3 ms·

Nostalgic Kits Central (2024)

33 points by cf100clunk 5mo ago

cf100clunk 5mo ago
Dad and I built a variety of Heathkit and EICO stuff way back when, from oscilloscopes to signal generators to whatever.
k310 5mo ago
I LOVED these kits. I could only afford a handful but I would order manuals and build many in my mind. Later on, I built countless S-100 computer cards when I had a paying job, and that led to other jobs. I never took a course in electronics and computers. A far cry from Arduino and RaspberryPI, but interfaces get you (often) into that "old" world of discrete analog parts and sensors.
mitchbob 5mo ago
Ah, nostalgia. I'd drool over the Heathkit catalogs as a kid. I still have a Van Alstine-modified Dynaco PAT 5 preamp with walnut case that's been the heart of my audio system for almost 40 years. Absolutely trouble free all these years and still sounds great.
HawtAds 5mo ago
Elenco is still around. I just bought a XP-720K linear power supply kit last week.
bigiain 5mo ago
As a young kid (pre teen probably) I had one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectron#/media/File:Egger-Lectron.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectron#/media/File:Egger-Lect... (Mine was branded Braun, not Raytheon. not sure if that because the Braun branded versions got sold in Australia, or if dad got it in Germany or Europe - he travelled there for work quite a bit during his career.) It had a great 10-year-old friendly manual, which I can't seem to fond anywhere, except for this pic: https://www.radiofundgrube.de/bilder/expkasten/zoom/braun_lectron_front2.jpg https://www.radiofundgrube.de/bilder/expkasten/zoom/braun_le...
- edwcross 5mo ago
  Are there modern kits that connect similar to this one? Instead of requiring breadboards and cables?
  - Domenic_S 5mo ago
    I think the modern version is Snap Circuits, although I think I like the one pictured in GP better.... https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/snap-circuits-pro.html https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/snap-circuits-pro.html
- aa-jv 5mo ago
  You're Australian, didn't grow up on Dick Smith Fun Way kits .. but some German thingy sourced through Dads adventures instead? Mate .. strewth! Hand in your Vegemite card, ocka! Disclaimer: I had all the Fun Way books, all the beginner kits on crappy particle boards, the 'advanced' kits with PCB's and things, the soldering iron special bundle with all the books and a couple of kits .. but I still preferred hacking around with my Denshi blocks instead.. ;) Denshi Blocks, oh boy are they great. Still got mine! It even has a synthesizer in it, ffs .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block Comparison with the spring kits: https://kevinboone.me/denshi.html https://kevinboone.me/denshi.html
  - bigiain 5mo ago
    I also had those spring terminal type "100 in 1" kits. From memory Tandy ones though, not Dick Smith? I don't think Dick Smith stores stared appearing until I was in high school - maybe late 70s? By then I was onto having my own soldering iron and assembling PCB kits and later making my own PBCs with etch resist pens and ferric chloride. "Adventuring Dad" was working for AWA at the time, deep in the military industrial complex and visiting military contractors and bases in the UK and Europe regularly.
    - aa-jv 5mo ago
      Ah, yes I remember that the DSE kits were at first all mail order, which was an essential element to learning such things way out back in the bush, where I lived at the time .. had a HAM-radio afflicted uncle who delighted in giving me old electronics junk to disassemble and turn into working piles of components for our experiments, and his reward was to get on the ham and get some kits ordered for delivering at the local water hole. Wouldn't have had such a big leg up on life if I hadn't burned my fingers that way as a ripe 10 year old electronics engineering wannabe. The 100 in 1 kits were fun, they could be wired up to basically anything, and for a few years my uncle had one semi-permanently wired in as a power rectifier for one of his experiments .. crazy times.
asdefghyk 5mo ago
Another related nostalgic site For Electronic project Kits - like X in 1 Electronic Projecy kits, where X is some number from about 10 to a few 100 ..... https://web.archive.org/web/20260221183623/http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20260221183623/http://www.zpag.n... OR the direct link -( Im not sure if Hacker news would smash the site .... ) http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm
autoexec 5mo ago
Are there similar kits still being made and sold today? It seems like it'd be easier and cheaper than ever to make kits that can do some very cool things, but I never see them where toys are sold. These things should be in every toy isle and museum gift shop.
- jdsnape 5mo ago
  Yeah I’ve had the same thought. You can get cheap kits but the instructions tend to be vague/machine translated from Chinese. I think there’s a gap in the market for quality kits with good educational instructions - but I think the market size would be very small
- lmpdev 5mo ago
  Jaycar in Australia still sells them Just released new packaging actually

