Beginner Projects

[M.Zohaib Usman]

Hey, I was bored and was trying to find some good and lengthy projects to work on. Would love to hear your suggestion, please don't include water level sensor kinda rubbish its way too basic.


Thanks in Advance!

[alexanderbrevig]

Two water level sensors.
Find a wave function that explains the current and previous state.

Google, how to ask a technical question.

[rstofer]

Here is a kit of experiments revolving around the Arduino.  The tutorials are excellent as is the provided code.

https://www.amazon.com/ELEGOO-Project-Tutorial-Controller-Projects/dp/B01D8KOZF4

There's a lot of education in that simple kit.  If you work all the experiments, you will have an excellent background in uC's.

If you want to step up to the Raspberry Pi, this kit is also excellent!

https://www.amazon.com/Freenove-Raspberry-Processing-Tutorials-Components/dp/B06W54L7B5

Or, if you fancy messing around with 2d order ODEs, you can build your own analog computer:

http://www.analogmuseum.org/english/homebrew/vogel/

My version is attached

[M.Zohaib Usman]

Two water level sensors.
Find a wave function that explains the current and previous state.

Google, how to ask a technical question.

Sorry what?

[alexanderbrevig]

I just tried to poke fun at your question. You only tell us senikg water levels is rubbish, but we have little to go on as to what you find interesting.

Analog? Digital? Programming? Woodworking? 3D prints? Cnc? Laser? Physics? Maths? Art? Wearables? Etc..

I apologize for my poor humor and terse response.

[Landore]

Ohh, please make a robot that would help me fall asleep

[MikeK]

Lengthy project?  Build a telescope motor drive, after first grinding your own mirror.

[james_s]

Maybe you could give us some clues as to what you find interesting? What do you mean by lengthy? Complex circuits that take a long time to build? Novel circuits that take a long time to develop and understand? What sort of topics interest you? Radio transmitters? Receivers? Oscillators, signal generators, video games, maybe a good power supply? Microcontroller circuits, gadgets to automate some boring task like watering plants or controlling lights? Nobody but you can determine what you will find interesting. Maybe browse some vintage magazines and try recreating one of those projects or a modern version? https://worldradiohistory.com/Radio_Electronics%20_Master_Page.htm

[M.Zohaib Usman]

Lengthy project?  Build a telescope motor drive, after first grinding your own mirror.

lol. i think i would end up spending more time on grinding the mirror than the electronics itself, can it be more electronics related please?

[M.Zohaib Usman]

I just tried to poke fun at your question. You only tell us senikg water levels is rubbish, but we have little to go on as to what you find interesting.

Analog? Digital? Programming? Woodworking? 3D prints? Cnc? Laser? Physics? Maths? Art? Wearables? Etc..

I apologize for my poor humor and terse response.

Ahaha no need to apologize. I'm just not used to this type of humor. Anyways, I'd love anything Analog, Digital, & Programming related. Also by "water level sensor" i meant any project that you can find on cheap ass websites, anyone can build that stuff its not worth showing to anyone, you know what im saying? Just task me a project that takes somewhat of a long time to design and helps me learn something new. I'm still a student btw incase you're wondering

[M.Zohaib Usman]

Ohh, please make a robot that would help me fall asleep

Imma design a circuit that slaps you so hard you sleep for the rest of the eternity dont worry

[wizard69]

How about hardware and software for trust vectored control of model rockets.  A team of two appereny spent years on such a project with recent successful flight.  Going alone this might take you a decade. 

Something simpler might be a function generator. 

[M.Zohaib Usman]

How about hardware and software for trust vectored control of model rockets.  A team of two appereny spent years on such a project with recent successful flight.  Going alone this might take you a decade. 

Something simpler might be a function generator.

Uhh... I think I'm gonna work on a function generator

[rfclown]

..., please don't include water level sensor kinda rubbish its way too basic....

This is most certainly not true. I was doing some contract work for a startup two years ago. For his product (which is now launching) he wanted a simple, cheap level sensor for his fluid tank which could contain any number of substances. He only wanted 4 outputs: high, mid, low, empty. How do you do this? Does it require a probe in the tank? If so, what about sealing the connections? What about corrosion, etc? Mechanical issues, wear? Calibration? Google and you'll find a number of solutions, but not all cheap, and not all fit to a given requirement. He had a method proposed by a different consultant that he wanted me to implement, but I told him it seemed more like a science project (it wasn't a proven method). I did some quick experiments with his method, but concentracted on other aspects of his product for which I could give sound designs for. I implemented the hooks for his desired sensor method, but stated my opinion that he would probably have trouble with the method and should find a different solution. I passed the project on to another engineer I knew when I no longer had time for the job.

