Introduction
Perhaps you’ve never built anything electronic, and now you want to. Perhaps you have built something before, but now you want to do something different. Look no further. Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself For Dummies is the book for both kinds of readers. Primarily, this book is intended to act as an introduction and guide to some one just getting started with electronics and circuits. It covers basic tools and tech niques. If you are somewhat experienced with electronics, you’ll find the book most useful as a workshop reference for specific kinds of tasks. The latter half of the book focuses on specific how-tos: cables, connectors, measurements, and maintenance.
There are so many circuits and applications of electronics that it is impossible to provide a detailed how-to guide for even a tiny fraction of the different types! The goal of this book is to show you the tools and techniques that circuitbuilders use, common to a wide variety of electronic construction needs
This book presents basic techniques most useful to beginners. As such, you won’t find detailed discussions of advanced topics such as fabricating your own circuit boards or performing reflow soldering at home. Nevertheless, if you become familiar with the techniques in this book, it will be easier for you to move on to more sophisti cated techniques. I’ll also give you pointers about where to find information on them.
This book is not a circuit design course or cookbook. I’ll be assuming that you already have a schematic from a book or magazine or maybe you’ve purchased a kit. This book shows you how to build it, not design it. The list of resources in Appendix A include quite a number of how-to-design books about electronics and even some online courses and tutorials.
Working Basics for Electronic-ers
To build anything, large or small, using the right tools makes a huge improvement in the quality of the finished product. The right tools will also speed up the process of building, minimize wasted materials, and reduce operator fatigue and stress. Sounds pretty important to have the right tools, doesn’t it? You’re right! This chapter shows you which, out of the zillions of tools, are the ones to use for building electronic circuits.
Basic Tools for Building Circuits
You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that you don’t need a giant set of fancy tools to do excellent work! In fact, you may have most of them already and a couple of addi tional acquisitions are all that’s needed
Mechanically speaking, you’ll need squeezers, cutters, turners, pokers, holders, and hole makers. That’s pretty simple, isn’t it? Of course, there is an incredible variety of available tools. I’ll list the basic items you really need, ways to upgrade them, and some optional tools that are handy but not necessities. Then you go shopping!
Buy the best tools you can afford — always! Then take care of them — always! With care, tools will last a literal lifetime. The author’s toolbox has perfectly functional and often-used tools that are 40 years old or more. Avoid bargain-bucket and no name tools. An all-in-one tool is handy at times, but is no match for a single-purpose tool. Buy from a store with a no-questions-asked return policy that stands behind their tools.
The selection of tools listed in this section has been made with electronics in mind, not robot assembly, plumbing installation, or home wiring. Tools for those jobs are often inappropriate for the smaller scale of electronics. Conversely, electronic tools are often overmatched for beefier work. There is no one-size-fits-all tool selection!
The Klein Company has specialized in tools for electrical and electronic work for decades. They have an excellent selection of tools designed for every possible use at the electronics workbench. Their online catalog (www.kleintools.com/Tool Catalog/index.html) is a great reference. Klein is my favorite, but there are many other fine tool companies. Ace Hardware has a comprehensive introduction to many common types of tools on their Web site at www.acehardware.com. Click Projects➪Solutions➪Learning Guides to access the directory of informative pages.
Safety and visibility
Before you head off to the hardware store with a big list, be sure that right at the top you include some basic safety equipment — goggles (or safety glasses), workspace ventilation (for soldering smoke or solvent fumes), and first aid. Electronics may sound tame, but the first time you snip a wire and hear the sharp end “ping” off your safety glasses or take them off and find a small solder “splat” right in front of your eye, you’ll be glad you had them on!
It sounds trite, but you really do need to be able to see what you’re doing! There are two paths to seeing your electronics clearly; lighting and magnification. Your work space simply has to be brightly lit, preferably from more than one angle to minimize shadows. Inexpensive swing-arm laps with floodlight bulbs are good choices because they can be moved to put light where you need it.
