untitled

Table of Contents xvii

• Introduction .................................................................


• Part I: Project Prep.......................................................


• Chapter 1: Exploring the World of Electronics Projects................................................


• Chapter 2: Safety First......................................................................................................


• Chapter 3: Assembling Your Electronics Arsenal.........................................................


• Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need .............................................................


• Part II: Sounding Off! .................................................


• Chapter 5: Making Light Dance to the Music ................................................................


• Chapter 6: Focusing Sound with a Parabolic Microphone ........................................


• Chapter 7: Murmuring Merlin .......................................................................................


• Chapter 8: Surfing the Airwaves ...................................................................................


• Part III: Let There Be Light .......................................


• Chapter 9: Scary Pumpkins ...........................................................................................


• Chapter 10: Dancing Dolphins ......................................................................................


• Chapter 11: Controlling a Go-Kart Infrared Style........................................................


• Part IV: Good Vibrations............................................


• Chapter 12: A Handy-Dandy Metal Detector ...............................................................


• Chapter 13: Sensitive Sam Walks the Line...................................................................


• Chapter 14: Couch Pet-ato.............................................................................................


• Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................


• Chapter 15: Ten Great Parts Suppliers ........................................................................


• Chapter 16: Ten Great Electronics Resources ............................................................


• Chapter 17: Ten Specialized Electronics Resources ..................................................


• Glossary...................................................................


• Index .......................................................................


• Introduction ..................................................................


• Why Buy This Book? ........................................................................................


• Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................


• Safety, Safety, Safety! ........................................................................................


• How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................


• Part I: Project Prep .................................................................................


• Part II: Sounding Off! ..............................................................................


• Part III: Let There Be Light ....................................................................


• Part IV: Good Vibrations........................................................................


• Part V: The Part of Tens.........................................................................


• Icons Used in This Book ..................................................................................


• Part I: Project Prep .......................................................


• Chapter 1: Exploring the World of Electronics Projects.


• What Is an Electronics Project, Anyway? ......................................................


• Electronics, mechanics, robotics: Huh? ..............................................


• Programmable versus nonprogrammable...........................................


• Mixing and Matching Effects...........................................................................


• What Can You Do with Electronics Projects? .............................................


• Just for the fun of it ..............................................................................


• Building things you can actually use .................................................


• Picking up lots of cool stuff along the way .......................................


• What You Need to Get Started......................................................................


• How much will it cost?.........................................................................


• Space the final frontier ..................................................................


• Chapter 2: Safety First.


• Avoiding Shocks Like the Plague..................................................................


• How voltage and current can get you ................................................


• How much is too much? ......................................................................


• Common sense: Protecting yourself from getting shocked ............


• Protecting Electronic Components from Dreaded Static Discharge........


• What static discharge can do .............................................................


• How to guard against ESD ...................................................................


• Working with the Tools of the Trade ...........................................................


• Safe soldering........................................................................................


• Running with sharp objects: Cutting, sawing, and drilling .............


• A Safe Workspace Is a Happy Workspace ...................................................


• Dressing for safety................................................................................


• Clean up your stuff! ..............................................................................


• Keeping kids and pets out of your space ..........................................


• Chapter 3: Assembling Your Electronics Arsenal.


• Tool Time ........................................................................................................


• Soldering prerequisites........................................................................


• Drills that come in handy ....................................................................


• Hacking away with saws ......................................................................


• wire strippers, and more ................................................................. Garden variety tools: Pliers, screwdrivers,


• Multimeter.......................................................................................................


• Components Primer.......................................................................................


• capacitors, and transistors ............................................................. Running down discrete components: Resistors,


• ICs ...........................................................................................................


• The switch is on ...................................................................................


• Sensors ..................................................................................................


• Microphones .........................................................................................


• Let there be light: Light emitting diodes ...........................................


• Speaking up about speakers ...............................................................


• Buzzers ..................................................................................................


• The Nuts and Bolts of Building Materials ...................................................


• Plastic.....................................................................................................


• Wood ......................................................................................................


• Build it yourself ....................................................................................


• Holding it all together ..........................................................................


• Holding down wires..............................................................................


• Breadboard Basics .........................................................................................


• Wires pull it all together ......................................................................


• Connectors ............................................................................................


• Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need.


• It’s Symbolic: Reading a Schematic..............................................................


• Perusing a simple schematic ..............................................................


• Switching gears with switches............................................................


• Schematic variables .............................................................................


• Pulling it all together............................................................................


• Breadboarding ................................................................................................


• The anatomy of a breadboard ............................................................


• Figuring and finessing the layout .......................................................


• Inserting wires and components ........................................................


• Soldering Your Circuit Board ........................................................................


• Using a soldering iron ..........................................................................


• Working with solder .............................................................................


• Soldering extras ....................................................................................


• Measuring Stuff with a Multimeter...............................................................


• How a multimeter works .....................................................................


• Reading resistance ...............................................................................


• Measuring voltage ................................................................................


• Working with the Boxes that Contain Your Projects .................................


• Working with boxes..............................................................................


