EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

ntewinkel — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:23:43 GMT

I love this idea and design, [mention:b0bc65b9ecdc4307bd967592f00e340a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]!

It looks really neat already, can't wait to see a completed project with it. The screen printing that provides guidance right where it's needed is a great design idea too - when I first looked at it I thought why not put the resistors etc right there, but then I realized that 1. it would be too cluttered, 2. this space is best for guidance/tutorial info, 3. other boards would have parts that wouldn't fit here and the design should look the same for all boards. Looks like you covered all the angles!

I can totally see this working in a way similar to Arduino shields, without the Arduino - each board having a specific purpose.

Will you also be creating some kind of main motherboard where all the little boards can plug into neatly side by side? So then building a project would start by laying out the component boards in a given configuration onto the main board (sort of like Settlers of Catan starts by laying out the game board).

One of the things that made the 160-in-1 type kits so great is the projects that came with it - I vaguely remember them being sort of in order of complexity, where the first few projects could be done with just a handful of wires in a short amount of time, building up to crazy long projects that covered the whole board, using up nearly all the wires, and taking all day to do!

If it goes really well, I suppose element14 could host a future challenge where we can all pitch in a project to work with your hobby kit!

(I'll be happy to create a blinking LED one [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-17aad671-fe68-493c-bb46-f717709b7bfd/contentimage_5F00_3.png:16:16] )

Anyways, I'm very excited to see the results of all this coming together!

-Nico

ps, I didn't realize that Eagle could render the 3D like that. I'll have to try that out. Also didn't know you could cut a big square hole in a board like that. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-17aad671-fe68-493c-bb46-f717709b7bfd/2514.contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16]

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

tankman — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:28:50 GMT

I had one of these proto-kits, then later a Heathkit Amateur radio rcvr and transmitter (huge)

where I learned electronics and soldering.

With the radio shack kits there were some "application notebooks" that had circuits showing how to component by component build them. It explained what the resistors, capacitors were, how they worked in the system and how to assemble the circuit. Very helpful for my early tinkering.
I think that would be beneficial to self starters with little to no knowledge to begin with.

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

jw0752 — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 03:41:19 GMT

Hi Shabaz,

You are off to an excellent start on great projects for 2018. I love the idea of bringing the 160 in one into the 21st century. You will need a voltage converter module so one battery can provide +/- variable voltages for your circuits.

John

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

rachaelp — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 22:58:05 GMT

Nice! I had a very similar 160-in-1 electronics kit when I was young and strangely I was thinking about that and wondering about if there was a modern equivalent just the other day and here you are designing one! [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-17aad671-fe68-493c-bb46-f717709b7bfd/contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16]

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

mcb1 — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 22:02:07 GMT

A modern version of an old design.[View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-17aad671-fe68-493c-bb46-f717709b7bfd/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

I'd be inclined to add a pot and maybe a couple of switches. (toggle and momentary)

While you can add them by simply plugging in, the concept here is to not loose parts, but also help ensure accidental shorts don't happen.

Some of these extras could simple have pins sticking up, and then be linked onto the appropriate part of the circuit, rather than use a whole column of the breadboard.

Mark

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

fmilburn — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:23:14 GMT

I really like it. There are lots of things that could be done with this and as always with your projects it is well thought out, documented and polished. Great project!

RE: EE-CARD: A Portable Electronics Project Kit

genebren — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 20:34:13 GMT

shabaz,

Very nice start to your system! Ar you planning on routing any stimulus or measurement capabilities up to the board or prototyping area? It would sure help in learning what these components do.

Looking forward to see how this progresses!

Gene