Have any helpful maker tips? Send them my way!

Hi Daniel,

That was a cool e-book : ) Here are some new ones that spring to mind for me:

1. Heatshrink often : ) Never fun when there are shorts.

2. It's interesting keeping old books around. Sometimes there is inspiration there, even if you choose to implement things in a more modern way.

A better example is below, hopefully error-less : )

3. Component books are useful. Another way that sometimes works is to get hundreds of small paper envelopes (kids lunch-money envelopes since they are cheap!) and organize your basic resistors and capacitors, so you are always ready to prototype. I'm using this storage casethis storage case for several hundred envelopes, it's really low-cost.

4. Push-on Banana-to-croc/alligator adaptors are really useful. I don't need to store so many cable variations as a result! Here's me repairing a car amp.

I'm using these croc clips herethese croc clips here.

Thanks Shabaz, these are fantastic!

I encourage everyone to have a notebook and write all of your plans and ideas down before you try to build them.

The planning process enables you to think about the steps involved, which usually triggers additional steps and ideas.

The actual plan can be very rough, but it is the process that best prepares you to succeed,  because it lets you establish the full scope of what you want to do.

DAB

The cables I use most are banana-to-SMD clip and banana-to-pin-header. Especially the latter are very useful for breadboarding.

For storage I use something similar - I got some boxes from IKEA which are about 4.5 inch wide and about 10 inch deep. When you get some antistatic bag in a matching size this works quite well:

(I use thick paper as separator).

Another tip: use thread / yarn spools for storing oscilloscope cable. The coax will not like if you bend it too much (e.g. by hanging it over a regular cable rack).

Even better would be if you hang the cable by the BNC connector, but I don#t have enough room above my desk for doing so.

Braiding Cables

One tip that I use quite often is braiding cables together.

(1) Place one end of all of them in a bench vice

(2) Lightly pull them, sliding hand along until at end and place the other loose ends into your handdrill/battery drill

(3) Spin them until they make the tightness of braiding that you desire

At this point you may decide to release the braided cable...but it unravels quite badly, so here's my tip.

(4) While still in the vice and drill chuck - give the cable a firm pull and you'll stretch it slightly, you'll feel it give by a small amount (eg 5mm for a one metre length). The cable is now much less prone to unravelling.

(5) trim back the damaged ands and add a small amount of heatshrink for good measure (see shabaz point 1 above)

[ps: this is only suitable for low current and low voltage, and non-specialised cables ! ]

Regarding plans: write down the assumptions you make. Usually in my projects when something goes wrong it boils down to me making an assumption which I did not verify and which then just was not true. (Sometimes I didn't even notice that I was making an assumption, then its even worse).

I think this is what enables you to learn fast - when you see that you make assumption, it means you don't know exactly what will happen. And usually its quite easy to verify these - either by reading a datasheet, or a book, or you ask in your friendly community.

Thanks Don! This ties in really well with some thoughts from other folks we have on project planning.

Thanks Hendrik, and great images!

Thanks Rod, this is a great one!

Hi Hendrik,

That's really interesting! I'm going to do the same thing this weekend, with my ICs. Currently they are all in a large box on a shelf and only roughly sorted, but I plan to stick them in the resealable shielded bags and was looking for a larger storage box just wide enough - looks like I need to check IKEA!

Also very neat idea with the yarn spools. I may copy that too : )