4 ms·

- Look for a bench-top power supply with a current limiter. You can save yourself from frying your new board with the current limiter. - I'd get a used good s

by YZF 9y ago

- Look for a bench-top power supply with a current limiter. You can save yourself from frying your new board with the current limiter. - I'd get a used good scope. Personal preference would be a digital Tektronix. A logic analyzer can probably wait. - A digital multimeter. My preference is Fluke. You'll want a buzzing continuity tester in whatever you get. - You might want to invest/experiment in some method for home manufacturing of PCBs. Breadboards are a pain ;) We used to do wire-wrap back in the day, probably no one does that any more :) - I find that you can do a lot with two hands. You figure out all sorts of clever way to hold your work, wires and the soldering iron ;) - Heat shrink tubing. - Crimping tool(s) and various connectors that are convenient for what you're working on. It's a bit of an investment but you want to connect stuff easily and reliably. - One of those magnifiers on an arm with a light built in...

dbcurtis 9y ago
This is a great starter list, and I agree with most. A multimeter with an audible continuity checker is an absolute must. It gets used more than any other tool. For bonus point, get a multimeter that can take a thermocouple probe. Not a necessity, but very nice when you need it. I disagree about home made pcbs. Its just too much fuss and mess, and there are a lot of places that can give you cheap 4 or 5 day boards in small Quantities. AP Circuits usually is a good deal for my hobby stuff, but I always price out others, too. One word for PCB beginners: DO NOT obsess over making every board perfect. It wont be. For one-off hobby quantites an x-acto knife and some wire will fix most basic mistakes in a few minutes. PCB design is like golf, low scores are better, holes in one are rare. Too often beginners fear fabbing a board because they think it is cast in stone. Mistakes just arent that costly at low volume.
pjmlp 9y ago
> I find that you can do a lot with two hands. You figure out all sorts of clever way to hold your work, wires and the soldering iron ;) Including holding the soldering iron from the wrong side, as it happened to me once.

by YZF 9y ago

dbcurtis 9y ago

This is a great starter list, and I agree with most. A multimeter with an audible continuity checker is an absolute must. It gets used more than any other tool. For bonus point, get a multimeter that can take a thermocouple probe. Not a necessity, but very nice when you need it. I disagree about home made pcbs. Its just too much fuss and mess, and there are a lot of places that can give you cheap 4 or 5 day boards in small Quantities. AP Circuits usually is a good deal for my hobby stuff, but I always price out others, too. One word for PCB beginners: DO NOT obsess over making every board perfect. It wont be. For one-off hobby quantites an x-acto knife and some wire will fix most basic mistakes in a few minutes. PCB design is like golf, low scores are better, holes in one are rare. Too often beginners fear fabbing a board because they think it is cast in stone. Mistakes just arent that costly at low volume.

pjmlp 9y ago

> I find that you can do a lot with two hands. You figure out all sorts of clever way to hold your work, wires and the soldering iron ;) Including holding the soldering iron from the wrong side, as it happened to me once.