Getting into doing diy tech projects

[BoxTurtle]

How can I get into doing diy tech projects?

[kelvinhall05]

Find a project and do it. There's infinite possiblities so we can't really suggest you one.

[DailyProcrastinator]

Very vague, what kind of tech projects are you wanting to do? Building hardware, smart tech/ home automation, battle station/ home office building, custom applications, playing around with a raspberry pi is fun, there are infinite amount of things you can do. 

[BoxTurtle]

17 minutes ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

Very vague, what kind of tech projects are you wanting to do? Building hardware, smart tech/ home automation, battle station/ home office building, custom applications, playing around with a raspberry pi is fun, there are infinite amount of things you can do. 

probally raspberry pie and that sort of thing

[Hackentosher]

4 minutes ago, turtlecraft said:

probally raspberry pie and that sort of thing

Relevant meme:

Spoiler

Find a problem you want to solve that requires skills you don't know, complete the project to learn the skills.

[Solarity]

It seems like you are a solution looking for a problem. The best way to get into something like this is to have an end goal in mind. 

 

For me a few years ago I got into water cooling and RGB lighting. I wanted a way to unify my 12v Analog and 5v Digital RGB devices. I watched a lot of electronic engineering videos, read a lot on line, and asked many questions on reddit. No matter how complex something is, it can be broken down into little parts. I found an Integrated Circuit (IC) that could do 90% of what I was looking into. I started to research how to create a circuit with that IC to do everything I wanted. I started playing with bread boards, resistors, mosfets, and the IC. Then I watched videos on how to solder, got a decent iron, and soldered some really rough prototype boards. Then I watched more videos on how to design Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Then I ordered parts and ordered a few cheap prototype PCBs that I designed. Put it all together, learned some more from trial and error. I did about 3 to 4 prototypes, before I got a finish board: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/solarity-technology-rgb-dac-expander/

 

I then started to learn about logistics and I ordered a production run of 100 boards that were about 90% assembled. Then about 6 months later I ordered 400 boards 99% assembled.

 

Proof of Concept:

 

Prototype Phase 1:

 

Prototype Phase 2:

No Video, as I had a design flaw in my first PCB

 

Prototype Phase 3:

 

Prototype Phase 4:

 

PreProduction:

 

First Production Run:

 

I could go on, though no matter how stupid or insignificant an idea may be, if you are driven and want to get it done, you can get it done. Our biggest hurdle tends to be ourselves. The most important thing is have a goal, then try to break down this huge scary monster of a plan into little pieces that you can easily digest. I had no experience in EE, till I started this project.

[thrasher_565]

On 8/25/2020 at 8:00 PM, Solarity said:

It seems like you are a solution looking for a problem. The best way to get into something like this is to have an end goal in mind. 

 

For me a few years ago I got into water cooling and RGB lighting. I wanted a way to unify my 12v Analog and 5v Digital RGB devices. I watched a lot of electronic engineering videos, read a lot on line, and asked many questions on reddit. No matter how complex something is, it can be broken down into little parts. I found an Integrated Circuit (IC) that could do 90% of what I was looking into. I started to research how to create a circuit with that IC to do everything I wanted. I started playing with bread boards, resistors, mosfets, and the IC. Then I watched videos on how to solder, got a decent iron, and soldered some really rough prototype boards. Then I watched more videos on how to design Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Then I ordered parts and ordered a few cheap prototype PCBs that I designed. Put it all together, learned some more from trial and error. I did about 3 to 4 prototypes, before I got a finish board: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/solarity-technology-rgb-dac-expander/

 

I then started to learn about logistics and I ordered a production run of 100 boards that were about 90% assembled. Then about 6 months later I ordered 400 boards 99% assembled.

 

Proof of Concept:

 

Prototype Phase 1:

 

Prototype Phase 2:

No Video, as I had a design flaw in my first PCB

 

Prototype Phase 3:

 

Prototype Phase 4:

 

PreProduction:

 

First Production Run:

 

I could go on, though no matter how stupid or insignificant an idea may be, if you are driven and want to get it done, you can get it done. Our biggest hurdle tends to be ourselves. The most important thing is have a goal, then try to break down this huge scary monster of a plan into little pieces that you can easily digest. I had no experience in EE, till I started this project.

omg your that guy that i wanted to talk to about argb connectors. your piratedog_tech on ebay. haha i just noticed.

[ColinLTT]

So you wanna be a maker - welcome to my world! 

 

The best place to start is Youtube - watch, learn. Figure out what you are interested in, and make some tool/equipment choices based around that. Before you make any big tool purchases though, see if there are any makerspaces in your city/town where you can go get a hands on with tools, it's often a more approachable way to get started and they usually offer electronics classes as well! 

 

If you're thinking about hobby electronics - the first thing I would pick up is a reliable, temperature controlled soldering iron and a multi-meter. These are the hammer nail to electronics work, along with the required consumables (solder flux, solder, gootwick). From there I would probably recommend most people start with an Arduino kit from Adafruit - they have excellent instructional guides and kits that will cover the vast majority of basic parts to get you going. Take a look around here: https://www.adafruit.com/category/172

When it comes to multi-meter and soldering iron I always recommend a Hakko 888 and a Fluke 101 - You'll be looking at around ~$170 for these parts, and there ARE definitely cheaper options, but these are my old standbys and they are absolutely heritage-level quality items that will be passed down to my kids one day. Buy it once, in my opinion - and when it comes to multi-meters, I'm already working at max brain capacity trying to diagnose circuits -- I don't need to be worrying if my meter is right or not. 

Anyway, have fun, and let us know what you make! 

[BoxTurtle]

17 minutes ago, ColinLTT said:

So you wanna be a maker - welcome to my world! 

 

The best place to start is Youtube - watch, learn. Figure out what you are interested in, and make some tool/equipment choices based around that. Before you make any big tool purchases though, see if there are any makerspaces in your city/town where you can go get a hands on with tools, it's often a more approachable way to get started and they usually offer electronics classes as well! 

 

If you're thinking about hobby electronics - the first thing I would pick up is a reliable, temperature controlled soldering iron and a multi-meter. These are the hammer nail to electronics work, along with the required consumables (solder flux, solder, gootwick). From there I would probably recommend most people start with an Arduino kit from Adafruit - they have excellent instructional guides and kits that will cover the vast majority of basic parts to get you going. Take a look around here: https://www.adafruit.com/category/172

When it comes to multi-meter and soldering iron I always recommend a Hakko 888 and a Fluke 101 - You'll be looking at around ~$170 for these parts, and there ARE definitely cheaper options, but these are my old standbys and they are absolutely heritage-level quality items that will be passed down to my kids one day. Buy it once, in my opinion - and when it comes to multi-meters, I'm already working at max brain capacity trying to diagnose circuits -- I don't need to be worrying if my meter is right or not. 

Anyway, have fun, and let us know what you make! 

Thanks for the advice