[FS – Hands On] - The explanation post - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Jeff_Birt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2016, 07:54:07 pm
content: ‘Hands On’ - helping beginners gain practical ‘hands-on’ experience with electronics.When watching one of Dave’s videos I was struck by how excited he was when talking about his first multi-meter, and how he still has that same meter. Shahriar Shahramian from the ‘The Signal Path’ has a similar story about the thrill he got from getting his first multi-meter. I too have one of those stories and still have that same meter, a Triplett 310. The hands-on experience afforded by building simple circuits and being able to test and debug them is invaluable in fostering the excitement of learning in beginners.I’ve work at a university; one thing that I find troubling is that most students who come to get an engineering degree have no practical ‘hands-on’ experience. Whether it is in electrical or mechanical engineering they have not had the opportunity in their youth to learn the practical skills to compliment the theory they learn at university. Consequently ME students design things that can’t actually be manufactured and EE students have no idea how to select parts for their design or build a prototype.This brings me to my idea for ‘Hands On’, which is a bit of a double entendre meaning both ‘active participation rather than theory’ and as in one ‘hands on’ something to another person. Working for the university gives me access to purchase surplus test equipment at reasonable prices. The idea for ‘Hands On’ is to purchase some of that equipment that would be suitable for beginners refurbish it and pass it on at little or no cost. Some items that come with a lot of stuff may not be beginner friendly but will be offered to raise funds. I don’t have unlimited personal funds to support this project so the goal is to have it be as self-supporting as possible. I am donating my time and I have a friend who I think I can talk into working with me to refurbish the gear.I have permission to post these items for sale on the forum and the suggestion was made to create a new tag to denote the project. What comes to mind is something like,’ [FS – Hands On] Fluke 8050A Multi-meter Item #1234’. I have created an email address for this project: ‘HandsOn@soigeneris.com’, so someone can email with the item number and we will both be clear on what piece of equipment is being referred to. I don’t want to plug up the forum with extraneous posts but think that technical questions about an item are probably beneficial to everyone as someone else may be searching for that same information at another time.I think maybe Silent Auction format might work the best. I’ll post street prices gleaned from EBay just as a rough guide and interested parties can email offers to me (HandsOn@soigeneris.com ) based on what you can afford to pay. If you’re a young person and just getting started and/or pinching pennies let me know and we’ll work something out. The idea is to get the gear into beginner’s hands.I would like to limit this to the USA just to make shipping, etc. easier. Let me know what you think about this, are there ways to improve it? Is it an idea you would want to replicate in your own country?