacitor here, because it's gonna do for me, another way I could do the same thing is..", and their reply is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33484848 I do think there…
Are there any YT series that are worthy of mention? I think I've a PDF copy of The Art of Electronics. One day...
Highly recommend W2AEW's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/w2aew
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#256This is some unpopular opinion but please, do not buy extra components thinking that you will use it in some extrea projects. Only buy components that your current design needs. It's even better if you can get a board house to assemble them before it arrives at your desk. Otherwise it is the beginning of the fall to a hoarder life. Except if you are playing in RF or some black magic where simulation does not cut it..…
This is often impractical when shipping costs more than the components. Yeah, there are things you shouldn't be buying "just in case" - for example, a stash of SoCs will age faster than you can use them - but definitely buy a hundred of common capacitors, such as 100 nF, 1 µF, or 10 µF, rather than buying them one-by-one. You generally don't need a complete set of all standard resistances or capacitances - there are…
I thought I had every capacitor size I needed but yesterday I received my digikey order for a 22mF 63V capacitor.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#257This is some unpopular opinion but please, do not buy extra components thinking that you will use it in some extrea projects. Only buy components that your current design needs. It's even better if you can get a board house to assemble them before it arrives at your desk. Otherwise it is the beginning of the fall to a hoarder life. Except if you are playing in RF or some black magic where simulation does not cut it..…
I prefer to buy components I need, but buy enough extras to deal with failures or losses easily. E.g. if I'm buying SMD resistors (of reasonably common value & package like 4k7 in 0402) I buy at least 100, even if I only need 10. That way when I inevitably drop one or send one flying by forgetting to turn down the hot air flow I can just grab another. And 100 costs $0.56, 10 costs $0.14, so there's not much point try…
> That obviously doesn't apply to the more expensive components.
Or the larger ones! I bought a 100 of pretty much every standard resistor value in through-hole format from a bulk seller and came to regret the mess of loosely taped together resistor bundles intermixing and tangling and the shelf space they occupied!
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#258You should sell this page as a kit. Buy all this stuff, all in for $ + shipping.
There is zero fun in that. You’re supposed to assemble your collection over the span of years!
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#259This is the analog/dedicated enthusiast setup. Beginner/Digital:
* Use the Falstad sim to play around. It's amazing and runs in a browser.
* Plano molding ammo boxes. If you can't fit everything in a few, help is available, a few months in parts bin addiction rehab can change your life!
* Pinecil soldering iron
* Unless you're working with mains there are almost no bad meters, just ones with crappy specs. Get one with good accuracy and all the features.
* Now get an ESP32 Arduino-alike module. Something similar to a wemos S3 mini. Don't pay more than $15. Or get an M5stack.
* Those crappy little modules are your friends. Especially if you are making installations and art. You don't wanna be fussing with actual soldering for onsite parts. Use female pin jumpers. Might not even need a breadboard till later!! There's a crappy little module for everything these days and they're all pretty reliable.
* But not LM2596 buck modules Those are actually crappy. Other cheap regulators are probably fine.
* Don't buy a bench power supply. That's more towards the enthusiast stage. Instead buy yourself some USB-PD trigger modules. Watch for 12v ones, they actually give 9v aside from some newer PPS ones, because they removed 12v from the spec.
* When your thing needs power, put a trigger module on. They're like $2. If your thing needs something other than 5, 9, 15, or 20v, use a cheap regulator.
* Or just power it right from the ESP32 Arduino-ish board. Either way, USB saves the day.
* If you want to do anything beyond this, just buy exactly the stuff you need for the project. Parts hoarding is an unrelated hobby that doesn't have much to do with electronics.
* Get a 3D printer or learn woodworking if you want to make nice finished projects
* Wago connectors are your friend if you ever encounter wire bigger than 24awg or so.
* All cherry MX keyboard switch clones are good. All other cheap switches are suspect
* Microusb is evil
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you can buy an old crt one for £10 and see if you have use for a scope before you commit. They do take up more room though!
Except that those old cheap ones are almost universally analog scopes. They are pretty much completely useless for digital work. In the current Arduino-filled world, you are probably going to need a DSO.
I think that is very misleading. It depends what you are interested in. There are lots of uses for an analogue scope...including arduino.