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Blog What are the most important parts to have in your electronics kit?
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  • Author Author: baldengineer
  • Date Created: 29 Jul 2020 4:44 PM Date Created
  • Views 1129 views
  • Likes 12 likes
  • Comments 45 comments
  • parts
  • electronics kit
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What are the most important parts to have in your electronics kit?

baldengineer
baldengineer
29 Jul 2020

This weekend I went to build a circuit for use in an upcoming video. There were two components I was confident that were in my parts kit: a 555 timer and a counter. Now, I did not know which counter I had, but I assumed I must have at least one decade counter in my pile of ICs. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had no 555 timers and only a single type of counter. And that counter was a johnson-counter designed to drive common cathode 7-segment displays. To make things worse, the only 7-segment displays I have were common anode!

 

Thinking about all the various types of components, I started to wonder, what else should I check to see if I have in stock? Passives like capacitors or resistors seem like an easy one. But what values? Are inductors critical? If so, what kind? And then when it comes to ICs, what are ones people are still commonly using?

 

So, two questions for the community:

What are the top 5-10 parts you keep your electronics kit?

 

Related to that idea, what about consumables such as solder, cotton swabs, and tape?

What electronics consumables do you keep on-hand?

Anonymous

Top Comments

  • rjhelms
    rjhelms over 1 year ago in reply to baldengineer +9

    This is close to what I was thinking! I think a barebones kit can get away without inductors, for most people.

     

    For resistors and caps, the E3 series (or even just an "E2" series of just 1.0 and 3.3) across…

  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 1 year ago +7

    Here are some things I have thought of so far:

     

    • Resistors
      • 100 and 470 ohm
      • 1K, 10K, 100K
      • Zero ohms?
    • Capacitors
      • Ceramic or Film
        • 20-24 pF
        • 0.01 uF, 0.1, uF and 1 uF Ceramics
      • Electrolytic
        • 10, 100, 1000 uF (various vo…
  • dougw
    dougw over 1 year ago in reply to baldengineer +6

    Some great suggestions are already above.

    for op-amps MCP604

    for logic I would include some CMOS: like a 4040 ripple counter

    I use CMOS 555s such as (LMC555)

    heat shrink tubing

    wire ties

    USB connectors

    an LCD…

Parents
  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 1 year ago

    Here are some things I have thought of so far:

     

    • Resistors
      • 100 and 470 ohm
      • 1K, 10K, 100K
      • Zero ohms?
    • Capacitors
      • Ceramic or Film
        • 20-24 pF
        • 0.01 uF, 0.1, uF and 1 uF Ceramics
      • Electrolytic
        • 10, 100, 1000 uF (various voltages
      • What about surface mounts? Does it make sense to have kits of 0805, 0603 or other sizes?
    • Inductors
      • Not sure what to suggest at all!
    • Op Amps
      • LM358, TL072, ?
      • (I don't know op amps well, what are the right ones to have?)
    • Regulators
      • LM780x's or NCP1117s
      • What about a negative voltage regulator (when was the last time anyone used one?)
    • Digital ICs
      • 555s!
      • 74LS00 NANDs, because you can make other gates
      • 74LS04 NOTs, because inverting signals is commonly necessary
      • 74LS595 shift register

     

    I know I am missing many other great ideas, but not sure what else at the moment.

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  • shabaz
    shabaz over 1 year ago in reply to baldengineer
    Does it make sense to have kits of 0805, 0603 or other sizes

    Hi James!

    Resistorkit made a difference to my life.

    I didn't like spending an hour entering in resistor values each time, nor popular capacitor values.

    So, instead I spent half a day ordering nearly every resistor value known (perhaps OTT) and it's given a lot of freedom to experiment. Now ordering parts for a prototype is so much easier, I can consider resistors and some capacitors to already be available.

    Or just buy a resistor kit.. to save even more effort.. (through-hole for instance just costs $10 or so, although I prefer surface-mount mainly), sometimes I go the long way to get to the same place!

     

    The trays on the right are the same thing (but a more limited range) for resistors and capacitors in a different size (0603 mostly, and some 0402, and some 0805 caps). These are always nearby, they are used in nearly all projects.

     

    But, interestingly, regarding your question, I think it's not necessary to have everything in all sizes, since 0805 and 0603 are (physically at least, if not always electrically) interchangeable on a PCB... (assuming the 0603 pad size is at the large setting in the CAD package, which it always is for me! Maybe it would be ok for smaller settings too).

     

    For general fun and learning with electronics, it's always surprising how little is needed though I too didn't have much more than two LEDs, about 15-20 passives and the occasional IC or transistor, Radio Shack/Tandy lowest-cost multimeter and soldering iron, for years.. more than enough to get the passion for anyone to then want to study further or start planning for a particular project and order what's needed for it.

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  • shabaz
    shabaz over 1 year ago in reply to baldengineer
    Does it make sense to have kits of 0805, 0603 or other sizes

    Hi James!

    Resistorkit made a difference to my life.

    I didn't like spending an hour entering in resistor values each time, nor popular capacitor values.

    So, instead I spent half a day ordering nearly every resistor value known (perhaps OTT) and it's given a lot of freedom to experiment. Now ordering parts for a prototype is so much easier, I can consider resistors and some capacitors to already be available.

    Or just buy a resistor kit.. to save even more effort.. (through-hole for instance just costs $10 or so, although I prefer surface-mount mainly), sometimes I go the long way to get to the same place!

     

    The trays on the right are the same thing (but a more limited range) for resistors and capacitors in a different size (0603 mostly, and some 0402, and some 0805 caps). These are always nearby, they are used in nearly all projects.

     

    But, interestingly, regarding your question, I think it's not necessary to have everything in all sizes, since 0805 and 0603 are (physically at least, if not always electrically) interchangeable on a PCB... (assuming the 0603 pad size is at the large setting in the CAD package, which it always is for me! Maybe it would be ok for smaller settings too).

     

    For general fun and learning with electronics, it's always surprising how little is needed though I too didn't have much more than two LEDs, about 15-20 passives and the occasional IC or transistor, Radio Shack/Tandy lowest-cost multimeter and soldering iron, for years.. more than enough to get the passion for anyone to then want to study further or start planning for a particular project and order what's needed for it.

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Children
  • Andrew J
    Andrew J over 1 year ago in reply to shabaz

    Farnell are selling Multicomp Pro caps and resistors at very low prices now, e.g. 100x0.1uF = 72p inc vat Product LinkProduct Link!   Or, say, a 100Ohm 1% 0805 at pretty much the same price Product LinkProduct Link. Seem to have them in a wide range of values - certainly all that I looked for - so you could stock up very cheaply.  I've not found a cheap kit though.

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