I suggest that you find something that interests YOU so you will be more motivated to work on a solution. Even a "better level sensor" can be a fun/challenging/rewarding project if you are interested in it. There are interesting methods involving acoustic and capacitive measurements. I can't read your mind to know what might spark your interest. What would you like to build? Do that.

[vk6zgo]

How about hardware and software for trust vectored control of model rockets.  A team of two appereny spent years on such a project with recent successful flight.  Going alone this might take you a decade. 

Something simpler might be a function generator.

Uhh... I think I'm gonna work on a function generator

Sounds like a good project, & useful into the future.
You will be surprised at how many obstacles you will find & overcome in building such a device.

Much of what you learn will be useful for other projects, even though at first glance, they have little in common with a function generator.

Good luck!

[mindcrime]

With some exceptions, projects aren't necessarily "beginner" or not in some intrinsic sense. What makes it "beginner" or "expert" is related to the details of the requirements and constraints. Building water level sensor to do something for your goldfish? Probably trivial. Building a water level detector that needs to be guaranteed to be accurate and stable enough to control the pumps and valves rigged up to a 10,000,000 gallon storage tank that serves an entire county? Perhaps more of a challenge.

Take the function generator idea: you can go order an XR2206 chip and a few passive components and have a "function generator" in less than an hour. But build a lab quality function generator that can compete with something like the Keysight 33622A and now you're talking about a whole different ball of wax.

So I think the people saying "start with a domain that interests you" are on the right track. If everything interests you, flip a coin or use an RNG to pick. Then start with the simplest project you can do in that domain that won't bore you to tears, then start working out how to advance your $WHATEVER to have better specs, more capabilities, be more reliable, run at a faster frequency, be easier to use, etc., etc.

I mean, hell, my most recent project was turning a desk lamp on and off with a relay and an Arduino. Not exactly rocket science, right? But the point isn't just to turn a lamp on and off... that's a building block to do more stuff. Now I can look at adding a motion detector and make a simple security system. Or I can start working on voice recognition so I can make my own Alexa-like thing that can turn the light on and off at my command. And I can extend the basic ideas to something other than a light - maybe I want to turn a water pump on and off that's watering some potted plants on the deck out back. And maybe I'll jam a moisture sensor in the pot and try to automate the watering so I don't forget. Blah, blah, blah, etc.. the point is just that something can start "simple" and then become more complex as you add stuff to it or add constraints ("it has to be light enough to send to Mars", etc.)

Have fun. And I hope your goldfish survives!   

[M.Zohaib Usman]

With some exceptions, projects aren't necessarily "beginner" or not in some intrinsic sense. What makes it "beginner" or "expert" is related to the details of the requirements and constraints. Building water level sensor to do something for your goldfish? Probably trivial. Building a water level detector that needs to be guaranteed to be accurate and stable enough to control the pumps and valves rigged up to a 10,000,000 gallon storage tank that serves an entire county? Perhaps more of a challenge.

Take the function generator idea: you can go order an XR2206 chip and a few passive components and have a "function generator" in less than an hour. But build a lab quality function generator that can compete with something like the Keysight 33622A and now you're talking about a whole different ball of wax.

So I think the people saying "start with a domain that interests you" are on the right track. If everything interests you, flip a coin or use an RNG to pick. Then start with the simplest project you can do in that domain that won't bore you to tears, then start working out how to advance your $WHATEVER to have better specs, more capabilities, be more reliable, run at a faster frequency, be easier to use, etc., etc.

I mean, hell, my most recent project was turning a desk lamp on and off with a relay and an Arduino. Not exactly rocket science, right? But the point isn't just to turn a lamp on and off... that's a building block to do more stuff. Now I can look at adding a motion detector and make a simple security system. Or I can start working on voice recognition so I can make my own Alexa-like thing that can turn the light on and off at my command. And I can extend the basic ideas to something other than a light - maybe I want to turn a water pump on and off that's watering some potted plants on the deck out back. And maybe I'll jam a moisture sensor in the pot and try to automate the watering so I don't forget. Blah, blah, blah, etc.. the point is just that something can start "simple" and then become more complex as you add stuff to it or add constraints ("it has to be light enough to send to Mars", etc.)

Have fun. And I hope your goldfish survives!   

