electronic construction sets

[schwarz-brot]

Hi there,

I am searching for electronic construction sets and your opinion to them. It can be toys and didactic ones for schools. No matter where they are sold and no matter if they are no longer sold. Especially those, that are not that well known. I am especially interested in the way the connections are made. Until now I know for several spring and push-pin mechanisms and classic breadboard variants. Also there is the german Lectron brand, that uses magnetic connections without a baseboard.


Also it is of big interest how well kids, especially younger ones, can use and understand these sets and how expandable they are.

I would like to collect and list those systems. Is there maybe already such list?

See you,
Jan

[madires]

I remember some Philips branded modules. Small boxes, maybe 10cm by 10cm and a PCB with an IC and some fixed parts as the top. The contacts were beneath the PCB (through-hole). I had a NE555 module and another one with a LM741 (or some other OPamp). They were powered by 9V blocks.

[mtdoc]

I got my 7 yr old an Elenco Snap Circuits kit for Xmas. He loves it. It is very well made.  The coonections are standard "snaps" like are used in clothing, etc.  Lots of upgrade kits nd expandability options available.

[Zbig]

That looks fun for kids: http://littlebits.cc/ but seems a bit on the pricey side.

[jancumps]

From the JanCumps museum part1 : Philips

I sold these 2 sets earlier this year:
Spring connections
base kits and extesnion kits
most extensive one included tv/scope if I remember well

[jancumps]

Unknown brand.
Box says Made in Belgium
Individual components holders say Made in Holland.

Extension kit. The base plate was a big wooden board with square isles of 4 female contacts.
We used similar parts at high school, only with longer pins.

With Germanium components 

[jancumps]

Mehano, more recent, 2004

These kits could be had in a small version (as shown) and a bigger version.
I don't know of any extension kits available.
Similar approach as Philips: springs to be placed freely in a plastic baseplate.

[jancumps]

From Tandy / Radio Shack
Legendary.
My older brother had the 10 in 1 as kid, and both together we put a year's worth of our pocket money in a 100 in 1 (both didn't survive the Cumps Bros experiments).

I currently have a 60 in 1, 65 in 1 (see photo) and a 200 in 1.

[vk3yedotcom]

Great fun!

I started off with the Tandy ones with springs (150 in 1 with wood box).

A couple of years ago I found a newer type in a charity shop and couldn't resist grabbing it.



The block method is perhaps simpler but less flexible if you want to build your own circuits.

Good news is that Altronics has just brought out a big range of them - almost identical to what we had in the '80s.  Eg:

10 in 1  http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2200

30 in 1  http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2204

130 in 1 http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2208

300 in 1 http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2222

Crystal radio  http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2216

Digital recording http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=K2220

Let's hope they sell well.

[jancumps]

I had one of those 150 in 1 kits in a wooden box like a suitcase.
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/lafayette_150_in_1_electronic_kit.html
I think mine was branded Gakken though. The hours of fun I had playing with that. Great days.

That kit seems to have the same 'proto-ic' as the Science Fair 100-in1:

[Caca]

Hi,
in CZ there are "Voltík" kits that come in 3 levels of complexity - more ifo here (in Czech only though) http://e-shop.voltik.cz/5-stavebnice-voltik

[JOERGG]

Is there maybe already such list?

I found this interesting site

http://norbert.old.no/kits/

[madires]

I found this interesting site

http://norbert.old.no/kits/

Great site! I've found my old kits:
- Philips ET series (http://norbert.old.no/kits/et/)
- Philips EE 3000 series (http://norbert.old.no/kits/ee3000/)

[kfitch42]

My son got the Snap Circuits for a gift a while back, he loves it. My biggest gripe with it is that the instruction manual does nothing to explain what is going on. Check out a manual: http://www.pololu.com/file/download/SnapCircuitProjects1-101.pdf?file_id=0J172

But, I recently heard about LightUp ( www.lightup.io ) and it sound pretty cool, but I haven't tried it. They are really trying to make something that tries to teach what is going on.

[SLJ]

Got my grandson Snap Circuits last year and he loves it.  He built almost all of the 300 projects.  Got him two more modules for it this year.

I agree that the instructions are laking and need to explain basic theory on all the components and each project but there are other sources for basic theory to be explained (like you).

[schwarz-brot]

Thank you, folks,
this is more than I hoped for 
I am sorry I did not come back earlier, but now I am back on it.

Those Snap Circuits look a bit cheapish to me, but I guess that is what kids go for these days. And I have to admit, this snapping knob solution is brilliant! Little Bits looks also funky, but I am not sure how well this would work for/with kids. The biggest drawback I see anywhere is there are seemingly just two kinds of sets:
The more educational ones with large parts, connected via large plugs ore some obscure connectors but looking boring and not of too much interest to kids that are not into that kind of stuff. On the other side there are those that are colourfull, easy to work and play with and somehow always lacking any description of what is going on there... Seems this is the tradeoff one has to make.

Is there anyone out there with kids? What would you think, can kids easily get the concept of a breadboard? The thing is, the connectors are not visible and not marked in any way, therefore I think it might be difficult for them to wrap their little heads around. Of course there are always the ultra-clever ones. I am talking of about 10 to 12 year olds there, so really for starters and getting addicted to that magic smoke as early as possible. Too bad (lucky, maybe?) I have no kids on my own to test that.

[vk3yedotcom]

The ones with the components, springs and wires between them should be fine for 10-12 year olds. The ability to mock up random circuits and easily take things out or substitute values is a big plus.  I agree that the block type are a bit more abstract and less versatile.

By the way Altronics has a full page ad devoted to their entire range of construction sets in last month's Silicon Chip.

[BeerCannon]

The LittleBits, while expensive, are brilliant.  The modules connect magnetically, and those magnetic poles prevent the components from being connected backward.  I believe the modules are broken into categories like power, input, output, etc.  All modules of the same category are the same color.

[SLJ]

The snap circuits are intended for younger kids.  My grandsons are five and six.  I don't think a twelve year old will stay interested long.  Heck, by twelve I was already soldering.  My grandson loves them and is currently experimenting with the motion detector.  Most likely to help keep his little sister out of his room.  He also asked for the FM radio kit.

[Stonent]

The ones with the components, springs and wires between them should be fine for 10-12 year olds. The ability to mock up random circuits and easily take things out or substitute values is a big plus.  I agree that the block type are a bit more abstract and less versatile.

By the way Altronics has a full page ad devoted to their entire range of construction sets in last month's Silicon Chip.

The Tandy Science Fair spring kits are now sold under the Elenco brand. I had them at around age 6 to 8.

Tandy:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Science-Fair-200-in-One-Electronic-Project-Lab/161190049751?rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D163%26meid%3D3917342628080563024%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D1088%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D181292104077%26

Elenco:

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-MX-907-200-Electronic-Project/dp/B000IXPYSM