What Do You Do With Your Projects When You Have Finished Them?

I got interested in electronics after retirement from an unrelated engineering field (but of course all engineering fields use electronics these days, it is just that in my work we had project specialists and my specialty wasn't electronics).  Electronics interested me because it was an opportunity to learn new things.  Pretty soon a local educator learned I was an engineer and interested in electronics and before long I was asked if I would contribute some introductory course material.  And my grandson became interested in what I was doing, and I got more interested, and one thing led to another...

This background explains what happens to my projects which can be broken down into a couple of areas:

• Self Education:  I am self taught so a lot of projects are done solely for learning.  If similar material / projects are already out there on the internet I will normally disassemble the parts for use later and put them back in the drawer.
• Personal Use:  Mostly this is something I will do for the grandchildren like make blinking tiaras, Halloween costumes and accompaniments, games, toys, etc.  I once made a Sous Vide controller that I still use but none of it is really saleable.
• Broader Education:  If I am doing something that I haven't seen published elsewhere I like to write it up in a manner I hope others will find useful. An example is the experimentation I did with the Texas Instruments MSP430FR2xxx series microcontrollers and my AIS Ship alarm published here on e14. For these projects, the hardware isn't that important at the end of the day - it is the published documentation and ideas that hopefully helps someone else out.
• Contests and RoadTests:  I have only recently started entering these.  I do it solely for fun and they have to align with my self education or broader education goals.
• Saleable Product:  I did one project with a friend that sold in small quantity but am not actively looking to make a profit on what I do.

I do have some stuff sitting on the shelf not doing anyone any good.  I have been looking to trade it or give it to someone who will put it to better use and recently gave some things to a neighbor kid.

I got interested in electronics after retirement from an unrelated engineering field (but of course all engineering fields use electronics these days, it is just that in my work we had project specialists and my specialty wasn't electronics).  Electronics interested me because it was an opportunity to learn new things.  Pretty soon a local educator learned I was an engineer and interested in electronics and before long I was asked if I would contribute some introductory course material.  And my grandson became interested in what I was doing, and I got more interested, and one thing led to another...

This background explains what happens to my projects which can be broken down into a couple of areas:

• Self Education:  I am self taught so a lot of projects are done solely for learning.  If similar material / projects are already out there on the internet I will normally disassemble the parts for use later and put them back in the drawer.
• Personal Use:  Mostly this is something I will do for the grandchildren like make blinking tiaras, Halloween costumes and accompaniments, games, toys, etc.  I once made a Sous Vide controller that I still use but none of it is really saleable.
• Broader Education:  If I am doing something that I haven't seen published elsewhere I like to write it up in a manner I hope others will find useful. An example is the experimentation I did with the Texas Instruments MSP430FR2xxx series microcontrollers and my AIS Ship alarm published here on e14. For these projects, the hardware isn't that important at the end of the day - it is the published documentation and ideas that hopefully helps someone else out.
• Contests and RoadTests:  I have only recently started entering these.  I do it solely for fun and they have to align with my self education or broader education goals.
• Saleable Product:  I did one project with a friend that sold in small quantity but am not actively looking to make a profit on what I do.

I do have some stuff sitting on the shelf not doing anyone any good.  I have been looking to trade it or give it to someone who will put it to better use and recently gave some things to a neighbor kid.