Head-mounted magnifiers are inexpensive and lightweight. The Carson MV-23 dual power magnifier (www.carsonoptical.com/Magnifiers/Hands%20Free) is widely available and provides both x2 and x3 magnification. Swing-arm magnifiers, such as the Alvin ML100 (www.alvinco.com), can be positioned in front of your face and provide additional illumination, too. Magnifiers are often found at craft and sewing stores for considerably less cost than at office or technical-supply stores.
Pliers and tweezers
In the “squeezer” category are pliers and tweezers. The largest electronic thing you are likely to have to grab with pliers is a half-inch nut; the smallest will be tiny set screws. Pliers and tweezers that fit things in that range are good to have in your toolkit. Figure 1-1 shows a few examples of the pliers and tweezers that I use a lot.
The most common type of pliers are slip-joint pliers (8”) which have jaws that can be adjusted to grip large or small things. A small pair of locking pliers (6”) (optional) — also known as Vise-Grips™, come in very handy when working with connectors and can be used as an impromptu clamp or vise.
Needle-nose pliers (a generic term that covers many different styles of pliers) with serrated jaws are a necessity. You’ll need a heavy pair of combination long-nose pliers (8”–9”, with or without a side cutter) for bending and holding. Smaller needle nose pliers (5”–6”) will be used for positioning and holding delicate components. Additional pliers with extra-fine jaws (or bent-nose pliers) are nice to have in the toolbox, but not required.
Tweezers are absolutely necessary when working with surface-mount devices (see Chapter 4) and small mechanical assemblies. They should be made of stainless steel; you’ll need a pair with a blunt nose and a pair with pointed tips. Do not use regular bathroom or cosmetic tweezers — they’re not really designed for electronics jobs.
Cutters and knives
Two pairs of wire cutters will suffice. For heavy wire, coaxial, and data cable, you’ll need a pair of heavy-duty diagonal cutters(6”) like those in Figure 1-2. Get a pair with comfortable handles so that when you squeeze really hard you won’t hurt your hand. For small wires, such as component leads, a 5”pair of flush-cutting, pointed nose or blunt-nose cutters is appropriate.
As you use your cutters day in and day out, they’ll naturally lose their fine edge — although they may still cut wire just fine. For trimming very small wires, such as coaxial cable braid, you’ll want a pair of very sharp cutters. It’s a good idea to have one pair of “everyday” cutters and another pair used only for fine jobs — a miniature pair of pointed-nose cutters is good — and make sure those stay sharp.
A sharp knife is a must. For electronics-size jobs, a utility knife with a retractable seg mented blade is a good choice. As the tip or edge dulls, you snap off the knife blade segment to expose new, sharp cutting edges.
Heavy scissors are used frequently and can even cut the lighter thicknesses of printed-circuit (PC) board. They will also be used to cut lighter gauges of sheet metal, such as aluminum and brass.
Screwdrivers and wrenches
Your toolbox should include both Phillips and flat-blade screwdrivers in sizes #0, #1, and #2. An optional long-shaft (8” or longer) screwdriver is useful for getting at long cabinet-mounting screws in recessed locations. The many different types of screw driver blades are explained and illustrated at www.acehardware.com/sm-learn about-screwdrivers--bg-1266832.html.
A miniature flat-blade screwdriver with a 3/32” blade will come in very handy as a general-purpose poker, pusher, and stirrer. It is particularly useful for mixing and applying epoxy! (Just don’t let epoxy harden on the blade.)
Jeweler screwdrivers are handy, but not required. You’ll use them mostly for attach ing knobs to control shafts. If you do buy a set, make sure the shafts don’t slip in their handles and that the blades are of good-quality steel. A lot of torque is applied to jeweler’s screwdrivers; it’s easy to twist off a blade or ruin an irreplaceable minia ture screw if the blade isn’t tough enough.
Obtain a set of nutdrivers for nuts from 1/4” through 1/2”. These fit the nuts for screw sizes from #4 through 5/16”. The larger nutdrivers also fit switch- and control-mount ing nuts. They will tighten the nuts without scratching a front panel and can be used on congested panels where a regular wrench can’t be used.
