A shot of my humble workbench (and me!)
I have been fiddling about with rudimentary electronic kits such as the Dick Smith Funway series and the Tandy 300-in-1 boards since I was about 7 years old, but I only got into electronics in earnest about 3 years ago. Since then, I have built a wide variety of projects, some of which worked first go, some that didn't. However, the skills I gained from repairing those that didn't work first time have helped me out with the more catastrophic failures!
Before I go any further, I'll just say that the photo above is a posed shot (note that my soldering station isn't even turned on!). The device I'm "working on" is a Microsonics brand record player, designed to play miniature records that are now redundant. By disembowelling it and removing the amplifier PCB inside, I was able to make a useful little bench amplifier.
This is one of the advantages of dabbling in electronics. Once you have built up a good knowledge base of electronics theory as well as a lot of practical experience, you can often resurrect "useless" or "dead" equipment and find a practical use for it. It is for this reason that I find working with "surplus" equipment interesting, as it can often be utilized in a new situation. For example, the Jacob's Ladder kit that I built used a flyback transformer out of a TV and a number of parts from a mobile phone hands-free kit!
Electronics is a hobby that I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone. It doesn't cost the earth to get started: a pair of long-nose pliers, some side-cutters, a 20-30 W soldering iron with a small tip, and a stand for your iron is generally all you need to begin. It is definitely an interesting hobby: just take a look at some of the Internet resources I've listed on the links page if you don't believe me!). However, it also has the potential to be a dangerous hobby, particularly if you are working with mains or high voltage circuits, circuits involving lasers, etc. It is important that you treat such circuits with the utmost care, and that you are fully aware of how these circuits work and the dangers involved with them before you even go near them.
More pages will be added here as I prepare them (read: if I get the time). So, it could be a long time between drinks...
If you're done here, why don't you go back and explore some more (or if you're done here, go find another site :-)
Last updated 9/05/00
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