Your Favorite Electronic Toys of All Time?

[Frantone]

I have a lot of toys but this was the first to really change my life - It is Mr. Wizard's Experiments In Electronics, which I found out recently is a repackaged form of the Raytheon Lectron, which was made under license from the original German maker Egger-Bahn.  The kit is made of modules which contain discrete components (transistors also contain a feedback resistor) which are assembled on a steel tray and interlock with magnetic contacts to create operational circuits.  Many electronics kits have been made over the years, but nothing as amazing as this in my view.   Remarkably these kits are still being manufactured, though they are quite costly.

You can find the details and full printed manual of this kit on my website here:
http://www.frantone.com/Mr_Wizard/Mr_Wizard.html


 

 

[PA0PBZ]

Yes, I remember these very well, they looked so cool when I was in middle school, they had a big wooden case filled with the stuff. Unfortunately they never let me play with it    If I remember correctly the brand was Braun and they were called Lectron.

Just found the Lectron website, looks like they are still in business: http://www.lectron.de/

My first kit was a Philips one, where you had to put a schematic on a perforated board and push all the springs in.



The Lectron looked so much more 'real'.

[N2IXK]

I had one of the Lectron sets as a kid. Got it secondhand from a yard sale in the mid 70s. It was missing a few pieces, and I remember writing to Raytheon to see if they still sold them. No such luck.

Little plastic cubes with magnetic terminals on the sides, the schematic symbol on the top, and a clear bottom so you could see what the actual components looked like. You connected them by sticking them together on a metal baseplate, that served as a ground return. A great way to teach basic electronics, actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raytheon_Lectron

http://lectron.info/

[Len]

[Frantone]

My first kit was a Philips one, where you had to put a schematic on a perforated board and push all the springs in.

Wow - that's awesome!  I had the 150 In One kit from Tandy, which had the springs, but the paper overlay is very interesting.  Reminds me of another favorite electric toy of mine - the Lite Brite!

[Frantone]

This was the kit I really got serious with in 1978!   

[N2IXK]

Think I was about 12 or 13 when I got the 200-in-1 version for my birthday:



Basically the same as the 150-in-1, but with the addition of TTL logic elements (a 7400 and a 7476 flip-flop). All the input/output devices (switches, pots, displays) were moved to a "front panel" that resembled a "real" piece of test gear.

[David_AVD]

This was the kit I really got serious with in 1978!   

Wow, that brings back memories.  I'm sure that's the second one I had as a kid.  I think there was an earlier one without the 7-segment display.

[Radio Tech]

Think I was about 12 or 13 when I got the 200-in-1 version for my birthday:



Basically the same as the 150-in-1, but with the addition of TTL logic elements (a 7400 and a 7476 flip-flop). All the input/output devices (switches, pots, displays) were moved to a "front panel" that resembled a "real" piece of test gear.

I got this one years ago, still have it today.

[MetraCollector]

I used this, unluckily I wasn't interest in electronics building sets, I rather built some LEGO mechanisms motorized by two of these 9V motors.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I think I would have liked one of these :
http://boingboing.net/2013/04/10/excellent-vintage-japanese-toy.html

[jpb]

I have a lot of toys but this was the first to really change my life - It is Mr. Wizard's Experiments In Electronics, which I found out recently is a repackaged form of the Raytheon Lectron, which was made under license from the original German maker Egger-Bahn.  The kit is made of modules which contain discrete components (transistors also contain a feedback resistor) which are assembled on a steel tray and interlock with magnetic contacts to create operational circuits.  Many electronics kits have been made over the years, but nothing as amazing as this in my view.   Remarkably these kits are still being manufactured, though they are quite costly.

You can find the details and full printed manual of this kit on my website here:
http://www.frantone.com/Mr_Wizard/Mr_Wizard.html


 

 

I remember a plastic block version of this which I always wanted but couldn't afford - a friend had a set. The components were in plastic cubes with flat round tops giving the schematic and metal connection strips on the four sides and you connected them in a tray using blank components to fill in any gaps.

Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called - this dates from the mid 70s.

similar to this but with the tray filled and without the pegs:

http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkgk19.htm

Ah I've found them - Denshi blocks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block

The ones I remember where solid white not see-through and I think Philips made the kit.

[Frantone]

Here is a video of another favorite toy I posted this week: 

[Frantone]

I think I would have liked one of these :
http://boingboing.net/2013/04/10/excellent-vintage-japanese-toy.html

I think that the effective range of that station would be disappointing....   

[Baliszoft]

I used this, unluckily I wasn't interest in electronics building sets, I rather built some LEGO mechanisms motorized by two of these 9V motors.

Hey! I had the same set. Mine came with a motorized crane lego kit.

[JoannaK]

Back then, I used to have Japanese Gakken-EX 60 .. Nice blocks, but the transistors had nasty habit to blow..

[Mike N5JKY]

When I was in junior high school (AKA middle school), I first got interested in electronics and ham radio.  There was this enticing ad appearing in the electronic mags every month:



Wow, the kit was for 12 receivers, a transmitter, signal tracer, signal injector, and a code oscillator! And all for $22.95! How could I resist?  Well, $23 was quite a bit back then, lots of mowing and weeding, but I ordered one. What the ad failed to mention is that you could build only one project at a time, which you had to unsolder if you wanted build the next one.  And, all of the designs were transformerless with a hot chassis.  It's amazing that I didn't electrocute myself.  I still have the book,  but the rest of the parts are long gone. 

This topic has dredged up an old memory: the awful smell that selenium rectifiers made when they failed.  It had to be some nasty toxic gas.

Mike

[vlf3]

@ Mike N5JKY:

This topic has dredged up an old memory: the awful smell that selenium rectifiers made when they failed.  It had to be some nasty toxic gas.

You have struck a cord their... 1950 TV sets had selenium rectifiers, and as I entered a customers room on a service call, they would excuse the smell and blamed it on the dog, or the cat, now residing outside not to be allowed in; until I had explained the situation... it was classic,  just to watch the customers face, once they realised. 

[Bored@Work]

@ Mike N5JKY:

This topic has dredged up an old memory: the awful smell that selenium rectifiers made when they failed.  It had to be some nasty toxic gas.

You have struck a cord their... 1950 TV sets had selenium rectifiers, and as I entered a customers room on a service call, they would excuse the smell and blamed it on the dog, or the cat, now residing outside not to be allowed in; until I had explained the situation... it was classic,  just to watch the customers face, once they realised. 

You should probably explain it once more, this time to this Romanian guy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304985/Romanian-lawyer-sues-bishop-priests-claiming-failed-properly-exorcise-flatulent-demons-house.html  I like the idea of the lawsuit, but he maybe barks up the wrong tree