Another optional tool is a miniature Crescent® wrench smaller than 6 inches long. Most mechanical fasteners used in electronics are too small for wrenches, but enough are large enough for the Crescent wrench to be a welcome sight in the toolbox.
A set of Allen wrenches is optional, but when you really need them (mostly for set screws), they have no substitutes. If you have a choice of buying a set of individual wrenches or a set mounted on a handle, the individual tools are somewhat easier to use (and lose). In addition, the ball-end wrenches can be used at an angle to the screw — which is sometimes necessary in tight quarters. Figure 1-3 shows several examples of screwdrivers, nutdrivers, and wrenches.
It is common for adjustable devices to come with an Allen wrench that fits their mounting set screws. When you’re done installing the device, put the wrench in a locking plastic bag and label it with a permanent marker. You’ll be able to find it much easier when the adjustment or mounting has to be redone later
Drills and drill bits
To build electronic stuff, you’ll need a small electric drill. A cordless model makes working on a car (or in the field) much easier, but cordless is not required. A 3/8” chuck is big enough for electronic needs. A hand drill can be used on plastics, but is not recommended for general use. If you plan on installing your circuit in cabinets or project boxes with knobs or switches — especially with front panels that need to look good — invest in a small bench-mount drill press. It gives you dramatically improved ease of use and finished quality compared to what you get with a hand-held drill
For delicate jobs, enlarging small holes, or just cleaning out a pre-drilled hole, a replacement drill chuck can make a fine hand-held holder for a drill bit. The machined metal chuck fits well in the hand and works like a handle for the bit; its size allows reasonable control of the bit
You’ll need an assortment of drill bits from 1/16” to 3/8”. It’s not necessary to have dozens of sizes and standard twist bits will suffice. A complete discussion of drill bit types and applications is available on the Ace Hardware Web site (www.ace hardware.com). Add an optional countersink bit to your collection of drilling tools to smooth the edges of holes.
While drilling small panels and enclosures, you should use a vise. For temporary and portable use, purchase a small machinist’s vise or a small bench vise that clamps to the work surface. Trying to hold the material being drilled by hand often results in damage to your enclosure or panel — and if the material is seized by the drill bit, you can be injured. Examples of both can be viewed at www.lexic.us/definition-of/ machinist’s_vise.
It’s important to mark a hole’s center before drilling to prevent “walking” or wander ing by the drill bit before the hole is deep enough to control the drill’s position. A center set punch is tapped with a hammer, leaving a small dimple that can be placed precisely where the hole is to be drilled. Or you can use a nail, saving a bit of dough at the cost of a tiny bit of precision
A scratch awl is handy for a number of punching and poking tasks. It can do the job of a center set in soft metal, plastic, and other soft materials. It makes holes in all sorts of flexible coverings. In wood, it can make a deep enough hole for a wood screw to be inserted.
A 1 ⁄2 ” hand reamer is used to enlarge a small hole. Using a reamer is often easier than drilling a large hole, especially in brittle plastics. An example showing how a reamer is used can be found in Chapter 5. Needle files come in a set including round, half round, triangular, square, and other cross-sections (see Figure 1-4). They are used to smooth holes or file them into custom shapes.
The toolkits made by Kronus and Belkin include good, reasonable-quality starter tools. They are available from many electronics and tool retailers, including RadioShack, Sears, CompUSA, and others. You can replace individual tools with higher-quality selections as is convenient.
A somewhat odd, certainly optional, but very handy tool for circuitbuilders is the nibbling tool. All holes are not round! You may find that a display needs a rectangular cutout in a panel or that an elongated connector needs a rounded slot. Instead of drilling a lot of holes and then filing away (that works, but it takes a while), the nibbling tool shown at http://adelnibbler.com/index.html takes small bites out of sheet metal (and other thin material) in just about any shape you need
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