• Mounting your project in a box ..........................................................


• Part II: Sounding Off!..................................................


• Chapter 5: Making Light Dance to the Music.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview...............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic ...........................................................................


• Fancy Footwork: Exploring the Dance to the Music Circuit .....................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues .............................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ..................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step...........................................................................


• Building a circuit ..................................................................................


• Let there be lights ..............................................................................


• Adding the rest of the doohickeys ...................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 6: Focusing Sound with a Parabolic Microphone.


• What a Dish! The Project Overview ...........................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Building an amplifier circuit..............................................................


• Mounting everything on the dish .....................................................


• Mounting the microphone.................................................................


• Mounting switches and more on the box........................................


• Putting everything together..............................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 7: Murmuring Merlin.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Creating Merlin’s circuit ....................................................................


• Making the box puppet-friendly .......................................................


• Programming sounds .........................................................................


• Hooking up the puppet ......................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 8: Surfing the Airwaves.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Building a radio circuit ......................................................................


• Making a box into a radio ..................................................................


• Coaxing the coil ..................................................................................


• Putting it all together .........................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Part III: Let There Be Light ........................................


• Chapter 9: Scary Pumpkins.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping out the schematic ................................................................


• Building alert: Construction issues..................................................


• Perusing the parts list........................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Making a silent pumpkin ...................................................................


• Making a talking pumpkin .................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 10: Dancing Dolphins.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Getting in the swim: Exploring the dolphin circuit ........................


• Setting up the light show...................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• A circuit with a porpoise ...................................................................


• Making your dolphins boogie ...........................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Making the circuit...............................................................................


• Making dolphins .................................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 11: Controlling a Go-Kart, Infrared Style.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Transmitting at the speed of light ....................................................


• Receiving what the transmitter sends .............................................


• Controlling motor behavior ..............................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Go-kart transmitter parts list ............................................................


• Go-kart receiver/chassis parts list ...................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Making the transmitter ......................................................................


• Making the receiver circuit board ....................................................


• Building the go-kart............................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Part IV: Good Vibrations ............................................


• Chapter 12: A Handy-Dandy Metal Detector.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Building a metal detector circuit......................................................


• Building the box to house the circuit ..............................................


• Putting it all together .........................................................................


• Handling the handle ...........................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 13: Sensitive Sam Walks the Line.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Transmitting Sam’s commands ........................................................


• Helping Sam receive his commands ................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Tallying up transmitter bits and pieces...........................................


• Running down receiver and container parts ..................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Making the transmitter circuit and remote control box................


• Making the receiver circuit ...............................................................


• Building Sensitive Sam’s chassis ......................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Chapter 14: Couch Pet-ato.


• The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................


• Scoping Out the Schematic .........................................................................


• Building Alert: Construction Issues ...........................................................


• Perusing the Parts List ................................................................................


• Taking Things Step by Step.........................................................................


• Trying It Out..................................................................................................


• Taking It Further...........................................................................................


• Part V: The Part of Tens .............................................


• Chapter 15: Ten Great Parts Suppliers.


• When Is a Supplier Right for You?..............................................................


• Reynolds Electronics ...................................................................................


• Hobby Engineering.......................................................................................


• Jameco...........................................................................................................


• Digi-Key..........................................................................................................


• Mouser Electronics ......................................................................................


• RadioShack....................................................................................................


• Fry’s Electronics...........................................................................................


• Electronic Goldmine ....................................................................................


• Furturlec........................................................................................................


• Maplin ............................................................................................................


• Chapter 16: Ten Great Electronics Resources.


• Electronics Magazines .................................................................................


• Nuts & Volts magazine .......................................................................


• Everyday Practical Electronics magazine .......................................


• Silicon Chip magazine ........................................................................


• Jumpstart Your Project Creativity with Circuits ......................................


• Electronics Lab ...................................................................................


• Circuits for the Hobbyist ...................................................................


• Discover Circuits ................................................................................


• Bowden’s Hobby Circuits ..................................................................


• FC’s Electronic Circuits......................................................................


• Web Sites That Teach You the Ropes ........................................................


• Electronics Teacher Web site............................................................


• The Electronics Club Web site ..........................................................


• Electronics Tutorials Web site ..........................................................


• All About Circuits discussion forum ................................................


• Writing the Book on Electronics ................................................................


• Chapter 17: Ten Specialized Electronics Resources.


• Radio ..............................................................................................................


• Ian Purdie’s electronics tutorial radio design pages......................


• QRP Quarterly.....................................................................................


• Australian Radio Resource Page ......................................................


• QRP/SWL HomeBuilder .....................................................................


• IK3OIL...................................................................................................


• Audio and Music...........................................................................................


• The Guitar Effects Oriented (GEO) Web Page.................................


• Bob’s Vacuum Tube Audio Projects Page........................................


• Effectronics .........................................................................................


• Robotics ........................................................................................................


• The BEAM Reference Library............................................................


• Robot magazine ..................................................................................


• Glossary...................................................................


• Index .......................................................................