Damn! This actually gave me tons of ideas! Thanks man I appreciate. No way the goldfish gon' survive haha

[alexanderbrevig]

Just to contribute something, off the top of my mind:

• A power supply, tried and tested as a nice first project. Easily scopable to your wanted level of detail. For a lengthy projects, design everything yourself.
• Eurorack synth. Oscillators, filters, waveshaping, envelope/adsr, signal mixing, sequencing (programming?) etc. Not just one lengthy project, but many - and at the end it makes noise!
• An 8-bit CPU using digital logic, or an 8-bit CPU using an FPGA (or both?)
• Headphone amplifier
• A custom (macro) keyboard, or maybe a game pad? For a harder challenge, do not use Wiring/Arduino/Teensy
• Create your own daughter board for a known plattform. RaspberryPI, Arduino, Teensy, Feather etc etc

More generally I would suggest:

• Make something of interest to you, if it solves an actual problem - even better!
• Progress with small steps, and test your presumptions along the way. At the very least, make your PCB testable and configurable (it is not a good feeling to end up with a PCB that is not working but you have no test points or jumpers to enable/disable functional blocks)

Learn to iterate. Learn to simulate. Learn to breadboard. Learn to measure. Learn to iterate.

Good luck!

[M.Zohaib Usman]

Just to contribute something, off the top of my mind:

• A power supply, tried and tested as a nice first project. Easily scopable to your wanted level of detail. For a lengthy projects, design everything yourself.
• Eurorack synth. Oscillators, filters, waveshaping, envelope/adsr, signal mixing, sequencing (programming?) etc. Not just one lengthy project, but many - and at the end it makes noise!
• An 8-bit CPU using digital logic, or an 8-bit CPU using an FPGA (or both?)
• Headphone amplifier
• A custom (macro) keyboard, or maybe a game pad? For a harder challenge, do not use Wiring/Arduino/Teensy
• Create your own daughter board for a known plattform. RaspberryPI, Arduino, Teensy, Feather etc etc

More generally I would suggest:

• Make something of interest to you, if it solves an actual problem - even better!
• Progress with small steps, and test your presumptions along the way. At the very least, make your PCB testable and configurable (it is not a good feeling to end up with a PCB that is not working but you have no test points or jumpers to enable/disable functional blocks)

Learn to iterate. Learn to simulate. Learn to breadboard. Learn to measure. Learn to iterate.

Good luck!

Going straight onto my to-do list Thanks man I appreciate

[coppercone2]

if you want to make an actual tool project that won't 'go bad', remains useful despite having more money and resources, build a metal tin battery powered low noise amplifier. So long you get good connectors and have decent workmanship inside along with battery holders and switches you will have something that can be useful way down the line

many projects tend to be useless as you gain interest and resources but this thing should hold on its own for a very long time. this is just from a prospective of making something that will remain useful, not in terms of complexity or learning (though it can be).

power supplies are bastard projects for beginners because you either need to get expensive power electronics parts or rely on shady subassemblies (computer PSU) with bad parameters, plus half of their value comes from robustness and safety. diy linear supply is more like 'cheap transformer quest' or 'demuntzing', since those power supplies in computers are totally gutted down, you need to add all sorts of crap to make it into a reasonable lab power supply.

I expect half of the newbies doing power supplies end up with loud obnoxious inefficent microwave oven transformers mixed with long spliced together printer wire chains pulling 100W quiescent . If you actually wanna spend like real money on a new transformer rated for the application (not a buzz box) then it IS a reasonable project, but IMO... stick to batteries. The problem is you will blow your budget on decent wire, transformer and electromechanical stuff if you want a DECENT power supply. on the other hand a battery amplifier is very reasonable. Function generators are getting cheap so its going to end up being some abandoned ugly frankenstein.

Anything with normal MCU is impressive but unfortunately arduinos took over and its 'doing things the hard way'.

If you build an amplifier, extend the bandwidth as much as possible and you can get into all sorts of shit. Keep it simple and it will open tons of doors for you.

[mindcrime]

You could always buy a $60.00 Black and Decker convention oven and transform it into a reflow oven. Buy the convection oven, an Arduino / RPi / etc., a couple of thermocouples, a solid state relay, and maybe a linear actuator or something to open the door for cooling, and find a PID library to run on the microcontroller to controller the SSR and the actuator based on the imput from the thermocouple and the desired temperature profile (which comes from the manufacturer of the solder paste you select), and Bob's yer uncle. And then you have a handy tool for soldering SMD components.

[Ground_Loop]

Maybe not beginner level, but then I don't have much to judge by.  How about something like an analog computer that simulates a rocket launched into earth orbit.  A few op amp integrators, differentiators and amplifiers output to panel meters should take up a chunk of time.  It will also reinforce numerous other knowledge areas.