Make Electronics

Experiment 6: Very Simple Switching

44 Chapter 2

6v Battery Pack

Short

LED lead

Long

LED lead

Figure 2-17. If the LED is on, flipping either of the switches will turn it off. If the LED is off,
either of the switches will turn it on. Use alligator clips to attach the wires to each other,
and to the switches if your switches don't have screw terminals. Be careful that the clips
don't touch each other.

Figure 2-18. Full-size toggle switches with

screw terminals make it easy to hook up

this simple circuit.

Tools
If automatic wire strippers (Figure 2-19) don’t grip skinny 22-gauge wire very
effectively, try the Ideal brand of wire strippers shown back in Figure 2-4, or
use plain and simple wire cutters as shown in Figure 2-20. When using wire
cutters, you hold the wire in one hand and apply the tool in your other hand,
squeezing the handles with moderate pressure—just enough to bite into the
insulation, but not so much that you chop the wire. Pull the wire down while
you pull the cutters up, and with a little practice you can rip the insulation off
to expose the end of the wire.
Macho hardware nerds may use their teeth to strip insulation from wires. When
I was younger, I used to do this. I have two slightly chipped teeth to prove it.
Really, it’s better to use the right tool for the job.
Figure 2-19. Using automatic wire strip-
pers, when you squeeze the handles the
jaw on the left clamps the wire, the sharp
grooves on the right bite into the insula-
tion. Squeeze harder and the jaws pull
away from each other, stripping the insula-
tion from the wire.