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Reminds me of a vaguely similar toy you used to be able to get at Radio Shack: the "electronics project kits". Typically, a given set of circuit components woul

by bitwize 2mo ago

Reminds me of a vaguely similar toy you used to be able to get at Radio Shack: the "electronics project kits". Typically, a given set of circuit components would be laid out on a board (typically thick cardboard) in a frame (wood). Attached to the leads of the components are small metal springs. You used the provided wires to connect components together by bending the springs back, inserting the stripped ends of the wires between the coils of the spring, and letting the spring snap back into place. Instructions provided with the kit showed you how to connect the components to yield all sorts of interesting things, from simple circuits that could make lights blink to working radio receivers, musical instruments, etc. Some of the more sophisticated and expensive ones had ICs, and I think a few of the later ones had microcontrollers.

OkayPhysicist 2mo ago
I got a couple of these as a kid, handed down from my parents. Quite a bit of fun to play around with. I do remember getting a snap-together circuit which was new, but it just didn't have all the cool bits and the fun little springs of the hand-me-downs.
MomsAVoxell 2mo ago
Yes, the metal spring kits were one thing .. I had one of those too (until its full disassembly for spare parts) .. but in that era, to my 8 year old eyes at the time, the spring kits 'looked old' in comparison to the ultra cool battery-powered, portable, sci-fi looking denshi blocks .. whereas some of us old kids have lego-brick trauma, mine was the denshi-block, always one on the floor to step on, bare-foot .. but man did I love carrying that thing around. But then, I'd had a Dick Smith Electronics[1] "breadboard" period, the year before, where the components were literally drilled into flakey particle-boards over the schematic, and .. that was fun too. I "upgraded" from the Denshi blocks and the breadboards, to a soldering iron station and the Fun-Way PCB's .. burned my fingers on the synthesizer kit .. and the rest is history. [1]-https://ia600409.us.archive.org/7/items/dicksmithsfunwayintoelectronicsvolume2/Dick%20Smith%27s%20Funway%20into%20Electronics%20Volume%201_text.pdf https://ia600409.us.archive.org/7/items/dicksmithsfunwayinto...

by bitwize 2mo ago

OkayPhysicist 2mo ago

I got a couple of these as a kid, handed down from my parents. Quite a bit of fun to play around with. I do remember getting a snap-together circuit which was new, but it just didn't have all the cool bits and the fun little springs of the hand-me-downs.

MomsAVoxell 2mo ago

Yes, the metal spring kits were one thing .. I had one of those too (until its full disassembly for spare parts) .. but in that era, to my 8 year old eyes at the time, the spring kits 'looked old' in comparison to the ultra cool battery-powered, portable, sci-fi looking denshi blocks .. whereas some of us old kids have lego-brick trauma, mine was the denshi-block, always one on the floor to step on, bare-foot .. but man did I love carrying that thing around. But then, I'd had a Dick Smith Electronics[1] "breadboard" period, the year before, where the components were literally drilled into flakey particle-boards over the schematic, and .. that was fun too. I "upgraded" from the Denshi blocks and the breadboards, to a soldering iron station and the Fun-Way PCB's .. burned my fingers on the synthesizer kit .. and the rest is history. [1]-https://ia600409.us.archive.org/7/items/dicksmithsfunwayintoelectronicsvolume2/Dick%20Smith%27s%20Funway%20into%20Electronics%20Volume%201_text.pdf https://ia600409.us.archive.org/7/items/dicksmithsfunwayinto...