33 points by cf100clunk 5mo ago

Dad and I built a variety of Heathkit and EICO stuff way back when, from oscilloscopes to signal generators to whatever.

k310 5mo ago

I LOVED these kits. I could only afford a handful but I would order manuals and build many in my mind. Later on, I built countless S-100 computer cards when I had a paying job, and that led to other jobs. I never took a course in electronics and computers. A far cry from Arduino and RaspberryPI, but interfaces get you (often) into that "old" world of discrete analog parts and sensors.

mitchbob 5mo ago

Ah, nostalgia. I'd drool over the Heathkit catalogs as a kid. I still have a Van Alstine-modified Dynaco PAT 5 preamp with walnut case that's been the heart of my audio system for almost 40 years. Absolutely trouble free all these years and still sounds great.

HawtAds 5mo ago

Elenco is still around. I just bought a XP-720K linear power supply kit last week.

bigiain 5mo ago

As a young kid (pre teen probably) I had one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectron#/media/File:Egger-Lectron.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectron#/media/File:Egger-Lect... (Mine was branded Braun, not Raytheon. not sure if that because the Braun branded versions got sold in Australia, or if dad got it in Germany or Europe - he travelled there for work quite a bit during his career.) It had a great 10-year-old friendly manual, which I can't seem to fond anywhere, except for this pic: https://www.radiofundgrube.de/bilder/expkasten/zoom/braun_lectron_front2.jpg https://www.radiofundgrube.de/bilder/expkasten/zoom/braun_le...

edwcross 5mo ago
Are there modern kits that connect similar to this one? Instead of requiring breadboards and cables?
- Domenic_S 5mo ago
  I think the modern version is Snap Circuits, although I think I like the one pictured in GP better.... https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/snap-circuits-pro.html https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/snap-circuits-pro.html
aa-jv 5mo ago
You're Australian, didn't grow up on Dick Smith Fun Way kits .. but some German thingy sourced through Dads adventures instead? Mate .. strewth! Hand in your Vegemite card, ocka! Disclaimer: I had all the Fun Way books, all the beginner kits on crappy particle boards, the 'advanced' kits with PCB's and things, the soldering iron special bundle with all the books and a couple of kits .. but I still preferred hacking around with my Denshi blocks instead.. ;) Denshi Blocks, oh boy are they great. Still got mine! It even has a synthesizer in it, ffs .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block Comparison with the spring kits: https://kevinboone.me/denshi.html https://kevinboone.me/denshi.html
- bigiain 5mo ago
  I also had those spring terminal type "100 in 1" kits. From memory Tandy ones though, not Dick Smith? I don't think Dick Smith stores stared appearing until I was in high school - maybe late 70s? By then I was onto having my own soldering iron and assembling PCB kits and later making my own PBCs with etch resist pens and ferric chloride. "Adventuring Dad" was working for AWA at the time, deep in the military industrial complex and visiting military contractors and bases in the UK and Europe regularly.
  - aa-jv 5mo ago
    Ah, yes I remember that the DSE kits were at first all mail order, which was an essential element to learning such things way out back in the bush, where I lived at the time .. had a HAM-radio afflicted uncle who delighted in giving me old electronics junk to disassemble and turn into working piles of components for our experiments, and his reward was to get on the ham and get some kits ordered for delivering at the local water hole. Wouldn't have had such a big leg up on life if I hadn't burned my fingers that way as a ripe 10 year old electronics engineering wannabe. The 100 in 1 kits were fun, they could be wired up to basically anything, and for a few years my uncle had one semi-permanently wired in as a power rectifier for one of his experiments .. crazy times.

asdefghyk 5mo ago

Another related nostalgic site For Electronic project Kits - like X in 1 Electronic Projecy kits, where X is some number from about 10 to a few 100 ..... https://web.archive.org/web/20260221183623/http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20260221183623/http://www.zpag.n... OR the direct link -( Im not sure if Hacker news would smash the site .... ) http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm http://www.zpag.net/Electroniques/Kit/Electronic_Kit.htm

autoexec 5mo ago

Are there similar kits still being made and sold today? It seems like it'd be easier and cheaper than ever to make kits that can do some very cool things, but I never see them where toys are sold. These things should be in every toy isle and museum gift shop.

jdsnape 5mo ago
Yeah I’ve had the same thought. You can get cheap kits but the instructions tend to be vague/machine translated from Chinese. I think there’s a gap in the market for quality kits with good educational instructions - but I think the market size would be very small
lmpdev 5mo ago
Jaycar in Australia still sells them Just released new packaging actually