How to get started doing projects? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: kphamm1412
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 26, 2016, 09:24:33 pm
content: Hi I'm currently entering my third year as an EE undergrad and I want to start doing some hands on projects but I'm not sure where to start. Theory wise, I've only taken 2 circuit analysis classes(covered up to op amps, diodes, basic passive/active filters w/ op amps, thats it as far as non-linear components go though). I've also been reading Practical Electronics for inventors for a while. Project wise I haven't done much outside of class labs, Art of Electronics labs, and some basic arduino projects. Can you guys give me suggestions on good books to read(for non-linear components), as well as some good websites/books for project ideas and such? I've tried looking at a few electronics projects online and the circuits looked much more complex than what I've seen in classes so it was kind of overwhelming. Thanks for your time!

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 06:02:08 am
content: What kinds of projects interest you? The electronics sandbox is pretty large. I tend to like embedded programming and FPGA projects. I'm pretty much a digital kind of guy. Up until a couple of years ago... Then I got interested in analog computing and I built up a small computer capable of solving most equations of motion (2d order ordinary differential equations). Some of these equations are very difficult to solve with pencil and paper but they are truly simple with an analog computer.I'm not even sure that cross coupled first ordered equations can be solved by hand. Walk in the park for an analog computer. The Predator-Prey equations come to mind:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotka%E2%80%93Volterra_equationsThis type of project gives you a chance to work with op amps and integrators, summers and inverters. I started with this machine and plan to build a much more capable machine some time this year.http://www.analogmuseum.org/english/homebrew/vogel/For my senior project, back in '73, I built a very capable rally computer for sports car events. An enormous number of TTL chips and seven-segment displays just to measure time and distance and compare against the planned speed for the segment. This was before the 8080 was available. Had I known about them, I could have used the 4004 or maybe the 8008 - but, no, I just started wire-wrapping.Find a segment of the field that you enjoy and play in that corner of the sandbox.

author: macboy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 03:26:46 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on June 26, 2016, 09:30:44 pmSigh.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 03:48:56 pm
content: Quote from: macboy on June 27, 2016, 03:26:46 pmI don't think English is the OP's mother tongue.

author: kphamm1412
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 04:35:28 pm
content: Quote from: rstofer on June 27, 2016, 06:02:08 amTo be honest, I'm not really sure what types of projects I want to do. I'd really like to build some audio stuff but after looking at a few pre-amplifiers/equalizers/tone control circuits I thought maybe audio is too advanced for me at the moment. Like I said, I really haven't learned much when it comes to electronics(I guess after my third year i'll be more equipped to actually do cool stuff). So is there any online resources that (to be frank) has really simple projects/circuits so I can get started and then eventually move up? Right now, even a simple boolean algebra calculator or an automatic light switch with sensor already look bad to me (circuits wise).

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 07:00:18 pm
content: From Google, there are 181 million responses to 'electronic projects' and 559 thousand responses to 'electronic transistor projects' You're going to have to narrow the search.How abouthttp://www.instructables.com/id/Beginners-Electronics-Projects/Orhttp://makezine.com/projects/

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 09:13:12 pm
content: Part of the difficulty may be because you're looking at the result of existing projects. That can be overwhelming or at least time consuming to digest.If you're interested in audio, your first project can be making a very basic audio amplifier with a single op-amp and some supporting passives, one of which is a potentiometer to adjust the gain. Connect an old radio, MP3 player, etc. into the circuit and play the result on a speaker. You can hook up your oscilloscope as well to see what you're hearing.Play around with it and see what happens when you change the value of the various components, overdrive the input, use too much gain, etc. Also try different op-amps.Once you fully understand that, make a couple more and figure out how to combine their output to make a mixer.Then, make some filters: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass. Combine several of them to make an equalizer. Add that to the mixer.Depending on how your original amplifier was built, you might now require a mic pre-amp. Make that and add it to the mixer so you can have mic- and line-level inputs.See the pattern? Start with very basic components that you can play with, understand, and break in isolation. When you're comfortable with each one, add it to the larger project.Imagine if you just looked at the schematics for a full-blown multi-channel mixer with preamps, parametric EQ, etc. It'd be overwhelming. Instead, build it in pieces that you can digest. When you're all done, make the final schematic of it and overwhelm your friends.Edit: Don't forget to build a nice little linear power supply for your mixer.

author: Stuartambient
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 09:15:12 pm
content: There is also OSH Parkhttps://oshpark.com/shared_projectsThe only issue I have with this site is I see neither search options, categories or tags.Here is another one that has plenty of electronics projects.https://hackaday.io/myFeedI would stay with sites that have some public discussion about the projects. It is helpful when you run into problems.One more site-http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/#circuits-and-projects.31